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In recent years Gwyn and I have be able to get to Germany almost annually - AND - it is partially due to the VIP treatment we always seem to receive. Below are a few pictures and a little narrative from some of our recent trips.

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If spontaniety keeps you young, then maybe Gwyn and I aren't aging as fast as we feel some days. With vacation to take, Gwyn had scheduled the week of September the 9th off, and "bonused" herself Friday the 7th. After breakfast on the 7th, as we planned for our weekend in the mountains, Gwyn checked e-mail and USAir was making another offer we couldn't refuse. Booked the flight Friday morning, went to the mountains Friday after lunch, returned home late Saturday and flew to Germany on Sunday!

Arrived Frankfurt at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning, hopped a train to Wurzburg, and were visiting with Zeynep (host daughter of '96 - '97) before lunch! Dinner with Zeynep and her sister Guli, off for a good nights rest, then a short visit with Johannes...

Going back to Wurzburg brought back memories of our former time in the city. We wondered through the Residenzplatz with Johannes and Andrea and enjoyed the beautiful gardens, which were just two blocks from where we lived in 1974.

Tuesday we were off to Neiderstetten to visit with Markus and his family (who are so gracious to us!), when we learned of the events going on in the U.S. We were actually watching TV when the second plane hit the World Trade Center. We kept up with the news but also continued our vacation with "day trips" to Mannheim (to visit the University of Mannheim that Markus attended), Heidleburg (to visit the famous castle), Ansbach (to visit the Schreiber family) and Waldbrunn (to meet and visit with Jasmin's parents, Brigitte and Bernd).

We returned home on September the 17th as planned, only delayed an hour or two due to increased security at the airport.

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. . ..Racing around Germany!

Although the calendar said I was gone three weeks, it felt like just a week! WOW what a great trip, only me to worry about (most of the time) so I could kind of go and do as I pleased. I arrived Frankfurt around 9:30 in the morning and within two hours I was through the airport and on a train to Gummersbach to hook up with Markus for the weekend. Markus was working his second internship of the summer/fall, this one with Kienbaum, a large consulting firm. Markus was working out of the office in Gummersbach, just 30-40 minutes northeast of Koln. I spent Friday checking out this great little town, then off to Niederstetten for the weekend to see some old friends!

On Monday Markus let me borrow his car and I drove to Paderborn to spend a few days with Stephen Marshall. Stephen (6'8") was a starter on Davidson's basketball team last year. After graduation, he got an offer to play pro-ball for "Teamwork Paderborn" and decided to continue his basketball career and enjoy some traveling and sightseeing. This year Germany, next year - Who Knows What Country!

Paderborn is another beautiful small town about 1-1/2 hours east of Dortmund. It is known as a college town (although much more than just the college) and has a very nice pedestrian area full of shops and restaurants - even an Internet cafe! The country side in this part of Germany was much flatter than around Wurzburg.

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Unfortunately, I had to leave Wednesday afternoon and head back to Gummersbach.

Thursday morning I was up early and off to Frankfurt to pick up Diana Bruel, who flew up from Barcelona, Spain to spend a long weekend with us and go to the World Expo in Hannover (pictured). That evening we went to Koln and walked around the cathedral, and shopping area and had a great dinner. Friday, up early, two hours to Hannover, getting there just after the gates opened and spent ALL day walking through various exhibits, not leaving until after midnight (wanted to get our money's worth!).

Aching feet and predictions of huge crowds for the weekend helped our decision to head north to Hamburg (the second largest container port in the world). We arrived before lunch and took a canal tour via boat. Hamburg is said to have more canals and bridges than Venice. We ate and walked the afternoon away, found a hotel in town, and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Rauch's Old Commercial room (www.oldcommercialroom.de - they have a live web-cam so you can check out who's in the Pub).

Sunday was a travel day, Hamburg to Dusseldorf by car, a couple hour foot tour of Dusseldorf, and then Diana and I caught the train to Frankfurt. Unfortunately, Diana had to get up at 5:15 a.m. on Monday to catch a flight back home, and I was up (later) and off to Wurzburg via train.

Alex and Katrin met me at the train station and I spent the next few days puttering around Wurzburg (pictured) and the campus. I stayed in Alex's room (featured on the home page) where I got the VIP Treatment! We enjoyed quality time catching up on news and having fabulous evening meals (Italian one night, and German "Pancakes" (French, Italian, & Hawaiian)) with excellent wines.

I ate lunch twice on campus in the Menze so I could compare German University institutional food with Davidson College institutional food. I must agree with our host students - the food at the Menze is much better! The second day Zeynep, Guli, Johannes, Andrea, and Britta met Alex and I at the Menze so it was great to have a "family" lunch together!

Mid-week I went to stay with Johannes and Andrea in their flat for a few days. Again, treatment like a king. One day we went to Heigenbrucken to have lunch with Johannes' parents, and then on to his brothers for dinner and the evening.

Pictured above is the new baby Cosima along with proud parents Alexander and Pie, and big sister, Victoria.

..Since I am now sure that you have figured out that I didn't RACE through Germany, but rather ATE my way through, here are some "family" pictures of us having a fantastic evening out in Wurzburg!. For those of you who have trouble telling them apart, Zeynep (our first "host child") is in the gray sweater, her younger sister Guli is in white!

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.Featured above are: Katrin (the girlfriend of Alex) Alex - our host son in '98/'99, Britta - our host daughter in '99/'00, Johannes - our host son in '97/'98 and Andrea, his fiance.

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Do "my boys" look mischievious, or what???

The evening was full of reminiscing about Davidson, favorite professors, funny stories (Zeynep should consider stand-up comedy!) and, did you know so-n-so? Katrin and Andrea were extremely patient throughout the evening and are probably glad this group does not get together more frequently!

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Group Photo: Guli, . Jerry, . Katrin, . Alex, . Zeynep, . Andrea, . Britta, . & Johannes

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Friday evening I caught another train to Niederstetten to hook up with Markus for my final weekend in Germany. I was sure glad I went because as you can see, I finally caught Markus doing some "manual" labor.

Here we were making home-made apple juice. After putting the apples though a grinder they go into this press. We made about 5 gallons, drinking 1 along the way! - Delicious!

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I also got to visit Barbara's (a friend of Markus') dairy farm in Pfitzingen, about two miles from Niederstetten. She was a great tour guide showing us the barns, and cows, and apple orchard. Barbara explained the milking process and treated us to fresh cold milk from the huge stainless-steele holding tank.

Pictured: Markus, Barbara, and Martin (who usually has a bigger smile but had requested his fresh milk directly from the cow. Barbara quickly complied!) . . . . . Be careful what you ask for in Germany!

Markus's parents (Sigrid and Friedemann) have always been so kind to Gwyn and me. Again this visit I was made to feel like a special member of the family. Sigrid went out of her way to prepare special meals (Sauerbraten, Leberkase, Rouladen, Spatzle, and more more more - always with fresh salads and vegetables from the garden) and I give her the credit for the 3 pounds I gained while in Germany.

On Sunday evening Sigrid and Friedemann took me to a gospel concert in town. A group of local citizens had formed this group and the singing was in English - Great songs like: "Go Tell It On The Mountain", "Oh Happy Day", "Lady Madonna", "Proud Mary", and many more.

THANKS SIGRID AND FRIEDEMANN!!

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This page last updated July, 2002.