Saturday evening most of the overseas staff began heading home – we flew out of Alex early Sunday morning at 3:30 with 5 other staff members – as we parted ways in Frankfurt we all hugged knowing that in all likelihood we might not see each other again. After arriving in Frankfurt, we had a two hour layover before heading to Nuremburg for the first leg of our holiday before returning to the states.
Nuremburg is located in the Bavarian section of Germany. It is a city of over 500,000 but seemingly far fewer people. I think this is due in part to the abundance of mass transportation so there are far fewer autos on the streets. We stayed in the “Old Center” of the city which contains many of the oldest churches in the city including the St. Lorenz church which was built between 1270 and 1350. While many of these were damaged during WW II, they have been rebuilt and look very “original”. The Old Center is very pedestrian friendly, with many streets closed to autos and an abundance of sidewalk cafes and street musicians. During our second day in Nuremburg, we visited the site of the Nazi Party Parade Grounds where the major Nazi Party rallies were held in the 1930’s and 40’s. This was where Hitler introduced his Aryan race and famous Nuremburg Laws depriving Jewish people basic human rights. The grounds are host to a very descriptive museum with a very comprehensive history of the rise and fall of the Nazi Party. Nuremburg is a beautiful city with several green areas and parks. There is quite a bit more diversity in the appearance of young people than we saw in Egypt the past year – tattoos, body piercing and unique hair coloring and styles.
Leaving Nuremburg, we traveled by train to Krakow, Poland through the Czech Republic. When we left, we were told in Nuremburg that traveling by train is very easy, everything is well marked and if we needed any assistance to ask the conductors – this reminded us of what we had been told in Cyprus regarding how easy it was to travel there because everything was so well marked – needless to say, as in Cyprus, this was not the case. Conductors were few and far between and most did not speak English and the train stations in Prague and Krakow were very confusing but somehow we managed. One of the major obstacles to overcome was the variation in currency we encounter. Both Poland and the Czech Republic do not use the Euro and so you have to find currency conversion stations to get money if you want to eat. On the trains we met several interesting people (a couple from Helsinki on the way to Prague and law student from Poland when we were returning through Prague on our way back to Germany. It was interesting to get an insider’s view of life in their country. The law student shared with us of how conditions previously in Poland greatly affected their family. Her father and brother moved to Canada for work and educational opportunities while her mother and her stayed behind. She would never had been able to study law 10 to 15 years ago but things are changing now).
We did notice quite a bit of difference between the countryside in Germany with that of the Czech Republic and Poland. Much of the area in Germany looks very similar to Northeastern Iowa with more forest areas while Eastern Europe looked more economically “depressed”. The 70’s and 80’s were quite difficult times for those two countries and they are now just beginning to recover. The train stations are real “hotspots” of activity. Rail travel is quite a bit cheaper than air travel and for many it is much more convenient. Young people seem to travel extensively by rail. Munich seems to be a gathering place for the young with many youth “hostels” catering to them located near the train stations. Needless to say after traveling through Europe dragging two large suitcases up and down railway stations have taught us to be better trip planners next year!
