Day 13 - Frankfurt

Last day of the study-tour. We were received as guests at the Frankfurt city office to learn about fighting climate change in Frankfurt. The people of Germany, especially Frankfurt, are serious about driving down carbon-based CO2 emissions. By 2030, they want to decrease their emissions by 50%. Their are 1400 cities in an alliance all geared to reach this goal. They have several models that are based on co-generation and passive-house standards that explained how the have implemented a "decrease energy" plan toward that end. Frankfurt is committed to sustaining the "Greenbelt" of the city and I was amazed to hear that they have a forest of trees surrounding the city, some of which are over 1,000 years old, that are owned by the city and maintained for the people of Frankfurt and elsewhere. We are so far behind!

We were transported to the nearby city of Damstad, where we visited the top technical university in the nation. They are currently working on an international competition called the Solar Decathalon 2009. In this competition, students of the university must design and build an energy conscious house according to a set of specifications that all competing universities must adhere to. Then they dismantle the house, reassemble it on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and are judged to find out which university created the most efficient house. Their entry in the 2007 competition produces 11.5 kilowatts per hour, but only consumes 50% of what they produce, resulting in the house creating a surplus of 11.5 megawatts a year! You can follow their progress at http://www.solardecathalon.de/ .

The final stop for this group was the Heidelburg Castle and a visit to the quaint town of Heidelburg, which is at the foot of the castle. The castle history goes back over 800 years and one of the most impressive castles that we visited on the trip. It's huge, medieval, and precisely what you think about when you think "European castle". We spent several hours scrambling around and taking in some of the most beautiful scenic views in the world. We went into the village below and shopped, visited with people and enjoyed some of the sidewalk cafes. We were taken to a nearby village called Heppenheim for dinner and then took the ninety minute ride back into town. Tomorrow, half of our group will travel to the airport to start the trip to their respective homes. The other half of us are scattering into the European wind to various different points. As for me, I'm off to Amsterdam, Prague, and Krakow, but, that's all for a different blog!

Day 12 - Frankfurt

We met with one of the sponsors of our trip today, Deutsche Bank. We were given an overview of the history and global operations of DB, which is one of the largest banking firms in the world. It was interesting to hear about how the German government destroyed their business two times, the Communists once, and they have faithfully rebuilt the foundations of their business each time. Apparently, one of their astute analysts advised them to sell off their high risk assets before the big financial meltdown, so they have been left in better shape than their competitors. They are one of the few big banks that decided to forgo governmental aid. The presentation continued with a look at what DB calls corporate social responsibility. The philosophy is based on a level of self-interest and the need to build peoples' ability to care & supply for themselves. The thinking is that if you improve the environment (social, economic, etc.) where you do business, then you will be more successful. Genius!

We set off on the autobahn in the afternoon to visit a brewery that has converted from brewing beer to brewing a healthy, low-sugar flavored lemonade called Bionade. The two hour ride turned into a four hour ride because someone needed to pee. An hour into the trip, we had to get off the autobahn for a restroom and then couldn't get back on the autobahn. Instead of racing down the autobahn, we rolled through country roads, which were pretty, but doubled our drive time. When we get to the Bionade plant, the presentation was captivating in that the brewer has been working to create a successful soft drink since the mid-1980's. He's now selling 2 million bottles a year, has out-stripped his capacity to produce the drink and gets $5 a bottle. They gave us a four-pack as a parting gift and it was tasty. I am happy to report that the trip back only took two hours!

Day 11 - Frankfurt

The schedule started with group looking in on a realschule, which in America we would call a middle school, but it's students are 5-10th grades. It's a little different from ours though because the kids attending this type of school is not headed for college, but vocational school. It is possible to get to university from realschule, but only about 10% of this school saw their students be successful at that. School starts at 8:30 and usually ends no later than 1:00 p.m. They have an extended day "homework class", but most of the students go home. I was told that German mothers feel that their kids need time away from heavy thinking, so they don't want their kids in school as long as the English or Americans. There's one other type of "high school/middle school" called the hauptschule where students are prepared to be clerks and other such vocations. We sat in on a social studies lesson and an English lesson. The principal was really animated and energetic; it looked like a great place for learning.

Our afternoon was left open for us and we scattered to the wind!

Day 10 - Frankfurt

Today we visited a grundschule, which is a elementary school teaching students 1st - 5th grades. They prepare students to go on to the gymnasium, realschule, or the hauptschule. Your grades at the grundschule decide which school you'll go to and gymnasium is the only way to get to a university.

We had a presentation and discussion with the direktor of the school and she provided us with an opportunity visit whichever classrooms we wanted. The kids were cute and they even sang us some songs they had been practicing for our visit. The school felt warm and alive and the children were really welcoming. I ended up answering more questions about America for them than they answered about Germany for me.

We got some free time this afternoon, so we went to the Marienplatz to watch the

Glockenspiel at the town hall. The Glockenspiel is a mechanical clock that re-enacts two plays from the history of Bavaria around 1600. It's very popular and it only plays at 12pm and 11pm. We were dropped off by a bus three blocks away because the streets are blocked off there for pedestrians and we got there just as the show finished! We missed it. Next time I guess.

Last visit for the day was to a food company called Danone (we know them as Dannon)that we found out makes much more than yogurt. We found out that the company is taking responsibility

to help other develop good food production and distribution channels but partnering with people all over the world. Tomorrow, we're off to see a different kind of high school, the realschule, which is a middle school, grades 5-10 to get ready for vocational school. Should be cool!

Day 9 - Munich

We started off this morning at a high school, which is called a gymnasium here. We met with a university supervisor for the University of Munich that deals with the teacher training program and four teachers doing their internships at the Oskar van Miller Gymnasium. Apparently, you have to know what you want to do for your life when you enroll in college because it's a difficult task to change your focus or area of specialty. If you want to teach gymnasium (the high school leading to university), then you will not be able to teach in the other high schools that lead to vocational schools.

We sat in on a social science lesson dealing with globalization and the G-8. It was interesting to see that the students stay in the class and the teachers move from room to room. We had a chance to visit with some students following the class and they seemed just like our kids.

Next up was the University of Munich. The university was the site where the White Rose Society circulated pamphlets critical of the Nazis in 1944, which got seven students and a professor executed for it. There's a very tasteful memorial to the members of the society. We were given a tour of the main university and an in-depth analysis of the teacher training provided by the university. It was very impressive.

Lastly, we toured the Nymphenburg castle that was built by Ludwig I and given to his wife for providing him a male heir. It is modeled on the Palace of Versailles in Paris that was built by Louis the XIV, also known as the Sun King. The size and opulence of it all shows a person why the public might get tired of monarchs and monarchy. The grounds and the gardens were beautiful and huge, it even had a hunting lodge on the grounds complete with live, wild deer, swans and foxes. It's off to a grundeschule or primary school tomorrow!

Day 8 - Munich

It's Sunday and and most businesses and stores are closed today in Munich. Bavaria is mostly Catholic and the town is pretty sleepy today. We boarded a bus this morning for the Alps, near the Austrian border to visit a castle and the little alpine visit of Oberammergau. As you can see, it's easy to feel a bit like Gandalf here! The castle of Linderhoff was about 90 minutes outside of Munich and the countryside is beautiful. I've read about castles before, but seeing one for real is an entirely different story. You can only imagine what a castle can look like until you see one. King Ludwig II was responsible for building this castle and also the castle the Disney used for inspiration as the Fairy Princess Castle at Disneyland. You can check out his other castles here: http://www.tompgalvin.com/places/de/bayern/koenigschlosser.htm . We walked through the castle, the grounds and a man made underground cove the king used as a private theater. We left the castle to visit a typical Bavarian village in the alpine called Oberammergau. In the 1600s, this village was nearly wiped out during the Thirty Years War and the people of this village pledged that if they were saved, they would perform the Passion Play forever more. True to their word, since the 1630s, they have performed the Passion play every ten years. It was a proto-typical Bavarian village and seemed both quaint and traditional. Right down to the lederhosen (leather pants) that were worn by locals.

Day 7 - Train to Munich

This morning we got to run around Dresden for the last time in the morning. We had several hours to go to the flea market or go to the museum. We're kind of sad because we're leaving our wonderful tour guides, Gerrit and Monica, behind, but we've got new people to meet in Munich. I used the time this morning to get packed and organize my stuff. We went back to the train station and caught a high speed train for Leipzig, then changed trains to go to Munich. It was a six hour journey in all, but the trains are comfortable, so the trip was really no problem. We've seen central Germany in Berlin, eastern Germany in Dresden and now are in southern Germany in the state of Bavaria.


We were taken to a local Munchen restaurant for dinner and the food & beverages were great! Not much else to write about, as we've seen very little of Munich, but I'm sure tomorrow will be very exciting.

Day 6 - Dresden

This morning brought us to the Dresden offices of the Goethe Institute to listen to four Jewish women speak about their lives in Germany today. 3 of the 4 women were immigrants from Eastern Europe, which gave us the point of view of immigrant Jews also. They spoke of the racism and discrimination that they have experienced here and their sense that sentiment was rising. Apparently, although much has been done to lessen these experiences in Germany, the women have found it especially difficult to find good job opportunities here because of their limited German language skills. The group that they were representing, the Jewish Women Association helps them with life stuff. Their stories were not so much about how they've had difficulties, but how they've come together to make things easier for one another.

In the afternoon, we rented bikes and took a bike ride own the Elbe River to a castle for lunch. I asked how far the ride was and our guide, Garrit, said it was about four kilometers, so about two miles. Be sure never to trust people concerning metric to English conversions, especially guides that have been on that trip in a while! It ended up being 16-20 kilometers round trip, which is somewhere between 10-12 miles and up hill on the way to the castle! The ride was beautiful and bike path we used was paved, we even had to take them across the river on a ferry. Of course, lunch at a castle is always cool, but when the waiter told us that a big storm was hitting in 30 minutes, we gulped down our lunch and tried to beat the storm back. The storm hit us about three-quarters of the way back and I thought it was refreshing because it's been rather warm here. Remind me to tell you about the lack of air conditioning in Germany sometime! I was able to make my way back to the bike shop successfully, but not so for three of our party, including our group leader, who all crashed their bikes on the way back. Steve, our group leader, has injured his right knee and ankle the worst of the bunch, so we'll have to see if he heals okay or if this is going to hurt him as the trip continues. Got to go pack, it's off to Munich tomorrow!

Day 5- Dresden

Dresden has been super cool. We went on a walking tour of the town this morning and there's plenty to see. The town, which has over 550,000 people, has been around since 1200 C.E. In 1945 Dresden was bomb flat in one night by the US and England and 35,000 people died. The town has been rebuilt now, many times with original materials salvaged from the original buildings. The town lies along the Elbe River and has a "new town" that was built in the eighteen hundreds. We checked out several churches, a massive opera house, the town square, the royal palace, and several open -air malls. We came across some excavations sites where the Dresden people are still cleaning up bombed out areas and are going to recreate the buildings that once stood there.

In the afternoon, we were scheduled to meet with two different groups from Dresden. The NDC is a group that goes from school to school teaching students to be courageous in the face of racism and discrimination. Just like everywhere else suffering through the economic problems of today, people are trying make ends meet. During those times, people tend to focus on minorities and immigrants as a scapegoat for the problems. Germany is no different and has seen a rise in hate crimes against those groups. This group uses what the German schools call "project days" to teach sixth grade and up students to understand others better and everyone's rights. It's a very hands-on type of instruction they do and it seems to be paying big dividends from their result research, but just like in the states, are always struggling to get enough funding to stay operational.

The second session was with the group that leads a confederation of the largest unions in the region. They are a member of union groups represented in the European Union, which includes 19 countries. They explained how they are invited into the factories when workers have issues and problems with their employers to help resolve them. As this was formerly Communist East Germany, there seems to be a strong acceptance of the union here. Much of it discussed the structure and arrangements that helps create the membership and responsiveness of this group. That bottle with an apple on it is a tasty mix of apple juice and carbonated water, which is very popular here.

I'll leave you with a shot of what the church in Dresden looked like at night!

Day 4- Berlin, then Dresden

Long day, but it was very interesting. We started out the with a trip to a town called Kopernick, which was incorporated into the town of Berlin, so it was basically a suburb. Interesting story about a criminal that got a military uniform and robbed the town in the late 1800s and every obeyed him because he was a military man. Check out and see if there's a story about Hauptmann von Kopernick on the Internet. When I search here, everything returns in German, which doesn't help me much! The media officer from the town gave us a tour of city hall, which was 800 years old. That's a picture of city hall there and me with the Hauptmann!

We checked out Kopernick for a while and then it was back to downtown Berlin. We went to the Fridriech Platz (a town square), where the protest to tear down the Berlin Wall reached critical mass in November of 1989. It's hard to exaggerate the effects of the wall, communism and a divided Germany has had on these people and they're still working to overcome it. This is a picture of the TV tower I tried to get into, but the wait was two hours and we ran out of time.

It was time to catch the train to Dresden. I am so envious of the rapid transit system here, they have buses, trains, subways and trolleys. All of which run amazingly on time! This is us trying to get to the train on time through this amazing train station. It's a crazy process because you have to toss all your bags aboard, get on the train, then stow your bags in the luggage rack. All in eight minutes or you miss the train! No problem, unless you're traveling with 19 people like we are, then it gets a bit more complex. We got it done and the trip to Dresden was just over two hours. I was told that's about what a trip through the airport and a plane would take you. Anyways, now we're in Dresden and I can report to you tomorrow what things are like here. I'll leave you with this picture from Dresden that is what creates my first impression.

Day 3 -Berlin

This morning it was back to the Foreign Office to listen to the director of the German League of Cities explain how they address their issues and work with other municipalities to solve problems. The Germans are very inclusive and there are associations and committees of all kinds to help run society.

We ended up near the Turkish section of town and had the opportunity to visit the Berlin Cathedral and the Pergamom Museum. Both were just amazing and just beyond belief. The royal family used this church for its services and they're buried in the crypt below the church, which we got to visit. It was kind of creepy, looking at the coffins of people that have been there since the late 1600s!

We also got to go to one museum of our choice from a complex of five on Museum Island. I chose to go to the Pergamom Museum, which houses Pergamom's Temples, the Market Gate and the Ishtar Gate. All of which were dismantled in the Middle East, transported to Germany and reconstructed from the original materials in Berlin. I'm getting getting kick out of the Internet cafe now, so more later!

Day 2 - Berlin

This is an amazing city with a crazy amount of history. Today we were hosted by the German Foreign Office for a discussion relating `Germany Today´. It is apparent that Germany is dealing with an immigrant population much like California is. There are 3 million Turks living in Germany and Berlin has the third largest Turkish population in the world. We had lunch at the International club following the talk, which is where I took this photo. That's the Berlin Cathedral behind me on the right, which was the imperial church.

Following the visit at the Foreign Office, we went to a concentration camp called Sachsenhausen. We where lead on a tour by the lady that serves as both the curator and the head of the research department. It was surreal to see and walk in the areas where the Nazis tortured their victims. We had the perfect person to lead the tour for a bunch of history teachers, there were things that she discussed that I've never heard before.

After dinner, a couple of us walked from the Victory Column to the Brandenburg Gate and then to Check Point Charlie. The Victory Column celebrates the German victories over the Danish, Austirans, French in 18oos. Brandenburg Gate is one of the original gates for the city, which later became important during the Cold War. Check Point Charlie was a major crossing point from East to West Berlin during the Cold War. It was also the site where people congregate and then was opened to allow access to the West when the wall came down.

Day 1 - Berlin

After a crazy night, that turned into day, and an 18 hour trip, we arrived in Berlin. We went immediately to the hotel to freshen up. Our guides, Garrit and Monica, speak excellent English and took us to the Memorial Church, where a bombed out church stands aside a newly built church as a reminder of the war. Next, because we were expected at the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament (Congress). It was quite a surprise and we were treated as if we were visiting VIPs. We came in the back entrance, had our own guide, were admitted to restricted areas and basically given run of the place. It was the building that was burned that gave Hitler the power of a dictator, but is now the seat of government with 612 representatives doing the business of all the states of Germany.

Wanted to leave you with this crazy bike. I might have to get one for my family.