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Monday, April 20, 2009

The Most Wonderful Easter Greeting

I was again this last Saturday on the trail between Rosslyn and Alexandria. There is a post at the start of the trail announcing the distance is 5 miles. Actually there are 8 miles if you want to get to King Street in the Old Town. But it's nice, the Potomac is near you all the time, except for a short segment where the trail goes on a long wooden footbridge over a quagmire and you feel as within a small delta.



A lot of guys come here for fishing and I tried this photo as it was there a log looking like a sleeping dog.

Somewhere after the quagmire ends and you are again near the Potomac, there is a very impressive apartment building. Behind it there are the headquarters of the Salvation Army and I was asking myself whether the apartment building had any connection with the headquarters. There were two ladies on the terrace: my first impression was of charming princesses unjustly tied behind the bars and waiting for some Prince Charmant to free them; I asked whether there was such a need; no, it was not the case. Sounds good, I said and then I inquired about the Salvation Army. No, no connection of any kind. The apartment building was just a condo.


As I was approaching the waterfront at the end of King Street, there were in front of me three persons speaking in a language that seemed to be Farsi: a gentleman and two ladies. I asked them whether Farsi was. They were surprised by my sudden question, of course. Yes, it was Farsi, and they were Afghans by origin. Naturally, they asked me if I knew their language. I explained that I didn't, but I had watched several Iranian movies and so I had begun to recognize the way Farsi sounds.

We chatted a little more about languages and populations and religions, then I said good bye to them. The gentleman answered something in Farsi, then he explained to me, whenever a stranger leaves, we invoke Allah to protect him. I felt it as the most wonderful Easter greeting for me.

(Rosslyn - Alexandria Trail)

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