German Trip (10): Unknown Soldier Tomb

The tomb was originally erected in front of the former Army Museum in Munich, the building which is the State of Bavaria administrative department, the government similar to the provincial government in Edmonton, for example. I was coming from the other site, on the sidewalk parallel to Franz-Josef-Straus and noted the building and not knowing what it was, wanted to enter because the building with its nice architecture was very welcoming. An old police officer, in full uniform, was coming towards me when I was getting close to the entrance and I noticed that he was looking directly at me. I asked him a question similar to if public access to the building was permitted and he told me, in very fluent English, that it was a government building and not open to the public.

I went around the building and found myself in Hofgarden. It was when I realized the structure in a sunken part, surrounded by thick stone walls. When I went inside, and it seemed to me that no one else was interested in that partially-cloudy day, I saw the tomb. The provided information, curved in the walls was in German but I could understand the WWI era mark by looking at the 1914-1918 writing.

It was a surprise as why a war memorial which commemorates the Great War German soldiers still stood there intact. The shrapnel wounds are still clearly visible on the pillars of the State Government building after more than 70 years. It is remarkable that it survived all the heavy bombing and ground attacks.

The old photos from Nazi Germany era show soldiers guarding the crypt-like memorial just like the way the soldiers are guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa and one of them was shot dead by the radicalized maniac. No soldier is guarding or posing for respect there today but the WWII notes and marks are also added to the memorial plaque which again brings surprise to me. This reminds me of the Japanese authorities a few years ago who had visited the Japanese WWII dead graves or cemetery and had a few remarks in that regard which caused anger and displeasure within the Chinese because by visiting and showing respect to those who lost their life during the WWII, people actually approve their actions, or maybe that’s how I see it.

Hofgarden, as I explained earlier has a nice outside restaurant/café, still is in business and it was the fuhrer’s favorite hangout in beautiful summer days of Munich. It was closed due to the weather and also maybe the time of visit or perhaps they were only serving inside when I visited Hofgarden but the tables and seats where positioned quite similar to what you may see in the old photos showing Hitler’s visits at the time. 

(Photo: I couldn't get a good shot but the tomb seems to be similar to what it originally put: A soldier in full gear laying on the floor, in peace) 

The US Sanctions

The US has economic sanction on Iran and a few other countries for years. I don't care about the other countries but would like to write a few lines about the Iran's. Has it been hard on Iran in the past 30 years or so? Yes. Without a doubt. The country has probably lost billions of dollars to that. No one is actually able to calculate it but it's a lot. This is one example:

A few weeks ago a buddy of mine contacted my and wanted me to get a quote from an engineering company that he had already found on the Web in regards to an equipment that they are to fabricate after the won a bid. He explained to me a bit and I e-mailed the guys. They requested a few detailed drawings of the items. My buddy sent a bunch and I asked him to get rid of the logos, any name or in general anything that associates with Iran. He said he did and sent me a few files both in DWG and PDF formats. There were a few times of corrections and a few revisions and after so many e-mail exchanges, the guys came back to me with this short e-mail that since the equipment would be installed and operated in Iran, they could not provide any service to me!

I of course didn't mind that and kind of had anticipated it. I just forwarded the message to my buddy. He now says that since most of the calculations had been done, it won't affect their project that much! So I don't know but I guess he could have been smarter and sent clearer drawings. I'm not doing anything illegal here and that piece of machinery was nothing but a solid structure sitting somewhere like a platform and he just wanted them to calculate the side forces of wind on the structure but he screwed it up. I hope he will be OK! 

(Photo: This cartoon, I hope it is OK by its artists that I am showing it here, depicts different US sanctions on different nations. Cuba is another country which has been under such sanctions for the past 50 years or so. North Korea and a few others one should also be added to the list)

Roosevelt in Calgary after 71 Years!

This weekend we tried something new which ended in a happy result. We went to Roosevelt in 17th Ave., SW for drink and dinner. Roosevelt is not new to the neighbourhood. They used to operate under Jack's name but when they renovated the whole place, they changed the name as well. I guess it was 2 years ago. Maybe 3. I'm not sure whether there's a relationship between this Roosevelt and the former presidents of the US, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt but this one might not be as famous to outsiders. Even I, as an outsider, didn't know there were two presidents of the US named Roosevelt and the only reason I even knew there was a US president named Roosevelt is that him, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill had a sort of conference in Tehran during the Second World War. According to the history documents, they gathered in Soviet Embassy in Tehran to discuss the ways to defeat the then Nazi Germany. That was 28-Nov-1943 surprisingly and almost 71 years before we went to Roosevelt Food and Drinks in Calgary! I don't know if there's any relationship between Franklin and Theodore but I do know that it was Franklin who joined the other two leaders in Tehran. 

Anyways we didn't have to wait because it was a booked occasion and wine was on the table. A waitress took our orders and although I'm not a wine guy I have to admit that I enjoyed a few sips of Red Wine (which I don't even know the brand) and of course my single bottle of beer.

The atmosphere is nice and well-decorated and it had additional decoration for Christmas. The kitchen is an open one so you can see what they are doing and there are not nasty business, not many, I would say. Everything is made before your eyes. 

For appetizer I ordered a sort of Pumpkin Soup which was good. I wanted to have Winter Salad as I'm a salad guy but The Lady advised against that citing its portion size but when other orders came I realized we were wrong. The salad looked very nice and the portion was appropriate for an appetizer. 

There was a fine gap between the appetizer and dinner. I had Turkey and side items which again was fine in terms of portion. Here I can't be sure they prepared it in the kitchen. My guess on this one is that they buy it made, and they thaw it in microwave or something. I have made Turkey myself and 

From Left, sited: Josef Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in the Soviet Embassy in Tehran in Nov-Dec 1943 discussing the Second World War problems. I still can understand why Hitler decided to invade Soviet Union while they had signed a treaty? He would not have destroyed itself that fast, had he refrained from launching Barbaroasa Operation which was his plan to invade and capture former Soviet Union.

although this one didn't taste like a turkey just out of oven, I have to say that it was good. I don't know if there's any restaurant serving fresh out of oven turkey. Maybe a few upscale restaurants and during Christmas. 

The Lady had Steak which she liked. There were fatty attached pieces that she simply cut them off.. Side items were Purple Potato, Asparagus and maybe other things that I could not see in the ill-lit place!  

We had again a good gap between our dinner and dessert. The dessert was of course not from the desert but I was a bit surprised by the size of my slice compare to The Lady's. It's not a big fuss but she had two pieces and I had one but I'm going to assume that is how they serve. I have to add that I stayed busy with the Red Wine in between the dinner and dessert which gave me a satisfactory feeling. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert. I was expecting a little bigger slice but that's fine. It's obvious that they had added the cream, halved strawberry and mint. The mint leaves, honestly gave the dessert an extra taste and pleasure. The cheesecake itself was OK but I would have preferred it served chilly but it was kind of lukewarm felt like taken out of microwave and left outside to cool down but that's what normally restaurants do. 

The place was fully packed and I could barely see any empty table. It seemed overstaffed to me such as another restaurant the we were too I guess 2 years ago but they seem all busy. We might go back again if we are in mood of meaty food and booze and a nice environment and it's definitely recommended to Western food lovers (and even other food lovers as the restaurant serves other types of cuisines) and drinkers. 

(Photo, top: A type of Thai Salad, I guess which is served with White Rice, Lettuce Head and some sort of Sauce. This was not part of our menu and I took it after talking to one of the guys but I would not have ordered even if it had been on the menu as I stopped eating Rice and most starchy foods long time ago but sure looks good and I'm sure tastes good as well. The sauce could be Apricot sauce but I'm not sure)

The Second Wave of Cold

Arctic hit Calgary for the second time this year yesterday. I was snowing all day and wind was blowing the snow in to the face of a few pedestrians on the sidewalks. I didn't want to go anywhere like the last time so I went to the exercise room on the treadmill. It was warm and cozy while outside was dark and scary cold. Even I didn't want to risk it! 

The morning was not so bad. Only -24 degrees C(!) but I easily got the car started and take The Lady to work. The cold just make you lazy because you know you have to put a whole lot on and you are too lazy to do that so don't move much. That's probably why the coffee houses and bars gets packed jam in winter days like this. 

(Photo: The bedroom window was seen frozen from inside for the first time. I had seen something like this before but not in this building. The exhales are warm and as soon as they hit the chilly window all the vapour crystallize and stick to the glass)

Flu Shot: A Big Scam

For people who come to Canada, there are many new concepts. The majority of them good but there are a few evil ones that they have to be smart enough to stay away from. I'm not going to talk about the obvious ones but the ones that people are not aware of and there's lost of advertisement for it, will be hopefully explained and opened up here, as much as possible. 

One of the biggest scams in Canada is Flu Shot. Influenza is a type of sickness, if I could call it, which could be caught through virus. So if virus is the cause of this illness, why all of a sudden in winter everyone hoists the flag! I have been living over 10 years in Canada (the exact number of years is irrelevant here) and of course many more years in Iran and never got any Flu Shot and never got sick that bad. The worst that has ever happened is that I had a soar throat and runny nose which went away after 2 or maximum three days of eating hot soup, fruits and maybe at the most, taking 1 or two pills. One might ask how that happened. I tell you that I was running in subzero temperature on Bow River Pathway and while I was sweaty all over my face, wind constantly blew to my head for a period of 10 or more minutes and got be sick. Had I not gone for running or had I covered my face or had I not sweated that much, I would have never gotten sick. 

The thing about Flu Shot is being free. So why do you think the drugstores and supermarkets offer this great health benefit for free?! It's clear: By stepping in the drugstore or whatever the business might be, you think of doing your shopping too. You see this item for a good price and the other one for half the price and by the time you step out, the business has earned enough money which could not have earned if charged you for that useless shot! 

Are the governments aware of the scam? It is another question which might come to mind. My answer is the government are aware of everything. They either have no power to react, react in a lame manner or shut up if it is in their profit. In case of Flu Shot, to be honest I don't know what the classification might be(!) but I do know that if the governments were really concerned about the well-being of their citizens they would do something about all the junk food joints, garbage provider  restaurants, artificial colours and flavours that the food manufacturers add to their products and many more health hazards in the food and beverage industry which sends many to hospitals, clinics and morgues every year. So don't mind the governments. As long as they are elected with big salaries and can put on their fancy suit or go to the Cancun vacations, they don't care about these stuff. So do yourself a favour this year and stay the hell away from the stupid, time-wasting Flu Shot lines. Deprive the businesses from the profit and give the governments a big mid-finger.

(Photo: A sign encouraging people to get Flu Shot in one of the businesses in the town. You can see signs everywhere outside and inside, everywhere)

Cell Free

I have been cellphone free since I returned to Canada from my trip and I feel really good, actually much better compare to the time I had a cellphone. I do not believe you find anyone without a cellphone these days, even among the elderly or very poor. I have to following reasons as why I feel so much better without a cellular phone, or as some call it in other countries, a mobile phone: 

1- I don't have an extra bill to pay every month.

2- I don't have to be worried about delayed payment which might affect my credit and get daily calls.

3- I don't have to be worried about forgetting my handset somewhere.

4- I don't' have to charge the battery every few hours or days.

5- I don't have to pay for a new handset every few month or year.

6- I don't have to be worried about overcharges when I am out of the town. 

7- I don't have to be worried about the calls that I might receive while I'm driving.

8- I feel free and there's nobody to bother me when I'm home by the phone. 

9- I don't have to be worried about the blind spots. That could be at times very frustrating. 

10- I don't have to turn the cellphone off where their usage is not permitted, such as movie houses, clinics, etc.
11- I don't have to be exposed to the waves emitted by and absorbed by the cellphone which has health risks. This was the main concern when the cellphones first became popular in the old country but then the service providers realized how much money they could make out of the stupid people who waste their money on this type of equipment and they convinced everyone that there's no health risk! 

As I indicated nowadays almost everyone has a mobile phone. My old aunt who lives by herself has a land-line and a cellphone but people might say; Oh! We are worried about her when she's not home. We like to give her to call and ask her about her well-beings. They don't consider this fact that most of the time if she's out and she's not feeling well, having a cellphone is not going to change anything much. The Chef has a cellphone and he still doesn't know that you have this address book in your handset which if you add someones number, you can dial it simply by pushing the Dial button and when he or she calls you, you can see that's him or her calling you! Too bad! 

The question here is will I ever get a mobile phone again? It depends. If The Lady wants to change hers, then instead of returning it which has a very good plan, I might take it. It has so many hours plus all the coming calls free! I don't know much about the plans these days but I doubt there are many plans similar to that with that amount of monthly charge, at least in Canada.