Colin Churcher 2020

 Today is a travel day. We are taking the ICE train from Hamburg to Zurich. As usual DB seems to be able to lose time easily but they have a good system to tell travelers which connections they have missed and the time of the next one. Our train lost time continually and was eventually cancelled at Basel Bad. We were forced to take a local train to the SBB station in Basel and then a very crowded TGV to Zurich Larry asked a question about the taxi rank at the MW airport. It is a static display and there is no movement similar to that which can be found on the tarmac. A great number of brake lights have been installed and there is a feeling of hurry up. Patagonia I have shown a few pictures in an earlier blog but I should also mention a small operation at one end where there is a wye. This is used continually by a small train but one leg of the wye is obstructed by sheep grazing on the line. As the train approaches this section the sheep move out of the way. AS the train is ...

We spent the whole day in Miniatur Wunderland going over what we had seen yesterday in greater detail. Final Comments on the Airport  We spent  first hour watching the planes taking off and landing and looking at the airport services. There is an extremely large taxi rank. This is the real time arrivals and departures board The Water Feature The water is very clear and kept in good condition so that it is easy to see right to the bottom. There is a crab at one area which has pincers that are moving. We saw a sailing ship come and the vessels are still controlled manually. There is a banana train pulled by a Danish locomotive running backwards and forwards along the waterfront The reverse movement is protected by a penguin sitting on the buffer. Not a safe operation. Provence This is always worth watching to look at the small villages and settlements that are nestled in the cliffs. It is easy to find Provence from the field of lavendar on the hill A small settlement beside a fi...

The Milenium Falcon is one of the few non-Terestrial items at the airport General view towards the terminal building We spent the whole day at Miniatur Wunderland. Having visited several times before I did not take too many pictures but will concentrate on certain aspects. The Airport The airport is stunning in its complexity with the number of aircraft moving around at any one time - up to about 10. In addition there are trains bringing passengers as well as fuel oil and the number of road vehicles moving around the tarmac at any one time is very impressive. There are buses that take the passengers to the terminal from planes that are not connected to a gate. There are emergency vehicles and there are oil tankers as well but the overall effect is just an incredible organization. At any one time there must be 20 or 30 vehicles moving, planes moving, planes taking off, planes landing.  Quite amazing. Night time view There is a small section with an old aircraft which is used for the...

This is the only picture I took today - Hamburg Hauptbahnhof We took Air France from Ottawa to Paris with a connection to Hamburg. There was great chaos in the security section at Ottawa airport. One of my bags was diverted onto the intense search section and it was evident that with the speed they were going it would take a long time. I found a supervisor who explained and facetiously offered to get me a chair to sit on while I waited - which I facetiously accepted. After this it seems the whole process was speeded up and my bag was quickly released from the security prison. This made us late getting to the gate but a quick word with one of the staff at the gate in which I explained how my leg could be very painful if I had to stand up for some time and we finished up being in the first group to get on the aircraft after the wheelchairs. At Paris we had a long wait for our connection to Hamburg and this time one of the security staff came over and invited Paul and I to be first on the...