Kakheti pt2

Saturday we woke up and had a typical eastern European breakfast; meats & cheeses, bread & coffee. 
The day was beautiful with the Caucasus mountains in the background, here's me with Maj Birney, my deputy. 

Then back in the vans to the local castle in Telavi.  Begun in the mid 1600s Batonis-tsihe was a fortress built for the local tsar back in the day.  Unfortunately it was closed for renovations so we could only walk around the outside.

Next stop was the Gremi church, begun in 1517.  Built on a small hill it's still in operation.  I walked by the 'front door' and could see a service going on and smell the incense.  It's obviously been renovated, several times, but still interesting to see some of the original works including an incredibly steep, and dark, winding stone staircase leading up to the bell tower. 

Last stop was back to the winery.  It's one of the few winerys built into caves, a network of about 150 km (seems like a lot but that's what the lady said) Originally they made wine the traditional way in the big jugs buried in the ground but now they use regular wood barrels or huge steel tanks. 

We had a late lunch with great food, and wine of course, then back in the vans for the drive back to base.

Kakheti pt1

The Easter holiday is a big one for the Christian Orthodox church so we've got a long 4 day weekend.  I had one of the Army soldiers work on a trip and he put together an overnighter to eastern Georgia.  Kakheti is the easternmost province and is also Georgia's wine country.  Friday late morning we drove out for two and a half hours to an area that in some spots could be confused with New England.  Tree covered roads with rolling farmland, and also the vineyards.  Our first stop was a resort still prepping for the upcoming summer season.  We were the only ones there but they had the bar open so we had a few drinks and enjoyed the scenery.

Next stop was a winery, they were closed but said they'd be open the next day.  So we continued to the Nekresi monastery dating back to the 4th century. 
http://www.georgiatraveller.com/2011/01/nekresi-glimpse-into-history-of-georgia.html
The climb up is a one mile (1 1/2 km) walk on a very steep brick-paved incline.  Difficult enough just walking up, never mind thinking of hauling up all the building materials.

 

Late that afternoon we went to our hotel which, in all seriousness, looked like something out of an 80's John Carpenter horror-flick.  So we got back in our vans and went to downtown Telavi to a better hotel.  The hotel also operated a nearby bed & breakfast/winery so that's where we went for dinner.  While we were waiting for dinner the host gave us a short tour of the place and explained the Georgian method of winemaking.

The wooden box on the right holds the grapes and feeds them into a crusher.  The juice is then placed in big ceramic jugs buried in the floor and sealed for 2-3 months.  (see the circles in the background)  Then it gets bottled and stored.  

The Generals Visit

So two weeks ago the Commander of Marine Forces Europe came through with his entourage to visit the Caucuses.  Here's a picture of me explaining the intricacies of how a rifle range works.  "They point the rifle that way and bullets come out."

In my last post I said I was busy & that was 2 weeks ago...
Last week I had 2 general officers come visit, both from Marine Forces Europe.  So that's what consumed my hours & days, going to meetings at the embassy and answering emails & phone calls about read-ahead materials, providing biographies of the US staff here and the Georgians.  And approving a seating chart for the lunch in the chow hall on Saturday.  Yeah...good times...  But the visits went well and the generals were pleased, so I keep my job for now.

Last weekend (St Patty's Day) I went to a Georgia vs. Russia rugby game.  We got tickets through the embassy, third row on the center line.  They would have been great seats except it was windy and cold and the seats were hollow plastic so it felt like sitting on a block of ice.  But the game was great, Georgia stomped on Russia, 42-0.  Georgia is in white, they had a giant player who looked like Troy Palomalu from the Steelers.  Then we went to an Irish bar for shepard's pie and Guinness.

So this week I get to focus back on training with one battalion here and one at another nearby base.  Marksmanship training, land navigation, staff planning, communications.  All good stuff.  Sometime late next week I'm supposed to receive more MRAPs for driver training and IED training. 
OK, that's it.

Whew!  I am busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger.  I'm still turning over with the previous team who has one week left.  This week we are reviewing all the equipment I'll end up signing for including radios, night vision goggles, humvees, MRAPs, computers, etc.  About a bizillion dollars worth of stuff.
The training portion is going well; although I'm in charge of it I haven't yet actually been to any classrooms or ranges to see notes being taken or bullets being fired.  But I'll get there.
The food ain't bad.  The US Georgia Army National Guard supports us with about two dozen soldiers to run our part of the camp (we are technically tenants on the Georgian military base) like the chow hall, the post office, medical, motor pool.  We contract with local women to actually cook the food & wash the dishes and they're supervised by a Staff Sergeant.  The Georgians have something very similar to Chinese dumplings but they're about 3 times as big. 
Sorry, still no photos.  Once again, I'll get around to it.
I won't publish my address, if you want it leave a comment with your email. 

Gamarjobat!
Hello! from Georgia.  The past four days were busy with meetings and tours of training areas.  Every day ended with me being exhausted and I STILL could only manage a few hours of sleep.  Stupid jet-lag (I'm 9 hours ahead of the East Coast).
The Georgian military runs their training with assistance from us, to include some equipment they need to be able to work with us in Afghanistan (radios, night vision goggles, etc.) They have some good instructors but need help with the experience that only we can bring.
Two nights ago I and another Marine were invited out to dinner by a few Georgian officers, when I was really looking forward to some sleep.  Three and a half hours, two bottles of wine, and two carafes of 'cha-cha' (like grappa) later...I finally got some sleep.  The food was great though, some really interesting dishes.  One was a shallow pot of fried chicken in a thick broth of garlic yogurt.
I just got another email that needs my attention so I'll cut this short.
Not surprisingly Georgians dislike the Russians.  Remember, 3 years ago the Russians invaded to 'free' the people in the regions of Abkazia and South Ossetia.  This blogger service gives me simple stats on page views, etc.  It also shows geographically who is looking at my blog.  So, to my Russian friends who are enjoying my blog...hello!
And good-bye.

Gutentag!
The flight from Norfolk (to Newark) to Stuttgart, Germany was nice.  Plenty of legroom but I still couldn't sleep.  So I watched Contagion.  Then I watched Horrible Bosses.  Then I watched Real Steel.  Then I felt a little sleepy but with 45 minutes of flight time left the cabin lights were turned on so I just stayed up.  Arrival in Stuttgart was fine, clearing through customs took all of 30 seconds.  Unlike an American returning to the States where the TSA, FBI, Border Patrol, and Immigration all take turns grilling you for hours. 
So I went through another day of briefings at MARFOREUR (Marine Forces Europe) which is located on a base called "Panzer Kaserne"  For those of you unfamiliar with German military terms, 'panzer' means tank.  And who is the most famous German tank commander?  Rommel.  So Panzer Kaserne is actually Rommel's old headquarters which the US took over after WWII.  It's actually a really small base, you could walk around the perimeter in a half hour.  But on a few of the buildings there are still concrete eagles of the German army but the swastikas have been removed. 
Today is Saturday so I took the train into downtown Stuttgart (I'm staying at a hotel in Boblingen) http://www.reussenstein.com/joomla/
and walked around for a few hours.  I took pictures but they're all too big to squeeze through this internet connection, I'll have to shrink them to a smaller format.  The main tourist area is nice, probably a lot nicer in the summer.  I had a little pizza from a bakery.  They used cream cheese as the base with spiced ham & herbs sprinkled on top.  It was ok but really?  cream cheese?
Taking the train to Stuttgart wasn't too bad, the automated ticket kiosk had instructions in English.  Coming back was different.  Buying the ticket was easy but then I had to figure out which track my train was on (imagine a semi-outdoor Grand Central Station)
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  Which train takes me to Boblingen?"
  "Gretunchenken wertan obnachtingen" (yes you are stupid and I will put you on a train to Norway)

Actually the Germans were/are great.  This is a major city with lots of tourists so everyone I asked for help spoke English.  Now I'm back in the hotel drinking beer (what else?) and contemplating dinner. 
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  I'd like to order some tasty sausage."
  "Ratnakgretchen weinerschnitzel haufcraken."  (yes you are stupid but I won't spit in your food)