Last night I had trouble with the internet, and I see this morning that my post was not posted. So, hopefully the kinks will be worked out soon, the photos will finally upload, and the internet will be more cooperative. Do you think there is a battle going on????
Leaving Dallas, the Lufthansa captain skirted the storm, and we had a comfortable flight over the "pond." You may ask how I know that it was comfortable... well, I couldn't sleep! The guy behind me was sniffing and coughing all night - each time he blew his nose it sounded like a horn and I jumped. The fellow beside me was snoring, and I just couldn't get comfortable. Oh, well, the perils of modern day travel!
We arrived in Frankfurt, I found my way to the gate for Ljubljana (a trek), and then realized that I had given Alban the wrong information about when my flight would be arriving in Tirane. So, I spent what little time I had trying to navigate the internet in German. I can manage a little Albanian, a fair amount of Spanish, but very little German, unfortunately! They said, in English, that I had 30 minutes of free internet, but the access process was explained in German, and I could never figure it out! They announced our plane which was two stories down (we all got to carry our luggage and so on - no elevator), onto a bus then up a flight onto the plane), a nice trip to Ljubljana (I'm going to get that spelled right without the spell-checker pretty soon...), and then a sky-way into the terminal. WOW! No bus! No stairs out of the plane!
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| The underground tunnel |
Ljubljana (got it!), at least the airport, has an Austrian feel. It is clean, modern, seemingly efficient with yet another language to navigate, and the people seemed more friendly than Frankfurt. We arrived with snow covering the surrounding mountains, an inch on the ground at the airport, and the ambient temperature at 0 degrees Celsius.
Remember that Slovenia is part of the EU; Albania is not. After managing another passport check (I think it was my third or so), I went looking for the "B" gates. It was easy to find all the other gates, C, D, E, F were on the same floor. But, the "B" gates were through an inconspicuous glass door, down five (count them, five) stories of stairs without an elevator, along a long corridor, and up two stories at the other end (thankfully, with an elevator). Along the way, I met a fellow traveler from Spain who was lamenting her inability to communicate. She spoke under her breath, as she panted her way up the stairs, that she didn't speak English, German, French... and nobody could understand her. Now you understand why I say that I can speak a fair amount of Spanish... we understood each other.
Well, even at the B gates, the internet was free. So, I sent an e-mail off to Alban, hoping he would check before he got into the car to pick me up, and I nodded off while waiting, and again flight.
Albania was not covered in snow, but was drippy when we arrived. Alban had gotten my e-mail, Dori and the kids were there (they have really grown!). Customs was concerned about the Action Packers, one of which, they explained, had been in lost and found because all the identification had come off (at least it made it to Tirane). One official-looking fellow came up to me as I was trying to leave in the "nothing to declare" line, asking what I had in the Action Packers. When he learned that I had sewing machines, he wanted an invoice. But, I said, they were "old" machines and I had no invoice. He called over a colleague who conferred with him. I offered to open the Action Packer; he agreed and checked out one of the machines. He called over the boss, more conversation among the three agents, the boss looked, another request for an invoice, I explained the machines had been used in a school... a school??? Yes, in the US. All interest was lost! And, I was free to go.
So, I'm at the Stefan Center - awake at 3:30 in the morning - but have basically unpacked, slept, and am ready to go. My phone is charged, I have bought some minutes on it, and I meet Krys at 10. Think I'll try to catch a few winks before I get up in earnest, but did want to let you guys know that I am here. And, it seems, I have at last mastered the new way to import photos, so will try to add a few more later today showing the Houston Market and so on.
Mir pashen!
