Walking Frannie - Father Rhine

On the mornings that Magda works, Frannie and I take a walk. Generally this lasts about an hour. Sometimes, it's a little more. Sometimes, it's a little less. It's not that we walk very far. It's just that Frannie's way of experiencing the word through her nose requires a good deal of time stopping to get a good sniff.

Generally, we begin by walking north, pass the Schreber gardens where there are some nice green spaces for Frannie to perform her duties. Then we have some freedom to go whatever direction we wish. But usually our choosen direction is east to find one of the alleys that provide public access to what the Germans call "Father Rhine".

There we are often greeted by the barges, some half a football field long, that ply the river. Some ride high in the water, empty and heading to their next load of goods. Others are loaded, riding low in the water, the bow wake six inches below the deck.

Frannie will stare in the wonderment of these huge beasts passing by. But she is much more intently interested in the other animals, or more precisely, the smells of the other animals. Obviously, other people walk their dogs here. The mallards, gulls and cormorants produce more than a passing interest. But she doesn't have a clue of what should be done with these large, long neck white birds on the water's edge, or on the bank.

The swans are year-round residents at Neuendorf, thanks to the handouts that they get from the human residents here. Frannie, so far, has been content to stare at them, ... and smell where they have been. We do wonder if she is viewing then as playmates ... or as a dinner.