I AM OFF TO THE SUN

When you read this I sit in the plane from Brussels to Hurghada (Red Sea) in Egypt (see map) or I have just arrived. It takes about 4 1/2 h to get there. We will leave at 6.30 h at Brussels airport and will arrive at 12.30 pm local time. There are two hours difference.

For security checks everybody has to be at the airport 2h before the departure of the plane. But as my friend needs wheelchair assistance because she has one leg dammaged by polio when she was 6, we have to be there only 1 1/2 h before. In the morning half an hour counts ! This service is very well organized internationally.

They take the documents and luggage and you just have to sit there until somebody comes and picks you up with a little electric car, which drives us until the gate. We are then seated in the plane before all other passengers. At the arrival in Egypt somebody picks us up and does the paperwork (visa, etc) for us too and picks up our luggage. This service is free of charge. At least it allows people with a handicap to travel more easily.

A taxi will drive us then to the Hotel.





The airport in the desert



a view of Hurghada out of the plane



and a street.

The actual temperature there is around 28°C (82 °F) ! What a changement for us coming from 6°C (42°F) smog and rain !

These pictures are not from me, I will start to take pictures as soon as we arrive.

Wish me a good internet connection and I will be there tomorrow !

SHOW & TELL

More participants are here at Kelly's


My mother's sister had married an American from Madison/Wisc. in 1950. They didn't have children and I was sort of daughter to them. They invited us for the first time to the States in 1971 (I wrote a post about that here) and in the 80 and 90th we have been often in Madison and had always combined our holidays with 2 weeks travelling through the States.

These coins she had sent us in 1976 and 1986. They are in silver and were issued for the respective anniversaries. Of course as always when I want to take a picture, Rosie has to check on what I am doing !

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From tomorrow afternoon on I will be in Egypt for 2 weeks and will write from there as soon as I find the internet connection ! Hopefully it will work at least decently !

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

13 Quotes about retirement

1. “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.”

2. “Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to.”

3. When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income.”

4. “When you retire, think and act as if you were still working; when you're still working, think and act a bit as if you were already retired”

5. “When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.”

6. Stay busy [when you retire]. If you are going to sit on the couch and watch TV, you are going to die.

7. Don't act your age [in retirement]. Act like the inner young person you have always been.

8. Retirement, when every day is Saturday!

9. Retirement takes all the meaning out of weekends.

10. One of the problems of retirement is that it gives you more time to read about the problems of retirement.

11. Retirement . . . is when you stop living at work and begin working at living.

12. Retirement: The time in your life when time is no longer money.

13. In retirement, I look for days off from my days off

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

My shopping bag !

CATCH IN A CHURCH

You see here the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is located in the old part of Jerusalem. It is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried. The church has been an important pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. (you can read more about it here)

Doesn't it look like a peaceful place for pilgrims to go and pray ?

and then look at what happened on Sunday !

click here


it's commented in french, but you don't need comments for understanding !

Greek religious and armenians fought with each other using the holy candles and their fists to hit each other ! It was almost a "Catch" show, and the poor policemen had a hard work to separate the fighters !

It looks like a very funny video and honnestly I laughed until I cried.

But it is a real shame and it is difficult to find words for this behaviour in such a religious place !

Poor Jesus !

VETERANS IN EUROPE ??

Jan and Jer gave us the following assignment :

Since Next Tuesday is Veterans Day, I thought it would be nice to salute our Veterans and show our appreciation. Photo requirement of something patriotic. (To this I want to add that this game is for the whole blogworld and not only for American blogs !)

In the European countries we don't have Veterans Day. It is called Armistice Day and is the anniversary of the symbolic end of World War I on 11 November 1918. It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning - the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

In some countries with strong anti-military traditions (e.g., Germany) veterans are neither honored in any special way, nor have their dedicated Veterans Day.

In Belgium it is an official holiday, known also as the day of peace in the Flanders Fields. But if you ask people on the street : "why do you have a day off ?", most of them don't know. Or they think it's because of WW II

In my special case I am "involved" in 3 countries.

I was born in Germany and have a German passport so I am officially German

I married an Italian and became Italian by marriage and I am officially Italian too

The fact that I live now 50 years in Belgium makes me to an unofficial Belgian citizen.

Our son has both nationalities, he is Italian and German, but has never lived in these countries. He doesn't even speak very well German or Italian. He was born and raised in Belgium and his mother tongue is French. He works for an English company and has lived for 10 years in the UK. Since 5 years he lives in Amsterdam (Holland)

Which veteran should he honor ???


European Flag

So the only patriotic feelings I could have would be for a UNITED EUROPE. And Europe has no veterans, for the simple reason that it is a political and economic union of 27 member states, only established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community from 1957.

In Germany there are no Veteran cemetaries. German soldiers are burried in 57 countries. In Belgium there are 181.000 graves for them.

In Belgium veterans are honored by the King on this day, but from WW I, I doubt that there is a veteran left.
.

WEEKLY WINNERS

More participants here at Sarcastic Mom Weekly winners

Today I take you on a little walk through "Dreamland". It's a big shop (like a supermarket) and sells decoration stuff and mostly toys but also gadgets.



There were quite a lot of people.



To my big surprise I was greated with Christmas decoration ! Already ! I just prepare myself for my holidays in Egypt in one week and I certainly don't think about Christmas now !



This year's decoration looked quite ugly to me ! Everything in black or white, no Christmas colors !



Maybe that is chic and elegant, but I prefer a cosy red and golden Christmas tree and not a cold white artwork !



Then I walked there where gift articles where exposed. There were quite some cute once like "Hello Kitty"






dolls



cars and lots of other toys.

And just besides the toys, ingrediants for a nice Christmas meal were displayed



what do you prefer ?



and for those who are always late, I suggest this clock !




I honnestly prefer this one !