Summing up from Oakland Part One

First of all, gang, sorry about all the typos especially in recent days. Keyboards in many European countries are quite different from the one in the US (especially in France, where they are downright bizarre!!!) and when one is tired from a full day, as well as racing the time deadline in an Internet café, typos come easily Europe, Europe - what do I say? In many ways, these countries have deep, civilized cultures. People are very friendly and polite, less so in the big cities, but they are kindhearted there, too. This includes people in Germany who would talk to us in German on the street or in stores, then crack up. What could we do but nod dumbly and think, "I'll bet you just told a great joke!" Maybe the experience of having a long lasting culture, along with the horrific experiences such as WW11, has helped thoughtful people gain a deep tolerance and kindness. Note that I said thoughtful people; there is certainly a dark side to Europe. We watched a TV interview with a Chinese woman who had been born in Ireland; she described the racism she faced. I was stunned by the amount of anti- Nazi graffiti we found in small German towns. Our Air B&B host in London has a German background; she mentioned that some young German men who are feeling the impact of the ongoing recession are blaming immigrants, and reviving this hideous ideology. I certainly wish them the worst in this effort; Hitler was a curse to everyone, including my people (Germans). There is also an ongoing prejudice towards the Roma (Gypsy) people everywhere we went. The immigration situation seems chaotic. I think I mentioned the African and Middle Eastern men we saw selling products on the street in Venice. Some were selling this silly putty stuff; you drop it on a board, it blobs up into a ball. Others sold these glow stick helicopter toys; one evening in St. Mark's Square, Kate was repeatedly approached by men who tried to hand her a rose ... we knew they would have wanted big bucks. We would run into four or five guys doing this work within a hundred feet of each other. People told us that immigrants from many places can get into Italy easily via its long coast line. We wondered how these men survived in expensive Venice... I wanted to talk with them, but why should they take time out from their work to do this? It also seemed that it would be easy for immigration authorities to catch them when they are so present. We did see one group of African men who were selling imitation expensive purses running quickly down the street, seeming to want to escape from someone. Then there was the guy in the gladiator costume who practically insisted I get my photo taken with him by the Coliseum (again, there would have been money involved; I talked my way out of the situation. He was Italian, actually, but you get the point.) Economics is truly one of my weak points, but I can see how the recession is having an ongoing and deepening impact everywhere we went. Ireland was in an economic boom on our last visit (2006); its now hurting a lot. We were walking on a beach near Sligo one day when we encountered some men playing the ancient Irish sport of Hurling... they have long poles with cups at the end, and they use these cups to catch the balls they have hurled. Kate asked one guy if they have professional teams, and he said, "No, we don't have enough money here." Many people, young people especially, have left Ireland because of a lack of opportunities. All countries are feeling the crunch; Germany, which is the most affluent country we visited is experiencing increasing stratification. Our Air B&B host in Freiburg told us the middle class is shrinking... sound familiar? Gentrification is also growing especially in the cities. We told our Paris host that we found a nice café that had great coffee and pastries. She commented that this is a sign of gentrification in the Belleville area - traditionally Paris cafes serve coffee OR pastries, but not both. I am not sure of how all this will work out. I mentioned the huge labor demonstration we watched the day we left Rome. Beyond that, people told us, "We take summers off from politics in Europe." We will watch these situations closely in days to come. People ask for money on the street everywhere, including young women who apparently wear their only dressy set of clothes to beg in front of the big cathedrals. People told us these were people who didn't want to get government benefits for one reason or another, or who supplement them by panhandling... but this requires some investigation - it might be situational. You do have to watch out for pickpockets. One day in Paris we were approached by young women who wanted us to sign a petition for something like the Federation of Deaf and Dumb. We declined, and a French woman approached us immediately and told us to be careful. She claimed they were a network of pickpockets; one will get your wallet while you sign the petition. Based on other conversations and observations, we believe her. There is a confusing situation where people from European Union countries can move to others that are more affluent, and get welfare benefits. We heard in Ireland that people were coming from Eastern European countries to benefit from the social safety net there. Apparently those countries are worse off than even Ireland. We heard the same story in England and France, although the people we talked with were actually fairly tolerant. Our Paris host commented, "What can you do when people don't have food?" That is the dark side, which must be mentioned and faced. I hope it comes through that we love Europe, and want to spend much more time there. The beauty is everywhere, and I am massively taken by countries that respect poets and writers as much as many Europeans do. Oh yes, even though people sometimes gripe about certain inefficiencies in their health care systems, they know they are light years ahead of where we are in the U.S., and would not take our system for anything. I wish we could replace it, too. And while traffic can be a problem, especially in cities (you take your life in your hands anytime you step off a curb in Rome!), the public transit systems are way better than anything we have here. I think the US should copy the public transit/bike transit system in Freiburg, which is the best we have seen! Enough for now. I need to do more summing up, especially about the environment. And yes, we will get photos up. Ciao!

We are fine in Pittsburgh, aka da 'Burgh.

Sorry not to post in such a long time. We are in Pittsburgh, and have been very busy with family here. I will just do a check in and post summing up thoughts re. Europe. We will be home in Oakland, Ca. in a couple of days, and yes, will see about getting some photos on the site. There is much I can say about Pittsburgh, my home town. It's a beautiful city, really - the hills are wooded, the rivers are recovering since the steel mills closed several decades ago. We have kayaked in the Allegheny River on other trips and seen egrets and herons there. The feeling is very central/eastern European - German, Polish, Russian - a great place to get perogies and sauerkraut. There are also quite a few people from Italian and Irish backgrounds, and a large African American population. Many houses are brick, with porches and awnings. It is a more picturesque place than many people think! We have, again, been busy with family and haven't visited our favorite stomping grounds on this trip, but I will mention a few. The Carnegie Institute is a fine natural history museum with a world class dinosaur exhibit. The National Aviary specializes in conserving wild birds from around the world, and has captive release programs (where endangered birds are raised there and released in their own habitats.) The Andy Warhol museum is a trip (yes, he is from da 'Burgh!), and we like the interactive history exhibit. This is a great walking city, lots of nice neighborhoods to wander through. We did get out to a German lunch with my cousin Betsy the other day, and will meet other relatives for some Italian food shortly. I could say much more, but wanted to let everybody know we are well. We will check in sometime after we get home in a couple of days, and will get some photos up. See yinz. Ps, "Yinz" is Pittsburgh-ese for the plural form of "You."

The trouble with travel...

... is that trips end. Last year, as we were leaving Central America, I quoted Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss). He said something to the effect of don't feel sad when great experiences come to an end, be happy that they occurred. Very good advice, but still... we need to return to Europe, we barely scratched the surface. Dublin is a good city. We walked through Phoenix Park, a very nice urban green space today. There are supposedly red deer funing around in the park. We didn't see any, but all animals do what they want. We also wandered through the miedeval section of town. There are two very old cathedrals there. Both charge admission, so we only looked from the outside. The story as I understand it is that Christ's Church dates from the 11th century. It was built my Irish monks, and was oriented to their independant, free thinking spirit. I believe St. Patrick's, from the 12th centure, was built by British priests who focused more on adhering to doctrines that came from Rome, and focusing less on freethought. The area around these two churches is beautiful - ancient houses and buildings. Irish row houses here have doors that are painted different colors:one might be red, another blue, another yellow, etc. The houses look pretty similar, but the doors are distinctive. We also found an environmental education network for Ireland, I do plan to check their website in depth. We will miss many places... tomorrow we fly to Pittsburgh, Pa., where I have family. We get in late, and will stay in a hotel near the airport. We'll be at my brother's house starting Wednesday until the next Tuesday. Expect some summing up thoughts from there. And yes, we will get photos up... we haven't been at computers where we could do this. I will let folks know when the photos are up. Europe rocks!!!

must be quick

Time at the Internet cafe is running out. Lovely bus/train ride across Wales today, we passed mountains, forests, towns with stone houses and bridges, and more. Wales demands a return. We are in Dublin, we took an Irish ferry from Holyhead in Wales. Kind of amazing... a huge ship with bars, restaurants, a theatre, and much more. We are in Dublin feeling sad now, but planning on one more adventure tomorrow.I'll check in then.

we love Wales

This is a gorgeous area. Very high peaks,wonderful trauls to follow, fields of wildflowers, and many, many sheep. We hiked in an area today where we got great views of the high peaks of Snowdonia, and wound up by a lovely lake. It sure was hot! This is not pristine country... Britain and Ireland have long been deforested. But the mountains are fantastic. There are efforts to reforest this area, I plan to follow this. People are very friendly here. We missed a bus back to our lodge, but people who we had talked with gave us a ride to a nearby town, and folks there helped us find a taxi. Many people here speak Welsh. It seems like there are movements for autonomy, but I do not know if things have ever been as intense as in England. We hope to comeback and investigate. On to Dublin tomorrow for the flight back to the States on Tuesday. I will post again tomorow or Monday.

Interesting times in London

Interesting that our best  experiences in London have involved natural history. There was George Monbiot the other night. Today we went to the London Wetlands Center. It operates a vast  restored wetland in the southern part of London. There were huge numbers of water birds. A few were familiar, but most were species we do not know. Very beautiful creatures. They are also protecting otters, and trying to restore populations of aquatic voles. We were both quite impressed with the work they are doing, and I plan to keep in touch. There is an article in this!

We are rushing again tonight, so I am being brief. London is a very interesting city, I have a feeling we will pass through here again in some ways. There are hidden treasures, like the one we found today. We leave tomorrow for 2 days in Wales, I think we will have internet access from there. If not, expect to hear from us Sunday as we prepare to fly across the pond. Be well, all.

London is a collage

I think all of humanity must pass through here. We are staying in a Turkish neighborhood, and have probably heard every possible language while walking down the streets. This is a neighborhood of neat, brick rowhouses. Businesses include Turkish restaurants, Turkish groceries and nut stores, a Bulgarian restaurant, Chinese restaurants, a number of dental surgery offices (I do not know why), stores where you can get many things for a pound (about $1.30), stores where you can get incredibly elaborate cakes, etc. It is a very friendly and safe area, people really watch out for each other.

Today we visited the British Museum. Astonishing, it has collections of many ancient art works from the Romans, Etruscans, other pre- Roman cultures in Italy, Roman Britain, Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia... all very beautiful stuff, with good descriptions of the history. I got to handle a silver plate from Roman britain, a love letter someone wrote on some wood, and an 8,000 year old axe. We also saw the Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian room, but people had crowded around it so much we couldn't get a close look. But everything else was groovy.

One think about London is it isn't a walking city like Paris is, and like Rome sort of is. The big historical buildings are certainly awesome, but they are seperated by lots of urban space, complete with massive traffic and very polluted air. They really need pedestrian walkways here. Also, the Tower, Westminster Abbey, Parliament all cost 20 pounds (about $30/) There is supposedly an admission charge for St. Paul's Cathedral, but nobody asked for it when we went in. Definetly an impressive cathedral, quite different from the Baroque ones we saw in Italy and the Romanesque ones in Germany. Oh yes, it really is fun to be at the base of Big Ben when it chimes the hour.

I hope to add more tomorrow. Meantime, I will just comment that one side of the 10 pound note has a picture of Charles Darwin and a hummingbird. These people are with it! And, oh yes, can somebody PLEASE tell me how I can stop singing "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" to myself/

Quick note from London

First impressions: a city more of brick buildings than of high ones with terraces and shuttered windows. Paris is multicultural too, but more in the Belleville district than in the Lfet Bank, Isle de la Citie, etc. In London, every neighbourhood we have passed through so far appears to be multicultural. Life is quite tough here, our Air B&B host was telling us about problems renters have, proposed cuts to health care and social services, etc.

Tonight we heard George Monbiot speak. He is one of our favourite environmental writers, and presented a very interesting presentation on re-wilding. This is a call for allowing nature to take its course in wile ecosystems, rather than trying to manage their operations. The issues are quite complex, to find out more about him see www.georgemonbiot.com.I believe that is the website,
let me know if it doesn't work.

Just a note to say we are still alive and quite well... expect more.

Paris is hot...

...and lovely. This will be quick, we are rushing. The Grqnd Hall of Evolution qt the Nqturql History Museum is bequtifully done, with interactive exhibits, films, qnd more. They need someone who cqn trqnslqte things into ,English, who can that be? Pere lachasse cemetqry, where many fqmous folk qre buried is fascinqting too. Someone left a can of beer qt Jim Morrisons grave. The most movong part includes memorials to the French Resistance, qnd the concentration camps. We walked through Belleville, the very multicultural part of Paris. Many Africans and Middme East folks are here... this is also the current place of street art, community gardens, food coops, ane community organizing.

Paris is wonderful, but demands visits in cooler weather. Tomorrow we are off to  London. We plan to heqr the environmental writer George Monbiot speak tomorrow night and may not be able to post until Wednesday... see you then.

Nous allon bien en Paris

We are fine, no worries. We had an awful time finding good computersin Strasbourg. But the city itself is gorgeous. This region has been contested betzeen Germany and France forever, it has officially been part of France for some time. This is the Alsace region. The town is surrounded by rivers, including the Rhine.  It They are crossed by countless arched bridges. The architecture is a mixture of French and German, and the buildings wind along the river banks, dancing.We visited q nice urban park where crqnes were nssting on platforms built for them. Mozart did a lot of concerts here, and this is where Marie Antoinette entered France to marry Louis XVI. We wandered into a restaurant the first night and would up having the regional specialty, tart flambe. They bake toppings on wonderful flatbread. Kates zwas chicken tarragon, mine was a mixture of potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes with cheese, herbs, and mustqrd. Very fine... and very different from pizza. This town needs a closer look!

So what can I say about Paris that has not been said? I love this town, that is a big compliment from someone who is not a city person.  But in summer it is hot, has bad air, and is overrun with tourists. Knowing this we planned a short stop this trip. We do expect to pass through here again.

The Left Bank is fascinating, but tourist city. We had dinner in the Latin Quarter, which is bequtiful, but jammed. What would Sartre say? ¨Hell is other people.¨When you are jammed in an alley in the heat, that makes sense.

We walked by the Seine, out of the tourist district, and found real Parisian gatherings. Parisians love picnics. We found jamming musicians, and places where people were getting salsa,tango, and other dance lessons.
We made our way to the Natural History Museum, which we may visit tomorrow. There is a statue of ¨"one of the giants of evolutionary biology... Jean Baptiste Lamarck.¨Agreed, no argument, but this may be a touch of French nationalism, saying he was as smart as that Darwin dude. We also visited an Arab cultural center, which was very interesting.

There are still book sellers by the Seine, and musicians on Left Bank streets. Shakespeare and Company is a great; though crowded bookstore, home of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, etc. You must see Notre Dame at least once. And you must experience the Paris Metro at least once... you dont know chaos until you do.

More tomorrow. Pardon typos, French keyboards are bizarre.

WE LOVE FREIBURG!!!

This area has been a true treasure. Freiburg is a beautiful city that dates back to at least the 1300s. Our German is non existant, so it has been difficult to get information about history and culture, but the old town, with wilding streets and very old houses is very German, and very beautiful. Germany gets a bad rap as the place of Hitler, but it is also the homeland of Beethoven, Herman Hesse, Hannah Arendt, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Ranier Maria Rilke, the White Rose and other resistance movements against the Nazis, and many other great folks. It is also home to the ancestors of a writer-naturalist you all know. We wandered all over town yesterday. The cathedral here is my favorite of the ones we have seen in Europe. Our wanderings took us along the edge of the Black Forest to a nice neighborhood where we visited a botanical garden. They had giant sequoias and coast redwoods!!!

Freiburg is a true eco city. Public transit is amaying, and there are bike and pedestrian lanes everywhere. It is also a center of the solar industry. This place demands a closer look.

Today we took a train out of town to hike in the Black Forest. We made a mistake of sitting in first class seats with second class tickets. The official who checked our tickets wanted to fine us 40 Euros each for this mistake. He was a real toughie, and would have done well in the SS, but we managed to talk our way out of the fine.

The Black Forest is unbelievable. We hiked thwough a canzon of oaks, maples, firs, alders, and infonite ferns. We passed by a stream that crashed over a mile long series of cascades. Incredible. We stopped at a small guest house on the edge of the forest, they have teriffic apricot cheesecake!

Leaving Germany is sad, it demands more time and a deeper look. We also need to speak some German... this has been a barrier, to say the least at connecting with people. But we are finding most Germans to be very warm and generous... more time here is needed.

Tomorrow we will head for Strousburg, France - this is the beginning of a slow loop towards Dublin and the flight back to the U.S.  Much more to come. Oh yes, we have many pictures and will post some when we have a computer where we can download them. Guten tag!!!

ALIVE AND WELL IN FREIBURG

Alright, we have regular access again. We would have needed to use our AIR BnB host´s office computer, which we didn´t want to do long term. The one Internet cafe was also a casino, full of cigarette smoke. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Beyond that, tShielklingen was wonderful. It is a small German town, workaday kind of place - very interesting to me with my German background.  The people of Germany, contrary to rumor, are very welcoming and friendly. nly problem is our knowledge of German is limited to Guten Tag, Ja, Denke, etc., so when people stopped and talked with us on the street we were really not able to respond. Frustrating, we need a class in German before returning.

We were in the Swalbian Alb region, a place of folling, heavily forested hills that resembles my native Pennsylvania... I have heard that many German immigrants settled there because of this resemblance.
Of course we hiked long distances through these bird song filled forests. Wildflowers were everywhere, along with timy frogs, orange/gold slugs, and pure white snails.

On our first day the hike took us through the nearby town of Hausen, a picturesque farming town. There was a fire department benefit going on, complete with a brass band. It was a good contact with Germany - the onlz#y sad thing about Hausen was a cemetary where all the gravestones were for 20 something men who died in 1944. There was a lot of anti Nazi graffiti in this region, with good reason... I hope they are not trying to reestablish themselves.

After the hike yesterday we spontaneously jumped on a bus to the neighboring town of Hutton. This was a lovely town, close to the rolling hills and thick forests. But people told us we couldnot get back to Shielklingen that day. After a lot of talking, laughing and gesturingwith a woman who lived near the train station, we determined there was one train we could get a train in 20 minutes. It cut our time in this area short, but it seemed like a good idea to take it.

Mark, our host told us we saw about 1% of what is available. There are castles, caves, and many miles of forest. We hope to return. We are now in Freiburg, a beautiful city where we are staying literally a short walk from the Black Forest. More to come.

Oh yes, we drink lightly, but can report that Italian wine and German beer are as good as you have heard.