Bryan's Farewell

The office going-away was a lot of fun! We had a potluck picnic at a pavilion on base. Everyone was relieved to eat, drink, be merry, and relax after the successful TJAG visit.

Bryan, thanking everyone for their hard work and challenging them to keep it up when he is gone!

Maj. Davis and MSgt. Chester presented Bryan with a carved Roman Rudis sword and display box!

On the box... must be a lawyer thing...

The departees -- off to find more AF adventures!

Give swords to men -- it had to happen, right?

This was an amazing group of people for Bryan to spend his days (and a lot of nights) with! We will always remember the Aviano peeps with love and gratitude! And that applies to those who were part of it and left before we did -- that includes you and Evan, Courtney Epstein! (Hoping you notice your call-out! Thanks for all of your blog-following loyalty! Miss you all!)

Mama mia, we were getting close to leaving at this point! Only 4 more days in Italy! Excited and sad all at the same time!

TJAG's Visit

During our last week in Italy, the event we had been planning for many weeks finally took place. The three-star JAG General was visiting Bryan's office! Whew! What a finale for our time in Italy. It was a lot of work to get ready for, but it all went extremely well! The General and his Exec were with us for 3 days, and these are photos from the big office party/dinner we had at Bornass Ristorante about halfway up the mountain. We chose it for it's amazing views! It was a great party and it was so wonderful to have the whole office there and to eat the fabulous food that was prepared for us!

TJAG,  his exec, and Bryan

Gorgeous view, overlooking the base and miles of Italian landscape

April, Sylvia, Don, and Aubs (with Adam and Vernon photobombing!)

The fabulous Italian ladies of the office -- Linda, Sylvia, and Sonia.

Angela, Vy, and Adam

Danielle and Don

"Ciao-ing" down!

After this amazing spread, we still had pasta and desserts!

TJAG presenting Bryan and the office with the American Bar Association's  LAMP award!
Winning this award was a HUGE honor for Bryan's office!

All smiles since everything went so well!

Rimini and San Marino

Robin and the kids and I took a little trip down to the Adriatic coast (eastern side) of Italy. Robin was happy to spend time with us during her R&R but she needed some fun and adventure too! Unfortunately, Bryan was too busy getting ready for an inspection to join us. We went to the beach town of Rimini and had a fantastic hotel by the beach.

On the way down to Rimini, we stopped in at the town of Poggio Renatico. This was where Robin had once spent some deployed time. We stopped by the family-owned little pizzeria that fed Robin every day. They were happy to see her again and I sure loved trying their pizza! No wonder she ate there everyday! It was some of the best pizza I had in Italy!

YUMMMMMMMM!

Sara and little Giulia

From our base of Rimini, we day-tripped to the Republic of San Marino -- another micro-country within Italy (the other is Vatican City). We were so sad that Bryan couldn't be with us because this ended up being one of the most perfect travel days we ever had! It was a gorgeous day and San Marino was interesting, beautiful, immaculate and charming. We began with a tram tour of the train tunnels through the mountain. These tunnels sheltered thousands of Jews in WWII. The trains had stopped running, and each Jewish family had a section of the tunnel to "live" in, with their respective space marked by painted red lines.

Tunnel exit

We blazed through the tunnels quickly on our tram, but there were photos and descriptions of the Jews' time there.

Since San Marino sits up on top of a mountain, the day was all about steep climbs and panoramic views from castles! I will let the photos of the rest of our day speak for themselves! Picture perfect!

An amazing day! One we'll never forget! We went back to Rimini for another night and then headed home late the next day.