The Journey Back - Spargle (white German asparagus)

We undertook modern day time travel again as we flew for more than nine hours from Frankfurt to Vancouver to arrive only am hot later in Vancouver than when we departed from Frankfurt. We had a most enjoyable layover experience, organized by our friend Jorg who shanghaied a friend of his, Joseph, into taking us to this beautiful forest village restaurant where we were able to enjoy one of the springs most lovely vegetables; spargel. It comes as a surprise to Germans when you tell them how special these big white tender sweet asparagus, I’ve never seen them anywhere else. I enjoyed mine served with the delicious green sauce that’s the specialty of the Rhinegau region where we dined.

A menu consult with Josef whose English was excellent, but taxed by some of the more special foods - like sweet woodruff in one of the deserts.


Then the next morning at a civilized hour we we onto the ‘new’ Air Canada Dreamliner. That is the Boeing 787-800 series. I put new in air quotes because there’s no way in my mind (speaking as a long retired hotel maid), that there could be that amount of ground in crud in  cracks and crevices if it really was a new airplane. It’s also much less sociable than that other large body aircraft with seats in business class. Yes I know I’m not really one to complain about that, the Dreamliner is perfectly suited for individual business travelers but less so for couples or small families. We even got told off when I sat on Christopher's lap because the seats are only designed for one person‘s weight! I was also quite sad that they threw away the champagne before I had a chance to have a Mimosa with my breakfast. All in all I give the Dreamliner a B+. Here’s one sitting on the tarmac in Vancouver.