We took the back road to L'Aquila. It was supposed to bring us into the southern end of the town near the bus terminal. Just as we were getting close, there was a major detour - we had no idea where we were, but stopped at the train station. Up to this point, I didn't know there was a train station. Everything was closed except the snack bar. People were helpful and one woman spoke good English. When we explained that we really wanted to find the bus station (for possible trips to Rome), she basically said, "You can't get there from here." Because of the major earthquake, much of the town is under construction. She gave us directions to a circle and said to ask from there.
We drove around, missed signs, made u-turns, made mistake after mistake because the signage is small and sudden and suddenly found ourselves at the bus terminal. Just because we were in the part that was for buses only was a minor detail. Escaped from that section and stopped in the car parking garage. Then we could find any signs for the ticket area. Turns out that the whole bus terminal is under construction also. There were hand written signs that didn't really point anywhere. By this time Chuck was practically berserk. He is much more afraid of getting lost than I am. (Probably because he has absolutely no sense of direction.) We finally found the ticket window (which is in a temporary trailer) but they had no information. I don't think that I will be making day trips to Rome.
Found our way back to the car and started off again. For some reason or other that I cannot determine, I am the driver this trip. Chuck is not a good navigator - he busily reads the map, but doesn't look out for the signs. He wanted to try to find a restaurant and sent me up a road that suddenly ended in a traffic barrier. Another 92 point turn. Back and around to the terminal and around and then burst free of the town. Missed the entrance to the auto-route (tiny little sign that only said Roma, so I was afraid to take it. Detoured back and finally with a great sigh of relief on the road back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, the skiers were beginning to leave, so it was a great traffic jam of cars trying to get out of the very small lot. We found a place and went to rest in the room. I felt stressed the rest of the day.
We went to the hotel dining room with Brian for dinner. I just had tortellini in broth, C&B share a gnocci in cheese sauce and then C had sauage and B breaded lamb chop.
I think that our next trip to L'Aquila will consist of parking the car on the edge of the town and walking around to get our bearings.
Now, something about our trip to Jordan.
As I said before, Chuck and I have never taken a tour. In fact, we have rarely taken a trip that didn't have something to do with physics. Normally, we go to a conference and then add on a trip.
Our friends Maggi and Larry went to Italy last year and decided that they had about one last big trip in them. They decided that Egypt and Jordan was the one. They asked if we wanted to go along. We signed up for an OAT tour. This stands for Overseas Adventure Travel and seems to be for the "active older adult". Several of my friends had used this company for other places and recommended them highly.
We started with a realllllllly long flight. LAX - JFK - Cairo (wait in airport 5 hours) - Amman. We met several of our fellow travelers in the Cairo airport while we waited. I was so brain dead at the end, that I barely remember the arrival except for the fact that it was pouring. Everyone we met in Amman thanked us for bringing the rain.
Each OAT tour only has 16 people. For Jordan, we had two groups of 10. Each group had its own leader and bus. We all stayed in the same hotels and were basically covering the same ground, so we did get to know each other.
Our leader was Mohammed
He was a really nice guy and a very good leader. One of the things that was really noticeable was that he was really charming - not only to us, but to everyone we met...the tea seller at a castle, the kids selling postcards, the guys at the rest stops.
Our first day consisted of sightseeing in Amman:
Maggi & Larry at the Citadel (It was much chillier than we expected. We were going to desert country, no?)
A section of the Dead Sea Scrolls:
All of us at the amphitheater:
The romans really like to build amphitheaters. You will see a bunch of them.
We walked through downtown Amman on our way back to the bus.
A minaret shop. These are used on the tops of the minarets and also on gravestones:
A butcher shop complete with sheep's heads:
We drove to the Dead Sea for lunch and a little look around. There is a reason it is called the Dead Sea - it is desolate. It was also cold. There was one person floating - so we could see the effect:
John and Dave decided to wade:
I dipped my fingers in. It was very slimy feeling and very hard to get off. Purel didn't do it. I had to go into the WC and really wash my hands.
That night we all went to a "home hosted dinner". Normally, each group goes separately, but there was some problem, so all twenty of us went to the same house. (This is fairly incredible - but the Jordanians seem to all have a large room that is used for big groups.) We all sat around and the host and his family told us about their lives. These people would be considered upper middle class. They are college graduates and speak English well.
The dinner was a casserole of chicken and rice, salad, pita bread with hummus and dessert. Since Jordan is a Muslem country, we had water, juice or soda to drink. OAT suggests that the guest bring little presents to the hosts. We had an assortment of stuff. One really clever thought was someone from Philadelphia brought a little souvenir book because Amman had been called Philadelphia. I had found tote bags with windows for pictures and replaced one of them with a postcard of LA.
Fell into bed so that we would be ready for the next day.
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