Monday, July 19, 2010

War movie déjà vu’ and the love of tarmac.

The landing in Holland was a thing to behold. We came in so hot that I thought we were going to overshoot the entire country. The pilot landed the enormous plane like a feather with the skill of a surgeon. Schipol airport is just like one would expect from a Dutch airport. Be sure to see the team video we shot inside. We had to speed walk to our departure gate which was 80 gates away. But we managed to make it on time thanks to people moving walkways on all concourses.

Flying over Holland and Germany showed that we Americans are light years behind Europe in terms of clean energy. Both countries have thousands of wind powered turbines dotting the landscape. We also cruised over a massive array of solar panels as we approached Berlin. They are a very green people. The flight took us over some very beautiful countryside. As we flew over Bremen, I had a déjà vu’ experience from all the war documentaries I have watched over the years. The old films of allied bombers flying over the identical countryside dropping payloads of bombs took me back to another time. What an interesting history this land has.

Landing in Berlin was a different story than the one in Amsterdam. Just like my last visit to Germany, we were dropped off on the tarmac and shuttled in to the dirty run down terminal via a crowded bus. Customs? We could have walked in with a case of weapons grade plutonium and nobody would have even noticed. So since the rest of our team was on another flight, we waited in the airport and people watched. I won’t even comment on all the Euro-men in Capri pants, or how low a priority personal hygiene is to many Euro-travelers.

Steve Foss

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