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!