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Horta
Pam and I both found the sleeping
on our little twin beds to be delightful. Although it may
have been more lonely than we liked, the temperature in the
room and the weight of the blankets was just right for sound
sleeping. We ate a buffet breakfast in the hotel - were one
of two tables occupied at the late hour of 10:00 a.m. - and
then went for a long walk past the restaurant of the night
before and up a steep hill to a lookout point over the harbor
and town. We found a fascinating "ruin" of bunkers and gun
stations left over from WWII days and Pam made friends with
a horse, grazing with its three companions in a field overlooking
the harbor. (Don't be jealous, Sonni. She misses you a lot!)
Pam had an espresso, I a beer,
in a neat little pub by the marina, and while there we recognized
a couple of young men who had been at the restaurant last
evening. Turns out they are from California and are here for
surfing…which was great, they said.
Had dinner - again, buffet style
- in the hotel dining room, with lots of German tourists.
We observed that, for better or worse, German and American
tourists probably dress the most alike of other nationalities
and look quite similar. Cell phones are as rampant here as
in the States, and we found that the one we have rented for
emergency use during the trip - a Nokia that looks just like
mine but which is programmed for the "GSM" system that is
used in most countries outside the USA - worked like a charm
in little ol' Horta.
Our fax from Universal arrived
and showed strong winds, with a medium headwind component,
for the flight tomorrow. Although we had originally been told
that we would have to re-land at Lajes to clear Customs upon
our departure, we had found this stop was unnecessary when
we entered the Azores at Lajes, so we had fueled the airplane
all the way and planned to go non-stop from Horta to Malaga.
Now, especially with a half-hour of fuel already used at low
altitude (equivalent to nearly an hour at high altitude),
this was not feasible. So, we phoned Universal and had them
plan for two legs tomorrow: Horta to Lisbon for a fuel stop,
then Lisbon to Malaga.
To bed about 10:00 p.m. but not
for another night of peaceful sleep. We both tossed and turned.
Was it the anticipation of the big flight tomorrow? Or, for
Pam, was it her second cup of espresso, the one she had after
dinner?
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