back in the land of the fog
we came back on september 11th from europe. we watched cnn footage of the commemorations occuring live in new york, while we awaited our airplane in the munich airport. i stifled gigantic sized sobs, tears engulfing the globe of my eyes, dripping. the events of 9/11 feel closer than the five years that have passed. in germany, i felt keenly american, grieving the loss of innocence, an onslaught of torrid emotion in such a public place. raw.
but this blog entry is supposed to be about greece and so it will be. i will post a photo of each place visited in the next few days, each considered to be my favorite perspective of that place. (if you long to see more, say 500ish, leave a comment and i will make sure to include you on the virtual cruise i am planning...)
we go back to that munich airport where we board a lufthansa plane intended for the land of fog. a 12 hour journey sobers me to the reality of staying awake and fighting the bodily impulse to sleep by reading the entirety of "the phantom of the opera," playing cards, interacting with my ipod for a time, and forming a hatred that's palpable for a fellow passenger named "metta."
metta was a black cat housed in one of those travel bags, belonging to the woman who sat in front of us. she apparently didn't believe in any form of sedation or tranquilizers and so katy and i ENDURED 12 hours of meowing and caterwauling while flight attendants walked by and smiled approvingly, asking if she needed extra water, and other passengers looking on dotingly. my raw red eyes and consuming hunger to sleep would not be satisfied. she took the cat out of its bag and set it in her lap to console it during various points of the journey. i kept wanting to be that "stupid american" europeans sometimes seem to associate with americans in general. i started drafting a letter in my head to lufthansa on their pet policy guidelines, but i took the path of peace and brooding instead. followed by a cocktail of benadryl.
but this blog entry is supposed to be about greece and so it will be. i will post a photo of each place visited in the next few days, each considered to be my favorite perspective of that place. (if you long to see more, say 500ish, leave a comment and i will make sure to include you on the virtual cruise i am planning...)
we go back to that munich airport where we board a lufthansa plane intended for the land of fog. a 12 hour journey sobers me to the reality of staying awake and fighting the bodily impulse to sleep by reading the entirety of "the phantom of the opera," playing cards, interacting with my ipod for a time, and forming a hatred that's palpable for a fellow passenger named "metta."
metta was a black cat housed in one of those travel bags, belonging to the woman who sat in front of us. she apparently didn't believe in any form of sedation or tranquilizers and so katy and i ENDURED 12 hours of meowing and caterwauling while flight attendants walked by and smiled approvingly, asking if she needed extra water, and other passengers looking on dotingly. my raw red eyes and consuming hunger to sleep would not be satisfied. she took the cat out of its bag and set it in her lap to console it during various points of the journey. i kept wanting to be that "stupid american" europeans sometimes seem to associate with americans in general. i started drafting a letter in my head to lufthansa on their pet policy guidelines, but i took the path of peace and brooding instead. followed by a cocktail of benadryl.
posted by annelies at 8:26 PM
2 Comments:
Hey AZ...I'm really enjoying your pictures of Greece -- looks like a beautiful place. Sorry to hear about the cat -- I know what it's like to be stuck on a long flight without being able to rest. Last spring's flight from New York to Helsinki included a baby that cried for seven out of eight hours. Glad to know that you finally were able to get some rest.
I had a terrible time of grieving myself on 9/11. I actually don't revisit those feelings annually because it really was such a traumatic event for me, not only because of the obvious loss and horror, but being in my most favorite city on earth and after coming back from a year of travel overseas, it really did signal a loss of innocence for our country and for me personally as well as brought fear into my view of the world in ways I had never (to a fault) feared it before. Something shifted forever on that day in many more ways than one. This year I actually watched some documentaries about 9/11 which is the first I have been able to do so in five years. I lost it and wept uncontrollably for a couple hours that night. It felt healing but is a sad journey personally and globally... we join the world in its vulnerability, which we always had but didn't acknowledge. And I officially "grew up" that day and realized that the world that fascinates and delights me also will scar and destroy me and those I love. May sound obvious and I "knew" it before but didn't really "feel" it until 9/11. Thanks for letting me ramble.
Sorry for the sadness as you talk about your fabulous trip. I just had to concur with your grieving. A.
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