After disembarking our first plane in Frankfurt, Germany in the late AM (after an extended taxi to a completely different gate), Brian took the girls on a second flight to Poznan. They had a big mixup trying to get through customs and had to hustle quite a ways, newly awakened toddler and carry-ons in tow, to find the customs line for non-EU passport holders. They made it to their gate on time and arrived in Poznan a few hours later.
I, on the other hand, went in search of Jack. I found him in the oversized luggage pick up area in his ziptied-shut crate, with no one at all watching. No one questioned if he was my dog. No one seemed concerned about him finding his owner in the least. I was (am) pretty upset about the way they treated his arrival.
After saying hello to Jack and realizing I didn’t have any cutting instruments on me, I had to leave him as he frantically barked and (yes, really) screamed. I searched for a way to cut him out of his crate. (No one was around, no one knew anything, and no one really seemed to care in the least.) A nice lady at the Lufthansa desk rustled up a pair of really old scissors, and I returned to Jack’s crate and sawed through the zipties. Jack cried the whole time. Then–finally! He was loose!
We had one chance to get through the airport, to a certain train leaving in 15 minutes in order to make it to Poznan by that evening. (Otherwise, we would have to wait for several hours before going from Frankfurt to Berlin, then wait for hours in Berlin for the next morning’s train to Poznan. Not fun. I had had very little sleep the previous night, and I didn’t want to go through another night like that.)
We made it by about two minutes. And I bought a ticket (I purchased Jack a child’s ticket) on the train. 🙂
Jack did great on the train. He made several friends and settled down on the floor.
The countryside was beautiful.
The journey was pleasant and not too difficult, though Jack didn’t like switching trains in Berlin. It was loud next to the tracks, and the station echoed. Scary to a dog who hasn’t experienced that before.
That evening, we arrived in town. Paul Haenze and Brian picked us up from the Poznań Główny station and took us in Paul’s car to the house. What a relief! The Haenzes… Y’all. They helped us settle in. Big-time.
Jack loved getting to run around in our new back yard, and that night, I slept. I slept hard. Until I woke up around 3 AM to absolute peace, and 64°F with the windows open and just the slightest hint of dawn out the kitchen window.
This is our new neighborhood. 🙂
Meandering Meltons 