Flying over Sicily yesterday I was touched by how much of the landscape is free of structures of any kind and there are no meandering roads. If there were cattle grazing I could easily picture John Wayne in a cowboy hat. But the land isn’t used for that either.
I had a layover in Munich, and like Brussels on my in bound, the landscape was absolutely pristine. In Belgium it looked planned for small community living. In Germany it looked like it had been planned to end up exactly as it currently is. As if the villagers of yesterday had an eye to the future. It was clusters of very few houses ringed by perfectly squared and mitered farm land. The roads had very few cars. It was lush and green. None of it made me think, “I want to come back to Bavaria one day.”
There were quite a few airport employees dressed in traditional Bavarian garb. If you can picture Lederhosen then you are on the right track. It looked as if once they finished their shift at the airport they were going to pull an all-nighter at Oktoberfest. So industrious!
It was cute. However, none of these seemingly positive attributes account in any way for the food. I had a little time at one of the airport lounges. I felt like Mary Tyler Moore when she throws her package of ground meet into her grocery cart at the intro to her amazing television series. One of defeat, acceptance and a bit of resignation of how things are.
I had a bowl of lentil soup and a beer. It was barely ok.
Gray's Academy 
Leave a comment