http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027345536Oh my; the clown
never misses a chance to rub it in the faces of his fellow primitives, that he's an affluent ex-patriate American with a formidably-Teutonic wife and an unlimited expense account.
DFW (19,649 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 03:51 PM
I was in Paris on Thursday, I will be back down there on Monday
I expect the Gare du Nord to look like an armed camp and all hand luggage to be sifted through, all to no avail.
But other than seeing more gendarmes on the street, like I did after Charlie Hebdo, I also expect the Parisians to defiantly not let themselves be intimidated into becoming either scared rabbits or someplace like East Berlin, where groups of various branches of the Vopos and/or Stasi were practically on every street corner.
I have spoken with my Parisian friends on the phone, and they all say, with typical French cynicism, "ce n'est que le début, on n'a pas vu la fin." I fear they're right, but they will not let it change their city. They'll give that so very Gallic shrug, and say, "C'est comme ça."
Like they always do, like they always have.
Weidman* (2 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 03:52 PM
1. Stay safe on your travels!
*Not a new mole of franksolich's. Really.
DFW (19,649 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 04:17 PM
7. I've had more near-misses than a cat or a bad horse shoe player
I once blew off a day in Brussels to accompany my wife and about 6 neighborhood children to an amusement park over in Holland. That day, when I should have been landing at the old Terminal 2 at Düsseldorf Airport, a deadly dioxin fire brok out in the terminal I usually landed at right at the time I usually arrived. Killed a bunch of people.
Then, a day after I was the Frankfurt Airport, some "heroes" decided to set off a bomb right at the place I had been the day before and exactly at the same time.
Another time, I was landing at Zavantem in a tiny commuter plane when a huge gust of wind turned the plane 90° and the wings were suddenly vertical just a few feet above the ground. The VERY sharp pilot spotted a small disused runway perpendicular to the one we supposed to land on, revved the propeller, and set us down on the side runway.
Then there the time I was on a Cubana plane from Havana to Montréal. It was an old Soviet-built Ilyushin-62, a copy of the long-disused British Vicount-10. The first attempt at take-off failed, and we returned to the terminal. The second attempt was successful, but after 90 minutes, we turned around and headed back to José MartÃ. I asked the Flight attendant what was going on, and he said the navigation equipment was defective. A pilot from Québec in my row asked what he said (I spoke in Spanish), and when I translated, the pilot said BS, they're dumping fuel out of both wings (it was clearly visible), so they fear an explosion. When we got back to Havana, I asked how much time was needed to repair the plane this time? The Cubans said we were lucky to have gotten back alive, and we'd have to wait for another plane.
And so on, and so on, and so on. Catching professional bands of thieves from Croatia, rooting out corrupt cops in Belgium, you name it. I guess at some point my number is up, but what are we supposed to do in the meantime, crawl into a box because the sky might fall in? If you suddenly see me stop posting, it's either because we nominated Herman Cain for President, or because I finally boarded the wrong plane/train/bus/Métro. But any of us can get run over by a truck (my wife did, and she was sitting her car when it happened!), and we don't spend our days worrying about that, either.
One rarely, if ever, wishes evil upon someone else, but in this case, I'd be happy if Marc's gout, the effects of a too easy, too decadent, of a life,
finally caught up with him.
uppityperson (99,043 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 03:56 PM
2. I envy you and grieve for them
DFW (19,649 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 04:20 PM
10. Grieve for them. Don't envy me
I run down there two or three times a month. Routine by now, although it won't feel routine next week for sure.
smirkymonkey (14,906 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 04:21 PM
11. Be safe. Please report back on your observations.
I always love hearing of your posts on Europe, I lived there for a short time and miss it, so I really enjoy your posts.
DFW (19,649 posts) Sat Nov 14, 2015, 04:26 PM
13. I'll be there until Wednesday
I rarely spend the night there any more. I can get the 6PM Thalys train and be back home by 10:30 in Germany. This time, we're combining my work with some private stuff. One of our friends has asked us and some other friends to dinner, and we said we'd be there way before this happened.
I've been in Europe for years now, and speak not only German (I live in Germany after all), but also the languages of most countries that border on Germany. It's sort of home by now, so I see the good, the bad and the ugly. As with the States, anyone who thinks there is no bad or ugly here must read only travel brochures.
I dunno why Marc panned the old Soviet Ilyushin-62, allegedly Leonid Brezhnev's favorite airplane.
<<<rode on an Ilyushin-62 from Chicago, Illinois to Kiev, Ukraine, in August 1994, and found it okay, although I avoided using the bathroom.
Actually, I was disappointed, because seeking adventure, I was hoping to fly on some ancient prop-job, just to see what it'd be like. As it was, there was no adventure, no excitement, in this at all.
<<<has flown a lot, but never has had any excitement.
