While in Germany I ran only once. The silver lining is that both of these long, laborious trips have come at times when my legs needed rest. Long work days were followed by long driving days as our crew slowly made a northern arc across the country. We started in Cologne and eventually found our way to the River Oder on the Polish border...before ending our trip in Berlin.
Things to note from the trip - I gorged on German brauts and schnitzel, lapped up bottles of bier, sipped and shot Schnapps repeatedly with locals, raided the small Polish town of Kostryzn, experienced the brutal "Russian winds" that blow from the east, walked through Check Point Charlie, under the Brandenburg Gate and got lost in the maze that is the Holocaust Memorial (see photo).
Driving across the German countryside was beautiful and it's hard to imagine how 60-70 years ago, this entire area was the epicenter of a global bloodletting. The most fascinating part of my trip was chatting with our German fixer (local who speaks fluent English that helps us get around more easily) about history, poltics and worldly things. We are about the same age and it was interesting to hear him comment on how difficult it was for his parents and grandparents post-war. Approximately 8 million Germans (civilians included) died during the war and the entire country was ravaged both on the west by allied carpet bombing and on the east by a vengeful mauling Russian bear. Growing up in a post-war world, without adequate food and water, rapant disease with little money must have been brutal. All war is hell.
Things to note from the trip - I gorged on German brauts and schnitzel, lapped up bottles of bier, sipped and shot Schnapps repeatedly with locals, raided the small Polish town of Kostryzn, experienced the brutal "Russian winds" that blow from the east, walked through Check Point Charlie, under the Brandenburg Gate and got lost in the maze that is the Holocaust Memorial (see photo).
Driving across the German countryside was beautiful and it's hard to imagine how 60-70 years ago, this entire area was the epicenter of a global bloodletting. The most fascinating part of my trip was chatting with our German fixer (local who speaks fluent English that helps us get around more easily) about history, poltics and worldly things. We are about the same age and it was interesting to hear him comment on how difficult it was for his parents and grandparents post-war. Approximately 8 million Germans (civilians included) died during the war and the entire country was ravaged both on the west by allied carpet bombing and on the east by a vengeful mauling Russian bear. Growing up in a post-war world, without adequate food and water, rapant disease with little money must have been brutal. All war is hell.
2 comments:
amen to that! My grandparents lived through WW II, my dad was born before the 44-45 'hungerwinter'. War is a loss-loss for all sides involved...
This guy Alex who may be coming on the trek, his granfather was in the Danish resistence and blew up a German munitions depot.
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