Halifax, Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - Post by Anne

Halifax, Tuesday, July 30, 2013 – We got there in lots of time, lots of time! Waiting at the gate, a younger man asked me some questions about what to expect getting on the plane, etc. He told me this was his very first plane trip and he was going to Corfu via Frankfurt and Manchester! He was going to meet a woman he had befriended on the internet. This was to be their first meeting. People are so interesting sometimes when you just pay attention. I wished him Good Luck and I saw him getting off the plane in Frankfurt and he was getting pretty excited and was smiling a lot. Sort of like me!

I ran out of battery on my cell and the only place I could find in the airport was a plug beside the ladies’ room. So there I stood trying to be inconspicuous charging up the phone! A nice information guy in the Nova Scotia tartan vest told me there were plugs in some of the waiting seats but when I tried one, it didn’t work. Ah well.

I tried some German on the plane with my neighbour who spoke no English but the words have not been used in a long time. We did smile a lot and shared the very small seats for a long bunch of hours.

I got in at 7:30 am and the flight to Luxembourg didn’t leave until 12:50 pm so I had a long wait in an airport lounging area. There was coffee, tea, juice and water with some snacks as well for the taking. It was clean and comfortable. From there I went down a small elevator and through a very small security gate and then onto a bus which took me out on the tarmac to my flight on Luxair. It was kind of fun to see that it was a Bombardier plane. It was comfortable and very quick.

Jemp picked me up and we drove to his lovely home just outside Luxembourg City where we had lunch. We had some champagne to celebrate my birthday and then had a delicious lunch prepared by his gracious wife Lony. We had some wine as well with lunch. So, on top of no sleep on the transatlantic flight (love saying that!), 3 or 4 glasses of wine – it was really time for a nap before Jemp and I went to pick up Holly at the train station.

And there she was – sitting at a sidewalk café, eating a hot dog and trying to send me messages saying she had arrived in earlier than expected! So we all took off for Echternach and the Hotel de la Sure. We tooled around the town a bit and then had a glass of wine with Jemp on the terrace before he left. Then Holly and I sat out in the evening watching and I kept saying things like, “I remember that place” or “Imagine what that was like!”

Holly is finding out about me life back then – in spades! The stories are now coming from witnesses!

As soon as I can figure out how to do it, I’ll insert some photos here. But as we all know, if I don’t write it as it happens, it will be gone out into the ether!