A rather funny coincident, this German Composer shared his name with two wonderful people who made it possible for this bronze beauty, to get to me. Last year, I attended the annual convention of the International Hippopotamus Society. I already published a post about the prize I won during the second "Hippo Game" (see post: Mr. Stuart). It is about time to write about the prize of the first game, I won thanks to Richard and Wagner. A beautiful bronze statue, that weights 7 lbs, or 3,5 kg! This prize comes with a little story. When flying back, my suitcase had to go through the X-ray machine at the airport... all alarms, bells, lights and whistles went off! So a very stern looking airport security lady took my bag, and told me: "I will have to check your bag, ma'am". So the lady went through my bag, took the box and opened it. In the meantime, I felt all the eyes of a long line of fellow passengers poking in my back.... The lady's face broke into a huge smile, when she unwrapped "the threat"... "OH, its a HIPPO!" she shouted out. I took my bag and the box, and headed to the nearest chair to wrap it up and put everything back. "You need any help with that, dear?" she asked me. "Thanks, I'm fine" I replied. Actually, I was still confused. Being approached as a potential terrorist, and then treated as a favorite niece in less than a minute, felt weird. But then I looked at the newest addition to my collection, and all was good!
