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This is my last night in Germany before heading to Amsterdam tomorrow afternoon. I left Ingo and Munich this morning and took the train to Stuttgart to have lunch with Alex Hoehn´s Mother. I don´t think I ever need to eat again! Everytime I thought we were finished she came out with another plate of goodies! It was great after eating so many sandwiches and pizza in Italy. She is a great cook! She really wanted me to stay there for the night but I didn´t have enough time to do that and catch the boat tomorrow. I wish I had planned to get there a little earlier and spend more time with her. She lives on a beautiful quiet street in a very nice home.
Munich was great and I had a chance to meet some of Ingo´s friends at a birthday party last night. We had coffee with Thomas yesterday afternoon for those of you that met him when he was studying in Boulder with Ingo a few months ago. He is really busy at school right now, working on his PhD. Ingo will start researching again next week to begin his PhD.
Munich is a really clean city compared to many places in Italy and the streets are much wider. I really liked Italy (for those of you out there that seemed to think I disliked the whole place based on Venice alone..something I will address in a minute) but I did miss seeing the open spaces and horizons like you can back at home. Munich was a little less claustrophibic and it was just a nice change. It´s good to see so many different places that are really quite close together.
We checked out the 1972 olympic stadium and tower and I saw the atheletes village where the Israelian atheletes were murdered. There is a small memorial there next to the entrance to the building. The area seems to be really great for students and the facilities left from the olympics appear to be in great shape. At the top of the radio tower we found that there is a rock and roll museum up there with some really cool stuff from the days of the Beatles and Freddy Mercury. They had personal letters back and forth from family members to band members and personal photos. Apparently they have a lot more stuff to display and are hoping to open a larger museum in the near future. I have no idea why it is in the tower now but it was a pleasant surprise.
After lunch with Mrs. Hoehn I got back on the train to Mainz, a city on the bank of the Rhine River south of Koblenz. I will take a ferry down the river tomorrow morning and then a train from Koblenz to Amsterdam where I will spend the weekend with my friend Shannon´s brother-in-law, Jake. It will be great to have someone to show me around the city. It helps to have a local tour guide who can show how the cities really are.
I have found myself really exhausted this past week. I think slowing down a little in Munich let everything catch up with me. I suppose I may have a touch of homesickness. The mountains in Switzerland were enough to spark memories of Boulder. I could use a little dose of home and my own bed before I head to Romania on Tuesday. Oh well..this is what traveling is about. I am learning so much about what I am capable of doing on my own and really seeing how people in other countries are living has been so important. It has also been very interesting to see how the Europeans view foreigners, especially Americans and in one case, Canadians. This leads me to the comments I have received about my blog regarding Venice. I need to head to bed but wanted to leave a quick note on that.
Apparently a few people were upset about my experience with Venice. Basically they said they were glad I didn´t like it because they don´t like tourists and they don´t want us there anyway..paraphrased of course but that was the message I got. You can read the comments a few blogs back..I should note that i have no idea who these two people are, just readers of my blog I believe. I am not sure why Anna seems to think I don´t like Italy at all. I doubt she read any other entries I have left. She seems to have missed that I spent at least 2 weeks in the country. Granted that´s not long enough to get the feel of a place but I have walked MANY miles through AS MUCH of the cities as I could to see more than just the tourist attractions. If places like Venice don´t like the tourists then perhaps they should close their trinket shops, put away their English menus and stop inviting the tourists to 'see how the locals live´. I too felt that Venice was too overcome by tourists and that it was unfortunate it was like that. I was disappointed that the true culture was hidden behind the tourists and the shops created for those tourists. Perhaps that was the reason I wasn´t impressed...it was too done up for the tourists and I´m just not into that.
So, for those that love Venice and feel so strongly about defending it I am sorry to have offended them about their home. Some places just aren´t for everyone but I am glad that I did get a chance to see it. I hope that the people can get their space back and find a way to curtail the tourists overtaking their city. I do wonder how the city would be without them. We can´t forget though that many of those tourists are rich couples bringing their money with them. Maybe it is those tourists that are welcomed and not the budget travelers willing to rough it just to see places they couldn´t otherwise see.
As for American´s versus Canadians..I think to some extent, as I mentioned a few blogs ago, that Anna is right. Americans in groups are very overbearing and unappreciative of what these cities are truly made of. I wish the cities weren´t nearly so adaptive to glitzy tourists. If it weren´t for the tiny camera i pull from my pocket every once in awhile no one would know I didn´t truly live here...except when I talk of course but I made great efforts to speak their language. The advice I received from my travelings friends back home was great and I have worked hard to stay more low key and less like an annoying overbearing tourist. I will keep in mind that there are many Italians that like meeting people like me, a caring and compassionate person from the U.S., that knows life isn´t all about the States. Hense the trip to the Romanian orphanage. I do hope that Anna doesn´t find herself in the middle of the ghetto in NY. If you happen to meet her, please be sure she knows that not ALL Americans are what the world thinks they are. Thanks to G.W. Bush we are apparently ALL selfish and unbearable. I wish I had met Anna so she could know that not everyone is the same as the one American we plaster all over the TV.
Off to bed so I can take the slow route through the German countryside tomorrow so as not to see everything at lightening speed.
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Margaret
non-member comment
Too Bad
It's too bad that we cannot be judged for ourselves in this world and are painted with whatever brush is the most visible. I think you handle yourself beautifully in all social situations and it is clearly evident in your blog notes, that is if people took the time to read all of them. Roger and I are enjoying your travel adventure and are sharing it with many friends. They, too are travelling vicariously with you. Love, Mxx