Category Archives: Travel

Drones from Russia

2025 Cruise up the Danube River

 

Just a couple of days before we ventured out on our 3 flights that ended in Romania, we were watching PBS News and listened to a story about Russian drones bound to kill Ukrainians got a bit off course and flew over Romania. Holy shit, I thought, will we be that close to Russian drone attacks? I never thought I would be that close to danger. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a chickenshit. How could this happen? Apparently, they flew over Romania for 12 minutes and could inadvertently have set off World III in the Balkans just as World War I had been set off in the Balkans. After all, Romania is a member of NATO.  And you don’t mess with NATO.

Partly, the war was avoided because Romania just does not have the cash or resources to defend itself against drones. It has an air force that could repel a few traditional forces, but could do nothing about drones over its it’s sovereign territories.  In this case at least, that was a good thing. It was also good that Romania did not call the other NATO countries to defend it. Reminds me a bit about George Bernard Shaw’s play, Arms and the Man, in which a soldier from the Balkans, Serbia I believed, had an ammunition bag filled with chocolates rather than bullets.

It turns out there is a lot more to worry about in the Balkans than I ever realized.

 

 

Worries

2025 Cruise up the Danube River

 

For the past two months I have been worried about the Air Canada strike.  We were scheduled to fly by Air Canada. My sister and her husband had booked a tour of Scotland and needed to fly Air Canada to get there. Then the Air Canada strike started and their flight to Toronto was cancelled.  Air Canada refunded the money for the flight but paid nothing for the consequential damages such as the coach tour that would follow. It was not cancelled so the tour operator refused to pay back the prepaid air fare. That was a major loss. Needless to say, we wanted to avoid that, but it was beyond our contol.

 

Then the union representatives advised their members to accept the Air Canada offer, but 91% of those members turned it down. This was 3 days before we were hoping to say bon voyage. Now I was seriously worried.  I was already considering booking a new flight, but then, I found out the union and Air Canada had agreed to send the outstanding issues to arbitration. As a result, the union workers remained on the job. And I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Whew!

 

I have decided after a personal request or two, to send my travel reports as we travel.  That flies in the face of advice I have been given and have been following on previous trips not to post about them until we are back, so as not to tip off any burglars that our house is open for them to ply their nefarious trades. But now I want to let those miscreants know that our house will be occupied by our son from Edmonton Alberta and he is tough. So beware, burglars will be inviting disaster to befall them if they attempt larceny while we are gone. That worry is gone. But still worries and travel go together like love and marriage.

 

Prelude to a Cruise up the Danube River

2025 Cruise up the Danube River

I made the mistake of telling a few people I was going on a journey through the Balkans of Europe.  They impressed upon me the importance of blogging while on the journey. That sounds great in theory, but puts pressure on the blogger.  These trips are often filled with events and stuff, leaving little room for blogging. But I thought it would be worth a try.

 

 

Sitting in Steinbach waiting for our trip to the Balkans we noticed that some of the countries we are going to visit, like so many of our provinces in Canada, have serious wild fires spreading to communities. Are we hopping from the frying pan into the fire? Are flying into an inferno? Is the world becoming enveloped in flames? Is this the apocalypse? Now?

 

Not pleasant thoughts for the beginning of a travel adventure. Actually, I don’t want any adventures other than adventures of the mind. That is the only kind of adventure travel I enjoy and look forward to.

 

I never had a burning desire to see Romania, or Bulgaria, or Serbia, or Croatia or Hungary. But these were the countries we signed up to see. So here we go. Why?  Well, after returning from our jaunt last year across half the country and back again, to Nova Scotia and back, we were tired in body and soul. It was a bit much for old timers. And we are old. There is no denying this unpalatable truth.

 

Then friends were going on a trip to Europe to join a cruise up the Danube River from Bucharest Romania through all of those countries, and there happened to be 3 rooms open. That woke us up from our doldrums. And with very little thought, we plunged. We signed up without analyzing carefully what was involved. We liked the idea of letting someone else transport us after a long car trip. Being with friends might be fun, though we usually favored trips by ourselves or with close family members.  Specifically, we never asked ourselves why would we go to these countries? After all, I wanted to go to Scotland. The land of the Scottish Enlightenment. The home of David Hume. Secondly, we never looked very closely at the price.  The health insurance alone was astronomical. We never added it all up. How was the possible?

 

After we committed ourselves, we were frankly shocked at the total cost. As an example, our health insurance for 2 weeks through relatively average countries with average health systems, would cost us more than a 3 month stay in the USA where they have the most expensive health care system in the world! How does that make sense? But we were committed. Stupid and committed. Not a good combination.

 

Then I decided to do some research into these places and I was very pleasantly surprised. They were interesting. Maybe we were not so stupid after all. The trip looked fantastic. The countries looked fascinating. We were travelling with congenial friends.  Who would not want to sail through the “powder keg of Europe?” The Balkans. The place where the Great War began? Well, when I put it that way. I don’t know. Who would want to see that?

 

So off we go.

Conclave:  Imperfect Men

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

I mentioned in my first post on this wonderful film that the ancient procedures of the Roman Catholic Church in choosing a new Pope are insane. But that is not all. Not only is the process far from perfect, so are the candidates. They are imperfect men. Some of them very far from perfect.

Father Ayemi, one of the candidates,  admits he had “a lapse” when he was 30 years old with a nun who was 19 years old.  She made a dramatic unauthorized appearance in the conclave where she caused a stir. The secret is already out.  In addition, there is a child who might be his.  Yet, surprisingly perhaps, he also said, “I sensed the Holy Spirit this morning. I am ready to take this burden.” He believes God has chosen him to lead the Roman Catholic Church, even though if this “lapse” was discovered, it would no doubt rock the Church. As a result, he refuses to excuse himself as a candidate and he has wide support among the Cardinals.

Imagine the carnage to the church if it came out that the Pope had fathered a child!  Eventually it is revealed that other Cardinals are also less than impeccable men. Some Cardinals search for the “least horrible” candidate. Some of the cardinals examine their own hearts and find themselves wanting. One begs others not to vote for him yet they do. Many have deep ambition, but hide it. Is that bad?  Humility is more attractive, but is it better? One Brother says, with a shudder, “It is shameful to be this age and still not know yourself.” Then quotes this: “Ambition is the moth of holiness.”  I don’t know who said that? I am not sure what it means.

 

Clearly, none of these men who are candidates are perfect. But who is perfect? Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “the last Christian died on the cross.”  Some are very far from perfect Christians. Every political or religious process is imperfect. So too is every candidate for any office.

The process actually mirrors our current political malaise.  I wish we could have a thunderbolt from heaven to make things right in our political world. But its not likely to happen.

What that process has never achieved, no matter what Catholics believe, is infallible leadership. That might be the only certainty in this process. Even though in some cases the choice of leadership seems almost divine, in others, the choice seems more Satanic.

So how can such an imperfect process with such imperfect timber create a good Pope? Or a great Pope?  It must be a miracle.

Great Art and the Miracle of Sudbury

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn, Environment

 

This chronicle of our trip across the east half of the country is now drawing to a close. It was a glorious trip, because we have a glorious country. We had a wonderful stay in Ottawa with Chris’ sister, brother-in-law, and niece. With them we visited the Canadian Art Gallery a wonderful place to spend an afternoon. This time we saw mainly new art from students. I also saw and enjoyed Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire which caused such a great stir when the museum purchased it for $1.76 million in 1990. But now it is considered wrth more than 10 times as much.  A great investment. But I consider such values for art absurd. No art is really worth the prices paid for it, except it must be worth what people are willing to pay for it.

 

I just wanted to make a comment about Sudbury where we went to visit my cousin Bruno and his wife Lily. Bruno was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and died a month or two late. It was great to have one last visit with this gentleman. This is what he was—a true gentle man. Very glad to have one last visit.

 

I want to close this chronicle with some comments about Sudbury, which we had little time to see on account of that visit and our weariness and eagerness to go home.

Sudbury is a miracle story.  It proves that nature always bats last!  We must not forget that. At one time things looked bleak in Sudbury. They were desperate. Sudbury was the world’s largest atmospheric source of sulphur pollution, with vast associated biodiversity damages. The landscape around it was literally a moonscape. I remember the desolation from my first trip through Sudbury in 1967 on the way to Montreal.

 

The damage was caused by the chemicals emitted during the process of mining nickel. The damage was incredible. Some considered Sudbury completely destroyed.

 

Then after realizing the awful devastation, people came together to try to repair that damage. It seemed an insurmountable task.

 

Since the late 1890s, Sudbury was an important part of the mining industry in Canada. That industry created an environmental disaster in the area. There really is no other way to describe it. According to Climatefast,

 

“Sulfur dioxide released into the environment from the smelting of copper and nickel ores caused acid rain, and formed a black coating on rocks in the area, still visible to this day. Surrounding lakes were acidified, wreaking havoc on their ecosystems. Furthermore, copper and nickel accumulated in the soil, making it inhospitable for plants to grow.”

 

40 square miles around the city of Sudbury there was nearly no natural vegetation at all. It was hell. And environmental hell.

In 1971 and 1972, 4 years after I visited the area, NASA used the area for mimicking the surface of the moon for experiments with their prospective astronauts during the Apollo 16 and 17 operations. Sudbury had an international reputation for being a hell hole.

 

People got together and asked themselves what they could do about the disaster. Researchers told them that treating the toxic metal-contaminated soil with lime might help and enable vegetation to grow again. In 1978 volunteers and students including university students from Laurentian University started working at liming the ground and planting seeds of various plants as well as saplings. The campaign was an astonishing success. The area started to regreen.

 

Over 10 million trees were planted in the cleaned-up soil. Amazingly, the city now has some of the cleanest air in Canada! That re-greening project is ongoing. The newly grown trees and shrubs have helped to trap CO2 from the atmosphere.

 

The surrounding area is now habitat for wildlife and renovating the entire community.

 

At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference  (COP 15 ) in Montreal in December of 2022, a landmark agreement was made to guide global action on nature through to 2030. Representatives of 118 governments from around the world gathered for 2 weeks in Montreal and came up with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) on the last day of negotiations. That framework agreement tries to address biodiversity loss, and the crucial need to restore biodiversity losses, and protect indigenous rights.

 

The plan includes concrete measures to stop and even reverse nature loss, including putting 30% of degraded ecosystems under legal protection by 2030.

 

At that conference delegates recognized that the stakes for the world could not be higher as the planet was experiencing the largest loss of life since the dinosaurs! One million plant and animal species arenow threatened with extinction, many within in decades.

 

At that conference Laurentian University showcased the important work that had been done in the Sudbury area and what could be accomplished with hard work and dedication.  This has been called “Sudbury’s Regreening Story.”

 

Since the project began the following has been achieved:

 

  • A 98% reduction in air pollution from an industry that is still thriving;
  • Nearly all air quality advisories have been eliminated;
  • 10 million planted trees and shrubs have been planted by the community;
  • 50% of the lost sport fish populations have been restored;
  • More than 3 million tons of carbon have been sequestered by those newly planted trees and shrubs;
  • 22% of the zone that was damaged has been converted into lovely parks.  I can testify to the beauty of much of the area that was once a despoiled wasteland. Unfortunately, because we had a deadline to visit my cousin I did not have time to go back to provide photographic proof. My bad. I will do better next time;
  • One species (aurora trout) has been delisted from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada ( COSEWIC) which recommends what species should be placed on or taken off of the list of critically endangered species;
  • The area has seen the emergence of a biotech industry based on a sustainable harvest of critical metals for the e-economy.

 

The successful restoration, which is not complete but is ongoing, was made possible by an energetic public, and extensive partnerships between citizens and various governmental, scientific, and business communities. The work here was also instrumental in encouraging the establishment of a very successful international treaty to stop the generation of acid rain.

 

That really is the key—avoiding the catastrophic losses in advance.  The United States has forgotten about this, as under Trump II they are relentlessly dismantling many environmental protections in favor of giving businesses free reign to do about whatever they want. I believe that is a huge mistake. Sudbury shows that to us all. It is much easier to prevent environmental degradation than mitigating it.

 

The community has become involved in the demonstration of how damaged nature can be restored even in extremely difficult circumstances. A story about the project was included in the Jane Goodall film Reason for Hope.  I think the maple leaf symbolizes that.

There is reason for hope! Nature does bat last. But we have to be smart.

 

 

Picking on the Vulnerable

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Gender Warfare

 

 

During this trip to eastern Canada we experienced the Republican Party spending millions on LGBTQ issues, even though their polls had shown that not many Republicans cared very much about the issue.

 

Donald Trump warned Americans that under the leadership of the Democratic party they could send their sons to school and they would come back as girls without their knowledge or consent. This is the simplified nonsense that Trump preached. And it was effective. He also told the American people that Kamila Harris looked out for “they/them” and he would look after you!

 

The Republican Party in the US spent millions of dollars on ads attacking the LGBTQ community in the last couple of weeks in the campaign, demonstrating once again that their dominant ideology on this subject, is the ideology of the bully. They want to pick on the most vulnerable people in America. That’s what bullies do.

 

The Republican claim trans people are the demons destroying America.  According to USAfacts, “Approximately 1.14% of the nation’s adult population, or 3 million Americans, identify as transgender.”  How is it possible that less than 2% of the population consisting mainly of the most vulnerable people in the country could possibly be a threat to the country?  This tiny group is a big problem for America? This seems absurd.

 

We should be protecting the most vulnerable not demonizing them. According to the Bible in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said “… inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” That seems like the Christian attitude to me.  The Republican attitude seems more like the Anti-Christ.  We should be protecting the vulnerable not scapegoating them.  But bullies don’t protect the vulnerable; they attack them. Yet Christians are the most consistent supporters of Donald Trump. How is that possible?

New Brunswick: From the Grand to the not so Grand

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada

St. John River Valley

 

It did not take long for us to renege on our promise to hustle home. After a few hours of travelling on the freeway through New Brunswick we just had to get off.  There was a road that followed the St. John River closely that was paved but only 2 lanes. That was much more to our liking so we took it. And it was great! Even though it was a bit slower.

The St. John Rover Valley is truly grand.  But you could tell we were getting tired. We made very stops to take photographs.

The St. John River is Eastern Canada’s longest river at 418-miles. It runs down the western edge of Nova Scotia along the Quebec border all the way to the Bay of Fundy.

This also brought us to Hartland, home of the longest covered wooden bridge in the world. According to New Brunswick tourism it is the longest “by far.”  Can that be?

The bridge is 1282 ft. (390.75 metres)  long and was certainly the longest we had ever seen. the purpose of the covers was to prevent truss joints from rotting. This one was built in 1921 with the walkway along the side added in 1945. This was a grand bridge. then we went to the not so grand.

 

Grand Falls

In Grand Falls we discovered falls that were far from Grand.  They may have been grand at one time. Not anymore.  They have been emasculated by hydro-electric dams that have turned them into pipsqueak falls. How the mighty have fallen.  80% of the river has turned into a narrow stream. To me it seemed like sadness, not mist hung in the air.  I know we need hydro-electric power, but there sure is a big cost. Is this what “clean” power is all about? All I am saying is that the price of progress is immense.

 

Leaving Cape Breton Highlands National Park

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn

 

I was sad to leave the area around Ingonish, but that’s life. After a short stop there, we continued on our path along the glorious Cabot Trail. At the edge of Cape Breton Highlands National Park we stopped because I noticed a lovely islet as we passed. As I have said, I love those little islets which I think are symbols of Canada. Small rocky islands in a lake or stream. It turned out this was an exceptional example of exactly that.

From here on the extreme east coast of Cape Breton Island we realized that we were heading back home. From here on in we would be travelling west. We also decided we would not make as many stops. Less meandering. More getting home. When we left the Cabot Trail, we realized we were on the way home. Sad, but we were ready for it. We had spent nearly 5 weeks on the run. It was time to go home.

Autumn is my favorite time of the year. North America, I believe has the greatest autumn colours for foliage in the world.  I consider the forests of eastern North America in autumn to be one of the wonders of the world. I have not seen anything as spectacular in Europe. The fall leaves there to me seem dull. Not as brilliant and varied as they are in Canada any way.   I really don’t know about other countries.  In Canada, particularly in eastern Canada, we are blessed with an outstanding array of fall colours. This I believe is the result of a great variety of trees coupled with the cold climate.  Some thinkers have suggested that there is no spiritual insight without suffering.  That’s why if you go too far south, the colours are no longer as spectacular. So too, I think there is no great autumn colour without suffering. As you need to suffer to become enlightened, so the trees need to supper in the cold to evoke great colours.  Without the suffering, the rewards are thin and shallow gruel.