What Has Canada Done to Itself?!

With these all recent terrorist acts in the country, I hope Canadians open their eyes and ears and understand this is not 70s and 80s anymore. The Government has let many people in that they simply do not belong. All they care about, and they are people from Pakistan, Iraq, all other Muslim countries, etc, is making money, go around the law and skip income tax, buy a property and scam the Government and charity organizations and get money from them. And of course every now and then, show they hatred by killing a soldier or shooting a bystander. 

Do you really think the Muslim community does not know what is happening with its members?! Do they not know who goes to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and who is planning for the next attack on a CFB or Parliament Hill?! They all now about these plans. They get together more than once in a week and review things together, whether in a mosque or a community center or simply someone's residence. I really don't know what the Government was thinking when they allow all those people in the country?! Is Canada short in workforce? OK. Does that mean they have to open the doors and pour people in, expose the country to risks? 

Now there is a sense of suspicious in people and it will get worse every year. The society is so departed and hatred is growing. Would that be a day that people fight each other in this country? That does not seem to be very unlikely but I hope it never happens.

The other thing is the role of the US and other Western countries in ISIS activities in Iraq and Syria. The US and its allies wiped out the Iraqi forces quickly in 2003, went all the way to Baghdad and ousted Saddam. He got captured and delivered to the so called new Iraqi government shortly after the so-called Iraq's liberation, tried and sentenced to death. How is the US and its allies, including the motherfucker bastards of Turkey cannot take care of a small force of probably 20,000 to 40,000 fighters of ISIS?! Isn't that because they simply don't care what's happening in there?!
In the meantime the country which used to have the highest standards of living and was a very safe and quiet place to live, Canada, has turned itself to the nest of extremist who come here, relax and get themselves ready to either go and nourish their homeland or join extremist who actually kill Canadians, either in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria!! What kind of logic this people of CIC were following when they accepted these people in the country? I have no idea! I wrote about this problem long time ago and my writing truly proves that I am right and the Government is blind. My only hope is this time they wake up. 

Weaselhead Park

I went to Weaselhead Park for the second consecutive day! It might sound stupid but the second time was for two reasons:

1- I could get enough exercise for my Fitbit monitor.

2- I could take a few photos.

Both of them took place but it was not as exciting as yesterday. My yesterday's plan was to go to Glenmore Park and walk for 1 hour and then 1 hour back. Over there when I was simply walking Elbow River Pathway I realized Weaselhead Park as an extension to Glenmore Park, its south part. I went until the I reached a pond and a bridge beside it. My guess was as Google Maps shows the park or Natural Area extends further to west so I decided to go again today. For that reason I started earlier compare to yesterday, garbed my camera and put warmer cloths on. I had reached the pond in about 01:04 hour but this time I don't know if it was tiredness or boredom that caused me to reach there in 01:20 hour! I then realized that the pathway turns and becomes maybe a loop around the pond. I had seen animals swimming in pond which they looked like Beaver to me especially because I saw their home but today when I paid more attention they looked to be Water Rats! They looked that way because when they were diving and their bottom was exposed I saw a long, narrow tail, instead of a short and wide one! It was a disgusting feeling because I hate rat and mouse. 

This looks like a house that a beaver build after he makes its dam and I hope I'm write about Weaselhead Park because I still think what i saw could have been Water Rats!

So I didn't follow the loop and took a gravel rood when was going to west. I could hear the passing cars and even saw one or two before I reached another gravel road which was going north-south and that seemed to be the end of the park. This is actually what you see in Google Maps and the north-to-south road is called Weaselhead Road in the map or at least this is what I want to believe! 

Anyways there is a kind of plant or business there when you cross the road which is called Sarcee Asphalt. That again is not seen in the map but it's expected because not all of the business are shown in Google Map. I headed back to the parking lot after I learnt that there was any other road rather than the loop around the pond. It started snowing when I was half way to the car and got really bad when I reached the reservoir part of the pathway. There was barely anyone in the Park but I made it to the car by 18:40. 

A few signs similar to this warns the people from touching the military unexploded object that they may face

I could not feel my hand when I reached home and was trying to make myself a sandwich. I had an Avocado cut and I wanted to peel it but I was not able to grab the skin with my fingers! Right now I'm very tired and have to brush my teeth and maybe even take a hot shower and go to bed. Weaselhead Park is an extension to Elbow River Pathway of Glenmore Park with a few benches to sit and garbage cans! I didn't see anything else. Maybe if I take the loop there are more to the park. The other thing about the park is it used to be a training center for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and there are a few signed which warn people about Unexploded Explosive Ordinances. That could be an exiting part to find mortars or similar but also fatal! 

(Photo, top: You may see a scene such as this anywhere in Canada but I took it during my today's walk!)

Back to the Old Country: Day 2 (Tue. 30-Sep-2014)

*** This is a postponed post ***

I woke up around 03:00 AM or something and couldn't go back to sleep. Spent a little time on writing and then headed out for a little walk. Then purchased a pack of whole wheat breakfast biscuit lightly sweetened by Date Syrup. Really good, made by the old company of Minoo. I will probably purchase a few to take with me. Each Rls. 10,000, some US$ 0.36. I also purchased a long distance card so I will be able call my buddies before joining them. After breakfast we got out together for bunch of administrative stuff. Iranian women need to obtain approval of either their fathers or husbands every time they want to renew their passports. There are other restrictions similar to this that the great religion of Islam has dedicated to women!! The Lady wants to be given the freedom of renewing her own passport without my permission and presence. We went to a Registry to ask about this. Our next destination was a different type of registry, this one specialized in passport, driver’s licence, etc.  I wanted to renew my driver’s but when I saw the list of required documents, I changed my mind! It was similar to being qualified for a NASA astronaut going to Mars!

We did a good selection of shopping in between visiting the two registries by buying fresh vegetables and dried fruit. The temperature was not very high today. However it is very dry and dusty. Zayandeh-Rood which is the main life vessel of the city, is dried out. The river bring humidity to the environment and that is gone. 

In the afternoon The Lady’s plan was to open the suitcases and distribute the gift and purchases which covered the whole half part of the day. We managed to bring four big suitcases each at least 21 Kg! The majority of them were the parent’s gifts and souvenirs. I took another walk and gave rings to two buddies of mine.

(Photo: A fruit stand in Esfahan's Sabzee-Meydoon. Although this is not an official name, that is where you can get good vegetables, fruit, meat and almost everything else in reasonable price but not in luxury, modern shopping centers. The name literally means Vegetable Market in English although as I said they don't only sell vegetable there. This one sells imported Coconut and type of Date which comes from south, Khuzestan Province)

German Trip (8): Munich Olympic Park

The Olympic Park where the 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held is close to BMW so I visited it right after I finished that. The Olympic Park is beautiful and has different facilities. They also offer tours of the facility but I only went on the top of the Olympic Tower. The tower is only 180 m or so and comparing to Calgary Tower it's almost the same size. The view is nice from the top. besides you can go out on the deck without paying extra. There's also a little exhibition of Rock music. After the tower I went around and see a few other places of the park. 

The Olympic Park is the place of the 1972 hostage taking of Israeli athlete, the subject of the movie called Munich but I didn't have the direction to the Village. Rather than the people who were in the park just to have a walk and see it, I mean tourists, there were not many athletes, more specifically runners, around.  

(Photo; View of Olympic Village from the Olympic Tower. This is where Israeli athletes were taken hostage in 1972 and then they were killed. There is a memorial site for them in the park)

Germany Trip (7): Hike to Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest)

My main destination in the state of Bavaria was Kehlsteinhaus in town of Bertchesgaden in southeast of Munich, some 3 hours on the train. Kehlsteinhaus, a chalet at the time of construction, was built in 1938 as a gift for Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday but it was barely used by him.

In order to get there I left my hotel early morning and got on a Bahn train and just shortly before Bertchesgaden the train stopped at town of Bischofswiesen and we got on a bus to get to the town due to track's maintenance.

The hike starts from this area of the town called Obelzakzberg which is the place of another property of Hitler, Berghof. Unlike Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler spent quite a long time in his private residence of Berghof, according to what I read in the area, one third of his time in power was spent in this residence which is gone now. Allies have different plans of bombing all the buildings in the area. While they find Kehlsteinhaus not a very prominent target, or maybe not very easy target based on the technology of the time, they instead heavily bombed Berghof. Hitler at the time was not there of course and didn't get hurt. The SS ordered to building to be burnt the day after the bombing just to be sure nothing is left to Allies, in case they arrive.

Anyways there's this little museum at the area called Dokumentation Center (it's German so that's why you see K instead of C) which provides information about the area as other high ranked Nazi officers also had property in the area. So your best bet for hiking up Kehlsteinhaus would be getting on the bus which goes to this Dokumentation Center.

The beautiful trail in autumn days of Oct. I took this on the way back

When I arrived there I saw a few signs but since they are all in German I didn't find the trail-head. Eventually I asked a lady in a souvenir shop as how to get to both Kehlsteinhaus and Berghof and when she told me I asked her which one she recommends to do first. She recommended doing Kehlsteinhaus first as the weather was nice, she added. I headed for that while I was still not certain how to go. I then find the bus stop which was going to Kehlsteinhaus but my intention was only to ask someone about the path. I, this time, checked with another souvenir shop lady and she kind of directed me: Go on the main road for 200 m. and then turn right. That is almost what I did and my guess at the time was that I had found it. I saw a few people going up the not very steep trail and walked faster to reach them and check if that was the trail. I found that they barely spoke English but when were asked they all confirmed that was the path.  

The route was uncrowded and easy but I had this problem with thirst. I had a bottle and finished that so when I reached the elevator level I was very thirsty. I guess it took about 2 hours to reach there. This is where the buses stop and people can get in to the tunnel and get on the elevator to take them to the top, Kehlsteinhaus. I'm not sure if there's a fee for elevator ride of not but I waled the last 20 minutes to the top after getting a €2.5 water bottle. 

The restaurant area was crowded. All those people who had come on the bus were either drinking and eating or taking photos. The views were all excellent. I didn't even get into the restaurant. Just take a few photos from around and headed down. 

My next destination was the souvenir shop to buy something that I liked and also help the helpful lady although I didn't even know if that was her own shop. The lady even got out to find out about the last time the bus goes back to the town and then made a phone call to bus company information line!! Some people you find there are just amazing. I eventually select a book about the history of Kehlsteinhaus which cost €10 and I didn't want to break a €50 or €100 banknote and the lady said a credit card is not normally accepted for low price items. I told her that i had €9.70 almost and showed a few Canadian and Iranian coins that I had on me. She accepted the Canadian ones but said Iran was too far away! 

Not much is left of Berghof. The building was first bombed by the Allies and then set on fire by SS. It eventually was blown by the Americans in 1951. I was too tired to go up and take more photos but I'm sure there are more interesting things to see.

I realized that I still have time until the next bus comes and my return ticket is not before 19:20 hours so used the opportunity and checked the area that Berghof used to be. It was only 20 minutes from the souvenir shop. The only issue was my tiredness that didn't allow me to spend too much time in there.

The Eagle's Nest from far below. This is the name that American, British and Canadians have given to the place although might not be the exact translation of the German term Kehlsteinhaus.

I had missed the 16:39 bus so I took the next one and went back to the town and there I checked that I was allowed to use my ticket for the departure of one hour earlier. It was OK and I got on the train and returned to the city. By the time I reached the hotel I was so tired and it was passed 22:30, If I can remember correctly. I had 3 bottles of water, a fistful of almonds and a few, maybe 2 small candy but that was an unforgettable experience. 

(Photo, top: This is taken from the chalet's [today a restaurant] area looking east. You can see one bus down where the elevator tunnel is located)

Germany Trip (6): Inside BMW in Munich

BMW Complex in Munich comprises of three departments: BMW Welt which in German means BMW World and is a free showroom of the latest BMW models in a big 2 story building with cafe, restaurant and gift-shop as well as interpretive center, BMW Museum across from the street which has the history of BMW and it's models as well as motorcycles, concepts, plane engines and similar and finally BMW Plant which is its assembly plant adjacent to the museum.

A wonderful old model of BMW from 1939, displayed in BMW Museum. The design, the colour and the style are all beautiful. 

I was able to see the first two but was not aware that a BMW Plant tour requires advance booking so missed that. The good thing is I started early and was able to see the different sections and take photographs before it gets crazy crowded. I have this plan of buying a BMW Sedan in 2015 but it depends on many factors. The least expensive BMWs come from 1 and 2 series. 1 Series are not available in Canada and 2 Series are coupe which doesn't suit me. So my best bet would be 3 Series which starts at around $39,000.

BMW has purchased Rolls Royce and have vehicle manufacturing affairs of that under its control. This magnificent model was being displayed among one more in BMW Welt. Also Mini now belongs to BMW. Not that it has been part of BMW family recently but I notified of that during mu visit. It has its own display section but I didn't visit as there was no interest. 

Anyways both BMW Welt and museum are worth watching. The admission for the museum is €8, I guess. The key to have a pleasant and informative visit is to start early and avoid weekends. BMW Welt is open until 23:00. So a good visit could be scheduled from 21:00 hours. The gift-shop is awesome but like everywhere else in Germany expensive. I bought a key-chain and a BMW pin and I guess that cost me around €12! You can buy awesome jackets and all other stuff there or have a meal or snack in its wonderful cafe or Bikers Lounge, if I recall the name correctly. 

The place is also a dreamland for a BMW purchaser. Prices are much cheaper in Germany but you can not purchase and export to Canada. The guy I was talking to had a price list which was supposed to be given to me but got lost in the conversation.
You can also book a test drive or rent a BMW there. I didn't try. BMW is easily accessible through U-Bahn like any other place in Munich.
BMW facilities were severely damaged during the WWII but was rebuilt later of course. Also similar to other German industries BMW also used prisoners to do work for them. There's a good history of the company available in the museum for the ones interested.
(Photo, top: BMW Welt (World in German) at left, which is a big, two-story showroom, cafe and office, adjacent to it an interpretive center which looks like a funnel, at the other side the museum and in the back the headquarters tower. I could not get the logo clear in this shot which was taken from an overpass going over a highway and connects to Olympic Park)