Cruise 10/11/2003

[Twinave]

Dan, Congrat on the football win!
Tulirose, OK OK I will try again to join the chat. Just shoot me a reminder.
Rellingtwin, If we get to 200 do we get to watch you get carried off in handcuffs? Too funny at last sail away! Crew members wanting to know if Rellingtwin was selling Dis items. They had a hard time believing that she was just distributing stuff that other Cruisears brought as gifts.

Later, Ave'

 

[eshannon]

Taswira, I was only giving you a hard time HOpe you didn;t think I was serious. I actually lived in Mountain Home from 1969-1975 And then again from 1985-1987. I had forgotten about the wind. But yes, it was always windy. HOpe no offence was taken, as none was intended.

 

[papa]

Ave that is not the first time that cm's came to our sail away party. On the 1st Cruisetoberfest they stopped by to see if we were selling items. When they come to get her make sure they get the right twin.

Congratulations to your Ohio State Buckeyes Dan.

Eric we have our fingers crossed for all of the people there in Frankfurt with the flooding going on. Hopefully the dams will hold and they can remain high and dry. Hope that your gramps enjoyed the show. Hope that I can make it to 90. Feel that I am already there at times

Rosemary the problem with the auto train is possible delays due to derailments and freight train delays due to track maintenance work. This coming from a former track repairman for CSX transportation for 27 years. ME.

Mike

 

[scootersmom]

Hi, Dis Cruise friends!
Not even going to try to catch up... you've been busy while we were gone.
Just got in from WDW late last night, at half-time of the OSU game.

Had a great trip! Stayed in a one-bedroom at OKW and had another one for my parents. We were really wow'd by this place! DS9 said thank goodness we're not staying in one of those cheap hotels. LOL I do agree we're getting spoiled with our DVC.
The weather was wonderful, except for NYE, a huge rain storm that night.

Saw the Candlelight Processional on 12/29. It was awesome! Had dinner at Teppanyaki. Lots of fun and good food.

Still can't believe all the holiday decorations. We spent some time riding the monorail loop, getting off to see the decorations at the resorts along the way. I didn't realize DH and DS9 had never ridden the monorail! I'd ridden it so many times when I lived in Orlando. So, DS asked DH how many times he'd been at WDW or something like that and DH said he didn't start coming there till Mommy started dragging (yeah, right) him down there. DS looked at me and said 'Thanks, Mommy!'
We had my brother and his family over for dinner on New Years Day. Hadn't seen them for a couple of years or so. Had a great time visiting with them. They live in Geneva, FL.
We had DH's brother and family over for dinner on the 2nd and they have a boy just 1 1/2 years younger than our DS, so we had a blast with them too. They live in Longwood.

It was very hard coming home, saying goodbye to our families, etc. I can still see my Dad laughing harder than I've seen in a long time at It's Tough to be a Bug! We had so much fun!!

We're thinking of changing our pre-cruise plans for October so we can see the family again. Not sure how we can swing it. I have two sisters and my parents in Gainesville, plus the brothers in Geneva and Longwood, but we'll work it out.

I'd better scoot.... still have some unpacking to do.

Take care,
Colleen

 

[Viking]

Bad news-Madness is back:
Right now -it's 450pm CET, 1050am EST)- we have a lunatic circling over downtown Frankfurt with a cessna-like aircraft threatening to crash it into one of the skyscrapers. All flight operations on Frankfurt airport are suspended, fighter aircraft and police-copters are trailing it. I'll keep you posted!!

 

[susan514]

Eric,

Just last night a Luthtansa 747, carrying 400 people, was grounded at Chicago O'hare. It was in transit from Germany to Mexico when a bomb threat was phoned in. I wonder if there is a connection? It was coming from Frankfurt.

 

[Viking]

Update:
The lunatic could be forced to land at Frankfurt International.
He wanted to focus public attention onto the astronauts killed in the Challenger-explosion, especially on the female astronaut. They just broadcast an interview he gave CNN-Germany via radio while in the air.
They will put him into jail now, but I think he'll end up in an asylum.
But the main issue is: IT'S OVER!!!

It's a mad, mad world

 

[Viking]

No Susan,

there isn't any connection.
The guy was a lunatic. He hired a sail-plane with motor-assist at a small airport near Frankfurt. Shortly before departure he drew a gun, forced the pilot out of the plane and hijacked the aircraft. He then took off and headed straight for Frankfurt Downtown. He then threatend to crash the plane into the skyscraper of the European Central Bank, which is about 500 feet high.
He wouldn't have caused much damage. The plane weighs only about a 600 pounds and had only little fuel reserves. But he circled over my hometown for about 2 hours and had fuel left for another 2 hours.
All highrise building have been evacuated, the Autobahns around Frankfurt were closed, the airport was shut down and everybody in Frankfurt looked like a cast-member of an early Spielberg movie: Standing on street with the head tilted back staring into the sky , but I can tell you: It was scary!!! It seems that nowadays you can't feel safe anywhere.

The Lufthansa-747 was enroute to Mexico and was diverted to Chicago after a bombthreat, but no explosives were found.

 

[RellingTwin]

Eric, I have been watching the story unfold all morning. I'm glad it was ended without any violence.

 

[Tulirose]

Geez. Wow! Where do these crazy people come from?? He wanted to focus attention onto the lost astronauts of the Challenger Space Shuttle??!! This is just too strange. Glad they got that guy out of the air and that you and everyone else in Frankfurt are safe.

 

[Viking]

Thanks for your concern, Folks.

When he was interrogated by the police the weirdo stated that at the age of 14 (He's 30 now) he fell in love with NASA-Astronaut Judith Resnick, who perished in the Challenger-Explosion. He always wanted to be a pilot, but all he could manage was the PPL (Privat Pilots License) and that lead to a big frustration. In his opinion the death of Judith Resnick wasn't honoured sufficiently and he wanted to change it
It was kind of scary to have fighter aircraft thundering over a city. Additionally you could see dozens of airliners, which wanted to approach Frankfurt International, suddenly climb back to cruising level and then blast off to their alternates. We had a wonderful blue, clear sky today and everything was clearly visible. We live on the topfloor of a four-storey-appartment house with a slanted roof and large slanted windows and had multiple aircraft directly over our heads

 

[Windermere]

Dan -
Oh well, one football win this weekend is all your getting.

Mike -
Here come the Steelers!


WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Windermere]

Tuli -

The only time we had a delay on the autotrain was last year the week after Sept 11 and a topical storm was going thru Orlando. Some signals were out and some tracks we flooded. We ended up going like 20mph from Jacksonville to Sanford. Needless to say we didn't get in til 3 or 3:30pm and we were starving. They don't carry enough food on board for an extra meal for a whole train load of people. Especially since we were maxed out - no one was flying if they could avoid it.

 

[Windermere]

Eric -

Good news about the wacko in the plane.
Are you still having flooding issues?


We've had snow here all day. I hope that every time it snows this winter it will continue to be considerate and only snow when I don't have to be anywhere important.

 

[papa]

Windy it was 60 degrees here today in Nashville. Windy we are ready to welcome the steelers here Saturday. Hope that you don't mind if they come back to pittsburgh and have to clean out their lockers

Eric hope that the floods have subsided and that your family is safe and sound. Glad that everything ended well with that wacko and I am sure that he will get a well deserved stay in the loony bin.

Hope that everyone had a great weekend. Another day closer to the cruise and to seeing whether or not Mary gets cuffed at the sailaway Mike

 

[Viking]

Mike,
the flooding in Frankfurt retreated a bit, but for today/tonight another peak of additional 2 feet is expected. The dams are holding so far.

The wacko will be charged this afternoon with Armed Assault, Unlawful Interference, etc. But as stated before he seems to be a nutcase and will end up in an institution for the mentally ill.

 

[papa]

Just wondering...

Are we bringing stuff from our home states again? Does anyone LIKE GOO GOO'S? We don't but I hear them advertised all the time and will be bringing them if people like them, and if we are all bringing stuff. BTW the Buckeyes were wonderful! (BIG hint.)

I am so looking forward to this cruise and seeing everyone again. I wish that JNOEL and her friends were going with us. I will miss them. They were a lot of fun. If you are out there lurking come on and post!

Eric and Anja, we were looking at the flooding and we hope the dams hold! Has this happened before? Here in Nashville with all the expansion and dirt moving it is making water run off where it didn't before.

Been up since 3 a.m. will close for now. I was going to do some sewing but I am too tired now and I have to work tonight. I just hope I don't get pulled. When I left we had only 3 babies and they were nearing time to go home.

Take care, Kathy

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Hi Everyone!

It's snowing here again today. Really unusual to have this much snow on the ground but it does make everything pretty. It's supposed to get windy later and really cold. Time to stay indoors and watch movies.

If everyone is bringing stuff does anyone have special requests from the far north? I don't know what GOO GOO's are so I don't know if I like them or not.

Was in the car yesterday and heard about the plane threat Eric. Sounded really weird but I guess after 9/11 you can't be too careful. It is weird to have planes flying over head though. I did my last year of high school in the school in Switzerland and the Swiss Air Force used the lake we lived on for dive bomb practice. All of the sudden we would be in class and you would hear and then see the planes just shoot out of the sky and go really low and then disappear. It's was actually kinda frightening the first time we heard them until the teacher explained what was going on. Hopefully the flood waters will recede without too much damage too.

Take care everyone.

Fiona

 

[papa]

Dan since Ohio State won the national championship, maybe the company that makes the buckeye candy will enclose them in a special wrap. Hope that Scott , Fantasia, Pooh Nate and the rest are doing well.

Ave is the new job a second one? Kathy wanted to know if you are still at the same job with the starfish team.

What with all that is going on aboard the magic we want to all make sure that we pack plenty of peptobismal, and other tummy medications to keep us moving and grooving. We don't need anyone quarantined.

Rosemary it will be nice to have you for next door neighbors and Art and Cathy just down the hall. Just be sure that you don't get too rowdy you know how us old fogies need our sleep

Nancy glad to hear that you are finishing up your zapping and I guess that things are going well. We have our fingers crossed for you.

Elaine good to hear from you and the idaho bunch. Shari, I don't know about living year round in central Florida. Just too many of us tourists and traffic to suit me.

Take care everyone and as Cathy with@C says "Have a Mickey Day" Mike

 

[@GoofyNut]

Eric ... Realllllllly glad that You and Anja are safe. Nice to know that nut didn't hurt anyone with the plane.

Dan & Scott --- nice to see that a Big Ten team did well in one of bowl. The rest of the Big Ten seemed to stink this year. (This is me hanging my PSU head!) Big ? - does that mean Buckeyes for everyone on 10-11-03?

I think it's fun when we try to bring something STATE oriented for the others in our group. MY SIL gave me an idea with what she is bringing on her Carnival cruise.

I see that WDW had a little problem with one of the Seven Seas Ferry Captains docking too fast. 8 People got hurt. That's the ferry that goes from the Kingdom to the Parking Lot. Glad more weren't hurt at this busy time of year ... that ferry is usually awfully busy anyway at closing time.

Just wondering if anyone has heard of any discounts for the Raddison the night before we cruise (10-10-03). The rate we got last year was absolutely unbelievable. If anyone hears LET US ALL KNOW!

Well back to work ... UGH

Cathy with @C