#The Lioness

On our last day in Berlin we went to the zoo. It is the second oldest zoo in Germany. Many beautiful animals to see. Unfortunately, we only saw about a third of the zoo and missed many varieties of animals, because it started raining and we didn't have any raincoats. We didn't want to get our clothing wet. They would never have dried out and we left the next day to fly home again. I took many pictures, though. Here is one of my favorites: a beautiful lioness.

Back from our Holiday in Germany

Hello, I'm back.


Some people enjoy traveling, some don’t, and some don’t ever want to travel. We just got back from a three week holiday in Germany. Actually, we came back Tuesday, September 15, but I haven’t had time to do any writing or even just blogging. Too much work to catch up.

The grass in the yard was so high I had to cut it in stages, trimming it a couple of inches with every run. It took three cuttings to bring it back to a normal height. I don’t remember any September when our grass was still so lush and growing so profusely.

Then there was my garden. The peppers, the tomatoes, the beans, and the beets needed to be harvested. Once we had everything out of the garden it needed to be processed. We were busy making Salsa, Peppersauce, canning beets and all the other things one does in the Fall.

We’re almost back to normal. That’s what happens when you’re gone for so long.

I like to travel and experience new things, but I’m always happy to be home again. It makes me realize every time how much I appreciate our way of life and how fortunate we are to be living in a country with wide open spaces, the quiet life, and the opportunity for me to go hunting and fishing.

Traveling in the US is not much different from traveling in Canada. We speak English and we enjoy the same lifestyle. In addition, we can travel by car, allowing us more choices where to go and when.

Traveling to Europe is different. We have to use a plane to get there. I’m not mentioning traveling by ship, because it takes too long to cross the ocean. It used to be easier and more relaxing to fly in a plane, but that has changed after the senseless attack on the trade center on September 11, 2001. Those damned religious fanatics from the Arab countries have made traveling by plane an unpleasant experience.

Going through Security and Customs can take forever resulting in many travelers missing their connecting flights.

Of course, sometimes the inapt personnel working at the airports can also cause a traveler to lose his/her mind.

We flew with Air France. From Winnipeg to Montreal we traveled with WestJet; from Montreal with Air France to Paris, and then to Hamburg, Germany.

Everyone told us that Paris is a huge airport, difficult to maneuver and with great distances between gates, so I had a wonderful an idea. I suffer from back-problems, courtesy of falling off the ladder too many times during my exciting career as an Electrician. Being old enough and having a legitimate reason I decided to fly with assistance, assuming everything would go smoothly.

In Montreal I was picked up by an attendant and loaded into a wheelchair, which I really didn’t need. One of those golf carts would have been fine. We got the VIP treatment and I was wheeled past the controls right into the airplane. That was easy enough. Sitting in a plane for seven hours under those cramped conditions is no picnic and doesn’t do much to help my back, but I passed the time watching the movie ‘Mad Max’; the new version. What a boring, mindless movie. I endured the pain until I was about halfway through the movie and then I couldn’t take anymore. Then I watched another ‘Mall Cop’ movie. It was okay, but I was glad I didn’t have to pay for it.

The food on the Air France plane was surprisingly good. We even got alcohol with it.You get nothing on a WestJet plane except pretzels.

In Paris I was picked up again by an attendant, but this time we were loaded into a minivan and driven across the airport property to another building. It was quite confusing and I was glad we had help. Fortunately, we had nearly three hours stopover and we needed them. It took pretty much that long to get us to our departure gate.

In Hamburg I was wheeled from the plane right to the luggage pickup area. Then we were on our own. I will write about that part of our trip in a future blog.

Going home was a disaster, especially at the Paris airport. They are so disorganized there and the personnel not very concerned about the travelers. We sat in one room along with a score of other travelers who needed assistance waiting for someone to take us to our departure gate. When we had only thirty minutes left until our plane took off, we were understandably getting a little bit anxious. When my wife went to the woman in whose apparent capable hands we had been put and pointed out how little time we had, the woman spoke to her only in French, even though she did speak English. When my wife said she didn’t speak French only English and German, the woman said in a snappish tone, “I speak Arabic,’ and she told my wife to sit down and wait. 'Arabic', that's all I needed to hear to get my hair standing up.

We were not the only ones going crazy. One young woman in a wheelchair lost it and began crying and complaining loudly; she and her male companion took off on their own. I have no idea if they made their plane. Other travelers were also visibly upset.

Finally an attendant came and loaded us and another older couple into a van and drove us to another building and took us up an elevator. We were met by another guy who brought a wheelchair. Then he had to check if our plane had changed gates and walked away with our boarding passes, leaving us frantic. We managed to board our plane ten minutes before it took off. We were the last ones to board.

They were more efficient in Toronto, another huge airport. At least it seemed that way about them being more efficient. They did try hard to get us to our plane. Unfortunately, we had to claim our luggage and then check it again with WestJet. We had help with that and I gave the guy ten bucks for getting our luggage. Then we had to go through Customs and Security. My wife pushed the wheelchair and I didn’t feel right about that, especially since it was not necessary. But there was nobody there to help us. It was a good thing though that she took over, because had we waited for someone to come we would surely have missed our plane.

The other reason we made our plane was the fact that we got special treatment going through Customs; we didn’t have to stand in line but were wheeled right past a VIP Custom’s checkpoint. However, we still had to waste a lot of time going through Security. Once through that, we were loaded onto a golf cart and driven to our gate. We were about halfway there when we heard over the speakers that the plane to Winnipeg has boarded and is ready to take off. Our driver radioed ahead and somebody waited for us with a wheelchair for the last leg of the trip to the plane. My wife ran ahead to let them know we were here. The female attendant pushed me as fast as her feet would move and I have to give her credit for caring so much. She wheeled me past the guy who checked the boarding passes without stopping right to the entrance door of the plane.

We had three minutes left before the plane took off. By this time my wife and I were ready to be institutionalized. There was already a couple sitting in our seats, because they assumed we weren’t coming anymore. Obviously, they had to move.

I will never fly with assistance again! I’d rather walk and endure the physical pain instead of the mental anguish.