Restrictions

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The state government of Baden-Württemberg introduced new restrictions on movement which went into effect on December 12 and impact the USAG Stuttgart community. Click here for a pdf summary of the B-W Lockdown from Dec 16 to Jan 10 explained.

 

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Lockdown in Baden-Württemberg from December 16 to January 10

Contact restrictions
Maximum of five individuals from up to two households. Children up to and including the age of 14 are not counted.

Going out restrictions | Curfews
Through at least the next four weeks, you must have a compelling reason to leave your home.

At night (8pm to 5am):

• To engage in occupational activities. (carry your U.S. Forces ID card at all times)
• Use of medical and veterinary services
• Taking care of animals, such as walking your dog
• Accompanying individuals in need of support and minors, custody and contact rights.
• Accompanying persons who require assistance (children, the elderly, or sick)
• Attending family gatherings from December 24-26.
• Attending religious services

During the day (5am to 8pm) in addition to the above:

• Going to school, childcare centers, and extracurricular activities
• Visiting retail establishments for essential items
• Making use of essential services
• Sport and exercise in the fresh air exclusively on your own, with members of your own household, or with one other individual not living in the same household (still not to exceed five people).
• Meeting up to five people from a maximum of two households, not counting children 14 or younger

Police are enforcing the regulations and, if stopped, you must be prepared to explain where you are going and when you will return home.

Alcohol Ban
The public consumption of alcohol drinks is banned statewide from December 16 through January 10, superseding the ban previously instituted in Stuttgart.

Exceptions for Christmas, December 24-26

• Visits between close friends and acquaintances are limited to a maximum of five people from no more than two households. Children up to and including 14 years old do not count toward this limit.
• One household plus another four individuals “from the closest family circle,” such as relatives “in a straight line” (e.g., grandparents), spouses, and siblings. Children up to and including 14 years old do not count toward this limit.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, December 31-Jan 1

• No exceptions for restrictions on contact and going out. Staying overnight with private individuals is possible.
• No sales of fireworks allowed.
• No accumulation and no ignition of fireworks in public spaces.

Closure of most local economy Retail Stores (December 16-January 10)

• Masks should now be worn not only inside stores and malls, but also within their parking lots

Locally, the following types of stores will remain openduring the day.

• Grocery stores
• Weekly markets for food
• Pharmacies, health food stores, medical supply stores, and drugstores
• Gas stations, car repair shops, and bicycle repair shops
• Banks and post offices
• Dry cleaners and launderettes
• Pet supply stores
• Christmas tree sales
• Restaurants may offer take-out and delivery service only

On post Retail Services

• AAFES food trucks – Visit the Exchange’s Facebook page to find truck times and locations.
• AAFES Main Exchange (PX), shoppettes, and gas stations remain open with existing COVID mitigation strategies in place.
• Barbershops and beauty shops are currently closed (December 16-January 10th).
• Commissaries remain open with existing COVID mitigation strategies in place.
• Family & MWR Facilities – Visit the FMWR website for current services and hours and like their Facebook pagefor the latest updates.
• Postal Hours Click here for Holiday Postal Hours.

Updates from Europe (covid and such)

 I had a long conversation with my brother Robert the other night (need to call David on occasion but called Rob because he had texted me to give him a call - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)  Anyway I digress.  We had a conversation about how things are going with COVID there vs. here.  I note the differences all the time but don't really document them and as I print this book out annually for posterity (of my kids ever have kids and so forth) I figured I would put the progression here in a timeline.

March of 2020 I was in Italy working and boating to Malta.  We had heard of Covid but in vague terms of illness, rapid spread, some caution when traveling.  We were give the option to use a medical mask in the airports and in the planes if we so choose.  i went and picked one up but honestly didn't use it.  I happily went through Paris' crowded Charles De Gaulle airport oblivious to the world.  Well, not quite oblivious, but not really too concerned. On our return we flew right back through Paris - still caution to the wind, no mask for me.... and home.  Those who returned through Millan were screened for temperatures before getting on planes.  Hind sight being what it was some were probably exposed on that layover.

Flying became something you avoided - even for work.  You could take a train easier with less restrictions for quarantine at the distant end than you could if you flew.  So when we flew for work we made every attempt to use Military air where it was "bubble to bubble" aka base to base to avoid unnecessary exposures.  Commercial flying automatically landed you into quarantine for 14 days and testing.    

April/May infections were growing in Portugal, Sweden, Poland and eastern block countries.  There was a threshold for infection rates of greater than 3% I think it was then you were restricted to local travel only no one really in/out unless it was for work, medical etc..  Most of the heavy restrictions and enforced isolation were in Northern Italy where everyone was hit hard.  You were not allowed to travel anywhere near there, if you lived there you were to stay home - period.  You only came out for groceries.  Isolated restrictions stayed in place until this fall.  Your area may have curfews to not be out after x time (because stores were closed after that time and there was no reason to go out).

June, the whole country of Portugal was removed from our "green" list - free to travel.  They were now restricted and we could not go there.

July Czechoslovakia was added to the red list, poland was on the watch list 

August France went on the red and Belgium was added to the watch list. BUT Poland and Czechoslovakia came off... they were free to travel again.

September Iceland, the UK, Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands as well as Switzerland and Austria and Croatia were added to the red list BUT Portugal was removed, which is funny because the only way to get there was to fly as France was red... so we would still be faced with a 14 day quarantine if we flew there... so... we opted out still.  By the end of the month it was back in the red, so travel there wouldn't have been too smart regardless :)

We opted to drive to Berlin and Poland as we were still "green" even if Poland was on the "watch" list... if it had gone red we simply would have quarantined when we got home.  I couldn't DRAG Butch to a red country... He didn't even want to do Berlin but after he went he said he was glad he had gone.

By the first of November it was easier to count the green countries and Germany was no longer one of them... Norway was the LAST hold out and they finally went red on November 11th.  This is honetly a lot more fun with a visual, but work email failed to send to my home address.  it's not like the pictures were secret squirrel - it was just a fun representation of the spread and the lockdowns. 

Now what does lockdown consist of?  Well, when you are a red country and you are military you are to stay within the boarders of your host nation - that's OK because Germany is quite large... so really some took advantage of that.  We're old, we stayed home once it went red.  I still went out and about and went to the antique store, but really, we just stayed home mostly.  

Christmas markets were closed.  Where they used to have 50 - 100 vendors they were down to 5 or 10 scattered across town centers and platz.  Then in the last week they have taken that even further and shut those vendors down completely.  AND as of last night I saw that they even shut off the Christmas lights in an effort to keep people at home.  German New Years is HUGE.  they are not selling fireworks this year... that is unheard of here.. There have always been mask mandates for stores - no mask no entry - really - you will be yelled at if you are doing something wrong here, so you just do it.  You an be fined $1,000's of dollars here for not wearing a mask in stores or designated mask areas.  Anyway - the latest shutdown even shut home stores down.  literally the ONLY things open until the new year are groceries and even some of those are shut down as well.  Downtowns are ghost towns and it's a little sad here... (OK a LOT sad here)...

there is an interactive map found here; https://webcritech.jrc.ec.europa.eu/modellingoutput/cv/eu_response/eu_response.htm

But honestly with Germany having a high rate (although you will see there are really "shades" of red" rather than full red)... it's unsure if folks will let us IN from Germany. Then getting back in may be problematic too depending if you are going from a "redder" country to a "less red" country - ha!

First world problems for sure!!

Christmas decorations

 What do you do when you are bummed that Christmas is just about cancelled?  Well you DO minimal decorations. I have zero desire to put up a tree so this is the extent of my decorations for this year. (Plus the olive bucket decorations on the table :) )

The hats I blame some gals on Instagram!  I was watching them and thought “those are cute and easy” so I did a few then had to come up with a swag as well!  

I think it turned out well for a whim and a few hours of effort. 

The houses are my cookie jars I bought ages ago and just now put up. Cute with my polish pottery Christmas tree :)

All in all not too shabby for not really being in the spirit of the season. 

I did want to go to Rothenburg on details Tauber this Christmas BUT last weekend we had a snaffu with car insurance being cancelled and we couldn’t risk winter driving on wet/snowy roads without insurance so we stayed home and THIS weekend we are back to lockdown and curfews. So in the spirit of being safe we are not bucking orders and staying home. Some are still traveling BUT after cancer and all I just don’t think it’s fair for me to be selfish and possibly keep someone from a necessary treatment just so I can go play. 3 years ago I was scheduling emergency Gall Bladder surgery and really would have died had they put me off. It was gangrenous and rotting so a bit longer would have been super bad. Again. I need to figure out what my body is saying when it talks!!

Anyway. I whine but I’m doing this anyway. Staying home for others. I would say there is always next year but I continue to look for jobs back home, so who knows of there will be a chance next year. Really?  Hum.  

The end results

Then end results. I did add a bit more greenery after the fact. 

Antikissimo antique store

I decided to go antique shopping 

It’s a fun messy dirty dusty place!!

What I bought:

One well bucket to use for umbrellas. 

One old beat up olive bucket. 

Twobrick molds to be made into shelves.  

And one tiny house hippo

I also got a few skeletons keys and an old cherry litter from west Germany. 

Non traditional Thanksgiving

Our thanksgiving was super low key. I worked odd hours so I could attend training the three days prior so my schedule was way off. We just hung out. Butch cooked the ribs and I put together the potato salad. Yummy!

And just like that..

Fall seems to be almost gone. 

October 27.  One week ago today. And Right after I started telework-  I noticed the COLOr behind the blinds!!

And was greeted with THIS view

Today exactly one week later and the leaves are almost all down. It probably doesn’t help that it’s overcast and rainy lately but still. What a difference a week makes. 

COVID updates

 

World numbers - We haven't looked at these numbers since July 26th

We're now 4x more than we were then.  Scary!

THIS is a good wave.. the 2nd... but look at all summer when we were low... and we're not doing much more for protection than we were then... BUT we're also back in lockdown.  Drat it.  I don't really think anything is going to help us.

THIS is a worse wave - but note that the summer in the US was way worse than it was here... so I'm glad that we did travel here over the summer a bit.  BUT the wave on both locations is about the same... so we're screwed.  

So there you have it for the history books... and for my posterity as I print these books out yearly

What an adventure

Covid tests happened for a few folks in our command (45 of us come down here). Some came back positive. Many more were close contacts and required to stay here another TWO weeks. Can you imagine?  Yeah. Yikes!

Thursday afternoon we were all sent to our rooms without dinner. Literally in some cases if folks didn’t have foood to carry them through to the supposed exit on Saturday. 

We were released to do a quick grocery shop at 15 till close. Fun times. So mad dash to the NEX to grab what I thought was going to be just a. Few more things to get me through as I had planned on eating out one meal on Friday. Yeah. Nope. We were told we are NOT leaving on Saturday as planned. Now departure is undetermined. 

So.... Picked up enough to “make do” through Sunday along with cheese and peanut butter and crackers. And the other odds and ends I have left. 

Friday morning we had a 4:55 muster call. What’s that?  It’s roll call but Navy style. You have mister stations on boats if you have ever been on a cruise. Anyway. I literally rolled outta bed and did my muster via text. We then waited for the Covid test. They started in the other building and went through the personnel there. Room by room. My turn cane at 7:05. In and out. 

Test done. And now we wait. Friday was a fun adventure in computer woes back at the office where connection did NOT happen. So that was a wasted day. BUT I tried.

Friday mornings picture from the room:

There is some fog rolling around in the valley. 

We also got the word as we were not tagged as “close contacts” we could go on very limited/short excursions for necessities. I found it highly necessary to get REAL food from the canteen! I got a bunch of good and o was right. It lasted me through today (Sunday). I even have a bit of the pasta and bean combo left as it truly wasn’t my favorite. 

Lots o’food

The bean and pasta combo. Weird but not a fan favorite. 

Clockwise from the top (1 o’clock) pasta and bean combo, penne and regular sauce, capresse salad (tomatoes basil and cheese), potatoes with yellow peppers and finally meatloaf with spinach (and some of those potatoes as well). Delish and was about four meals in those dishes!!  Yummy!!

I still have some if the bread (there were three rolls) that I’ll use for a cheese sandwich for the flight home tomorrow ;) waste not want not!

Saturday had some rain happing AND I ran out of (as in literally using Kleenex) TP and all this wonderful oily food is making my bowels really loose... so I went out in sweats (yes two day old sweats) with NO bra in search of housekeeping to get some dang TP. Well it’s pouring. I look all over for a housekeeping cart. Nope. I decide to take a picture of the rain before searching any forget for people and I AM LOCKED OUT. Yep. They extended our stay for to the whole Covid snafu but we didn’t think about the keys having to be renewed. Hahaha so I really need to find housekeeping now to get TP and access to my room. Hahaha!  I finally find them and they let me back in my room. I call front desk and she’s saying “come down and get new keys” I’m thinking no way do they want 45 of us coming down there without confirmed tests. Nerp. So I emailed our POC and explain this beds to be dealt with and suggest they have keys dropped at our doors. Which is just what they did. Problem solved except you’ll never guess where I was when they pounded on my door!  Yep. The potty. I wrap up things go to the door nobody there. I sit back down on the potty. Phone rings. Damnit. I missed the call. I go BACK to the door and my new key is tucked in the door lock cockeyed. Good enough. Still chuckle about that one. 

And today (Sunday) our tests came in. 

I’m negative ;) no Covid girl here. I did trim it down to just show positive for Butch to tease him. He’s gullible and believed me. Ha!

And I tested my key first to ensure I could get back in... and took my parting shot. 

Too bad I couldn’t feel good about taking a walk, eh?

They still want us to quarantine because some take longer to become symptomatic and/or have a high enough virus load. So, you guessed it, one more test when we get home, possibly two. Yuck. 

Naples. The base story

Saturday was a shuttle to the “Support Site” aka the rest of the base where there is a bowling alley, movie theatre and housing. 

They also had an A&W root beer place with American breakfast!  Mmmmmm. I think this is what caused my issues for the rest of the day but it was so good while I ate it!!

IN the BX and Commissary there are glass walkways over Roman ruins. How very cool is that?  Literally walking over history!!  Yes, I was a tourist and took pictures (here anyway bacause no one was around)

See?? Right in the isle!  Too cool. 

This is how the rest of the day was.  Rainy and cool. I went home put in sweats and watched Hulu and Netflix for the rest of the day. 

This weeks should be cool and sunny so much nicer. 

I went back to the cantina today and got a chicken leg/quarter for €5 and some rice and some capresse salad. Love that stuff. Ate this whole thing at lunch. And part of the leg and part of the rice. Guess what is for dinner tonight?  Lol. You guessed it. Good thing it’s GOOD food finally!!

I also wanders to the 4th floor (I’m on the 3rd) and the other side of the building to take this picture :)

And just because here is the large breezeway in front of my room. In front of those who let cahoots is the elevator bank - stairs straight ahead into the dark and hang a left around the corner and keep turning and your at the stair door. 

I’m not in front of my room. My set of doors is in the middle. Honestly not a horrible set up. Just horrible in that we can’t leave base. 

Work trip to Naples

This trip was a different one for me in that we traveled military all the way. We all met at the base in a designated area at 12:00. We then boarded a charter bus, our temperatures were all taken (99.1, thank you) and turned in paperwork.  Then were driven to the military area of the airport (across from the civilian side). Then we waited. And waited. 2:55 we were finally on the plane. We boarded via a single file stair case at the back of the plane. And here is the weird part:

Yes there is a wall.... I joked that this was really a prison transport. 

Everybody masked and ready to go!!

Why the wall??

This is a stock photo because I really didn’t think it appropriate to take pictures of OUR plane while it was being unloaded on a military base without clearance. 

Before we deplaned our commander (Major General Neary) deplaned and had all the pomp and circumstance done. 

Photo ops with cell phones for photos!  Interesting world we live in. 

View from the end of the balcony at different times of the evening 

My room. View from the “front door”. Nice little living room. Sofa that is squeaky and not too comfortable but better than a bed for watching TV (on the wall to the left over the desk)

Walking into the kitchenette area. Two burner conduction cook top microwave grill. What more could you want?

Potty to the left and further around the corner is the bedroom. 

Turning around the corner and the bedroom. That is another door to the breezeway. And window to there as well. Yeah. Uncomfortable to me but I’ve dealt with it. I have had the neighbors trying to come into the bedroom a few times. Weirdness. 

Bath. Nothing to write home about. 

View out my window. To the right and down one more room is the end. 

This is a “map” of the base. 

Yes. That is the extent of it. Just those buildings. Perspective is this:  standing just below the green building in the right side of the map:

This is looking to the right of the map. I was standing as if I was facing the bottom/south of the map so looking left physically... oh heck work it out. This is the end of the base to the right of the map. That’s the gate. Right there. 

Looking right across the street that is the fence for the edge of base. 

Looking the other way you can just make out the edge of the base going the other way. May be hard to see through the construction but honestly you get the jist. Super tiny!!

We got here on Monday. It’s Friday now. I have avoided eating too much in the food court. I bought some peanut butter and crackers and snacks and such. It’s been snack heaven. I ate Taco Bell one night. I didn’t think that there could be a way to screw up Taco Bell. Well they did. They were just “OK”. Disappointing. Next I tried the Italian place in the food court. Gnocchis. Figure we’re in Italy, right??  Nope awful!!!  Plain sauce no Parmesan cheese. Really?  Yuck!!  Then I had Subway sandwich one night. Not impressed. Sigh. Then today I finally tracked down the Italian Mensa. OMG. Why did I not do that the first day???

This looks like I’m a super PIG but let me tell you, I ordered one of each of the pastas in preparation for the weekend. There are limited food choices on this side on the weekend. We would have to take a shuttle bus to the other base 1/2 hour away. 

So for $10 (12/13 dollar equivalent)

Spaghetti with oil and pepper (mmm) and not sure why the curly noodles are but they are tasty!  With Parmesan cheese as well!!  Yay!

The veggies were surprisingly cold with some picked things in there as well and super tasty!!  I ate about 1/3 of each for lunch so I’ll have enough to have some for the weekend. With this and a trip to the other side on Saturday I should be good to go until next week when the Mensa is open again. :)