Adventures in Germany: Jif Peanut Butter withdrawal!!!

Greetings from Dresden, in the state of Saxony and the former East Germany. It has been a while as I did not have computer access in Stuttgart. Thanks to one of my kind colleagues on this trip, I can now update on what has been going on the last couple of days.

I have had some definite new experiences here in Germany. One- how friendly the people are and how good their English is. America really needs to wake up and smell the coffee and require a foreign language and that it be taught in the PRIMARY grades, not when in high school.

I also have experienced pay to pee. This is something that is so foreign to me. I had to pay 30 Euros at the castle and 50 Euros at the truck stop in to Stuttgart to use the bathroom.

3rd, Germany does NOT have peanut butter!!!!!!! They have this stuff called Neutella and I do not like it. I want some peanut butter!!!!!!!

Anyway, the first picture below I forgot to mention earlier. It is the building in Munich where Hitler and English prime minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement to avoid war. My U.S. History students should remember that as part of the appeasement policy towards Hitler.

We had to say goodbye to Munich. I really enjoyed my stay there and our 2 guides- Alexander and Annette were so WONDERFUL! So kind and so much knowledge. I felt safe every minute I was in Munich, even walking around at night and the food was wonderful. I hope to come back some day.

We then left on Wednesday for the state of Baden- Wurttemberg and the city of Stuttgart. On the way to Stuttgart, we drove through some beautiful places in Southern Germany and came to Comburg, where the teacher academy is located. We had lunch there where I had my first taste of Spaetzel (yummy!) and we got a tour of the old monastary and church where the academy is located. The monastary was 900 years old!!!!!!

To my Iowa readers, do you notice the pictures of the huge windmills? They have them all over Germany. Everyone on the bus was in awe of them but I was like no big deal as we have them all over Iowa. Also my Iowa readers, the main grocery store in Germany is Aldi!!!!! No joke. It is a German company ran by 2 brothers.

We then made it in to Stuttgart. It is a very industrial city with Porsche, Mercedes Benz and Robert Bosch tools there. We got a tour of the city and then we had a luncheon with the president of the Bosch foundation. It was great. They are a major sponsor of the Transatlantic Outreach Program that I am on.

We then went to the Mercedes Benz museum which was interesting. I got to see the first car and learn how Mercedes became part of the name, it was Benz's daughter's name. Gotlieb Daimler and Benz are the ones who started the company. Daimler made the engine and Benz made the physical care and the 2 came together. We also learned that no car in the world does not have at least 1 Bosch part in it!!!

That evening we went to the plaza in Stuttgart and had dinner and did some shopping. I got a very SPECIAL gift for my family that is a surprise from the Black Forrest. It was also at dinner that I saw my first demonstration in Germany of Syrians and what is going on in Syria. I also got to do laundry at a laundry mat so I was happy!!!

I also gave my second gift to one of our guides in Stuttgart, Astrid and she really liked it, especially the Pioneer t-shirt. Thank you again Pioneer for your generous donations!

We took the train this morning from Stuttgart to Dresden via Frankfurt. It was 6.5 hours long but kind of fun. We had taken food from the hotel breakfast to eat on the train and talked and looked at the sights. I have met some really great people on this trip, especially Shirley, Ellen and Andrea. We all kind of hang around together.

It is COLD AND RAINY in Dresden and we did a walking tour of Dresden. Again, an old city but was destroyed in WW II by the Allies and many buildings destroyed and then when the Communists took over it was further weakened. It has come back some since the fall of the Wall. We just had another awesome dinner. I had beef roulade and Kyle, a teacher from Wisconsin on this trip and I split a piece of Black Forrest cake. YUMMY!

Some of us are going to Prague Czech Republic tomorrow because it is only 2 hours away, but I have decided to stay in Dresden and tour as the weather is suppose to be crappy. Some of us are going to go to Mass in the morning in German.