Denmark- One of my Favorite Places in the World

Of Lisa and I- I am the one who enjoys traveling the most. I come over the Europe once or twice a year- and prior to this trip I able to get her to come over once. Now with full disclosure- it takes me about 90 minutes to prepare for 2 weeks in Europe. She has to worry about the kids, the pets, the house, school and all these other nonsensical things. My solution is just give the kids a $100 bill and a handful of pizza coupons- but she has other ideas and priorities.

Anyway, one of my favorite cities in the world is Copenhagen. I just love it here. This is my 4th trip to this city. I have always wanted Lisa to see it. This is where I first fell in love with Europe and became a snotty Europhile. So, I made sure that one of our family adventures while living in Europe was to go to Denmark. I left this for our last trip- to make sure the weather was at its best (more on that later).

So, on Wednesday, we left the Gdansk airport for our final family trip outside of Poland. Again, with the cost of airfare for six people, I look at the discounters. An airline called Wizz, flies from Gdansk to Malmo Sweden for a fraction of the cost of going directly into Copenhagen. Malmo and Copenhagen are right across the water from each other, and you just have to take a 30 minute train ($5 per person). The extra time is more than worth it to save several hundred dollars.

Now one of the things I have always known about Denmark (and all of Scandinavia) is they are some of the most expensive places in the world. So, we prepared for this (or at least I found my American Express card for this).

We arrived in Copenhagen and have a nice apartment in a neighborhood right near the city center. I am very familiar with this neighborhood we are in. It is about a 10 minute walk to the main train station and main shopping area.

Our first full day here was Thursday. We walked around the city center. Now, for the past 9 months- Lisa has to continually remind me that we have children with us and they don’t share the same fascination I do with old Kings, churches, and museums. They are not willing to walk for a 1/2 an hour just to see a statue of a 16th century king (then walk right back). To me, that is living!

So they are in somewhat luck in Copenhagen. I have been here so many times, that I have already seen almost everything of interest. (Last time I was here- I took a 3 hour train, each way, to see the crypts of some old Danish Kings. Woo-Hoo!!!!! I was loving life that day).

So, this time I can walk them around the city and get a flavor of the beauty (basically sneak in the history) while taking them to kids things. So, we spent Thursday and Friday following this strategy. On Thursday, we walked the Stroget (a mile long pedestrian path shopping district). Many of the stores were closed that day due to some holiday. We then went to some very kid friendly places- Ripley’s Believe it or Not, The Hans Christensen Anderson Museum and Guinness Book of World Records. I was particularly pleased with the HC Anderson place- as he is one of Denmark’s most famous citizens. Streets are named after him and you can find big statues. Again, a sneaky way to bring in some Danish history, while they think they are just seeing the Little Mermaid.

On our way home, we just happened to walk past (and through) the Christiansborg Palace- the Old Palace of the Royal Family; and current seat of Parliment. We took a picture of the kids. They were still coming down from their Ripley’s and Guinness Book high- so they had smiles.

That night we ate a great restaurant, Ben and I had a huge plate of mussels and the little kids had nachos. Denmark is also the home of the world’s third largest brewer- Carlsberg. They tend to export only this marginal beer in a green can (it is kinda the Budweiser of Europe). But they have wonderful beers that they just make for there home Danish market. Ben does great with trying exotic food. On this trip, he did mussels and then pickled herring. Loved them both. Also, Ben is only 6 months shy of ordering his own beer in Denmark. Mom did not like that idea. I also introduced the family to a smørrebrød sandwich. They got mixed reviews.

On Friday, we had a special kid plan- that even I approved of. The second oldest amusement park in the world (built before the US Civil War) is right in the middle of city center. I had walked though it once a couple of years ago. It is called the Tivoli Gardens. Now, it is no Disney World in size- but certainly has all the things. Roller Coasters, things that spin around, plus lots of entertainment and gorgeous landscaping (it really is an amusement park sitting among a Parisian style garden). As it was old and had history to it- it met my restrictions for an outing.

But first- I bribed the kids. I said if we went to the Tivoli- we had to walk and see where the Queen lives first. They met together and considered the trade offs, then reported that we had a deal.

So we walked along the Stoget again. This time all the shops were open and literally 1000s of people were shopping. It was hard to keep up with each other. We did a little window shopping and bought some souvenirs.

Then we made it to Amalienborg Palace. Both President Obama and Bush were here (and Christiansborg) recently. Obama was just here for the Copenhagen Climate Conference a few months ago. Unlike Christenborg palace- this is a real working palace- where the current Queen (Margrethe II) and her sons Crowned Prince Fredrick and Prince Joachim (and all three of their spouses and 5 grandchildren) live.

When Margaret II passes- Fredrick becomes King. For centuries, all Kings of Denmark have either been named Frederick or Christian. They typically are named in alternating order. The current Crowned Prince will be Frederick X. He has a 5 year old son, Christian, who when eventually crowned will be Christian XI. Although Denmark is a Constitutional Monarchy (meaning the real power is with the Parliament- the Royal family is still very popular here).

We walked the palace ground (strangely unprotected)- saw the palace guard and saw a changing of guard ceremony.

I took the long way (mistakenly) to the Tivoli to make sure we ran into a couple of other famous sites, including the canals. We finally made it to the Tivoli. Of course the kids had a great time. It really is a great place with lots to see and do. The kids loved the rides. This was Trey’s first experience on some big kid rides.

We stayed about 6 hours. It is open to midnight and ends with a fireworks display. About 8pm, the sun was starting to go down, the temp had dropped into the 40s and wind gusts began. So, we made our way home.

On the way out- Trey told me “He had so much fun at Tivoli, he had already forgotten about the Queen”.

Saturday was suppose be for a trip back to Sweden- but the weather is awful and we are not dressed for it. So, we have hung at the apartment most of the day and watched Danish TV.

Hopefully we can get some Sweden time in tomorrow.

NASA, Europe 3D and the token American

Being the token American at my Polish University has its benefits. Every time something comes up where they want a “foreign or western” perspective- I get the nod. This occurred twice this week.

On Monday, the US Embassy, American Corners, organized a current NASA astronaut: Steve Robinson to come to Politechnika and speak to students. The house was packed with students and media. As I was the American on faculty at Politechnika, I was asked to do the formal introduction of Dr. Robinson to the audience. Of course, anytime I get a stage I am happy to oblige. Frankly, anytime I am asked to speak for all 300 million Americans, it is a good thing! :)

Prior to the meeting, I researched Dr. Robinson and must admit was rather impressed. He has been on 4 space shuttle flights. He flew on the one with John Glenn (one of his boyhood heros) and has spent over 20 hours on spacewalks. His most recent flight was just back in February, where they docked and spent several days on the International Space Station.

NASA and the US Embassy sponsored the astronaut’s visit to Poland to mostly speak to children and college age kids about spaceflight and encourage them to go into the field. He also spent quite a time talking about flight preparation and team work.

To me, his best comment- at least for my business students- is that “NASA plans for failure”. Basically, they spend as much time on what can go wrong and how to fix it, as they do on getting things right. This obsessive contingency planning is a great tool for businesses. Most businesses plan to succeed, and then have no idea what to do when something goes wrong. Great lesson.

Dr. Robinson showed lots of pictures and videos of his experience in space and what it is like to live up there for several days. He has logged almost 1600 hours in orbit and flow 20 million space miles (did you know that the space shuttle moves at 5 miles per second?).

When the event came up, I arranged for my children to join in the audience. I thought they would enjoy it. So, we rearranged their schooling and had them come up for the talk and meet him. All the kids enjoyed hearing the Dr. Robinson speak- but I think Trey was the most fascinated. They got a special audience with him after the presentation.

Also, I heard many compliments from the university students on his presentation.

After the presentation to the audience and the kids went home, I was able to stay with Dr. Robinson for a few more hours. I was able to go with him to a press conference, then we had lunch together. Lunch was fun. I sat right next to him and we had a great conversation. I spent a lot of time getting his opinions of the future of space travel in the US, etc. He is a very nice guy. Someone asked him what was his favorite space-type TV program. He told us that he has never owned a TV (ever). I guess that is what it takes to become an astronaut.

On Tuesday, another group came to Politechnika. This was a group of young European students (18-19ish) who are part of a program called Europe 3D. These students, from all parts of Europe, apply to the program and take 10 day trips to different countries to get a glimpse of culture, politics and economics of that country. This group of 50 students were learning about Poland by spending half of their time in Gdansk and half in Warsaw. Politechnika was only a small part of their days in Gdansk. Our job was to give them some cultural background and they convene a panel of “foreigners” who were living in Poland. The topic was- what does a foreigner think of Poland. We had a gentleman from Africa, a German, a Chinese, and Australian, and of course, the token American (me).

Frankly, I am not sure how well the students enjoyed the panel. The topics were rather high-brow for that age of student. I am sure they would have rather been drinking Polish vodka than listening to a group of middle-age expats.

In addition to the Europe 3D students, other polish citizens were in the audience. The questions they directed to me (as the token American)- mostly centered around what was American’s opinion on Poland. What do American’s think of Poles. I tried to explain (and they were not surprised)- there is really a lack of opinion on Poland. It is really not part of the American conversation. That most people still think Europe ends at the eastern borders of Germany. That Europe is part of Eastern Europe, when you look at a map and they are clearly located in central Europe. They were very interested in the stereotypes (like do we still tell Pollock jokes). But really want they wanted to know is how can we get American students and American tourists to come to Poland. I told them that unfortunately, most Americans would know John Paul II, then probably a thing or two about WWII, and then maybe Solidarity. Much more than that is a stretch. They are very interested in changing (or adding to) that perception and get people interested in their country.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful....

Hello my friends. This has been a absolutely wonderful trip and great experience. I actually got paid for my family and I to work, live and travel in Europe. So, my whining might seem trivial, but I can’t hold this back any longer..... the weather sucks!

I arrived in Poland in mid-September. It was a warm day. I had brought with me my favorite kind of shirt, the short-sleeve golf/polo type shirt. In fact, I brought an entire suitcase full of them. I wore exactly one on my first day here- and none since. Every morning I open my closet door, and they hang there, dusty, just mocking me.

In my 9 months here- I have not donned a pair of shorts yet either. I forgot what my legs look like (I fondly recall them being cute- but who knows anymore).

As you see we are in Mid-May: and people are still wearing scarves and hoods outside. I saw several still wearing knit caps this week.

We did make a big leap in clothing however. About 3 weeks ago, I went from my winter coat to now a hooded jacket.

When Lisa and I accepted this assignment- we of course knew we were going north and things tended to get cool. However, we consulted several weather sources. It told us, as Gdansk was on the Baltic Sea, it did not get the extremes of the rest of Poland. In fact, the average temperature for the winters was a reasonable low 30s. Now for someone trained in statistics- average means about 1/2 the days below and 1/2 above 30. In reality, it did not break 30 degrees once for 3 1/2 months. Thats right, we did not break the freezing mark (not one damn time) for 3 1/2 months. Average my @#$@#.  On any given day, we are 10-15 degrees below the "typical" and have been since we arrived.

Everyone in Gdansk told us how unusual of a winter this was. Yeah, right. The sad truth was, we flew to Scotland in February, just to warm up.

So, we have now entered the “spring that never came”. While it is above freezing, our typical April and May day has been in the 40s. Now, this is when the Baltic Sea effect does come into play. The winds come off the sea- so you still have a wind chill, even when it is 48 or 50.

We so desperately want some nice days to sit outside, without jackets. I never thought in a million years the thing I would miss most about KC was its weather. At least you have variation. For most days, Lisa is still drying clothes inside (it takes 2-3 days to dry one load of clothes hung inside); as it is cool and damp- not clothes drying weather.

The worst is long over, but just moving ever so slowly. A bright spot (literally) is the sun. In the dead of winter, the sun showed up about 8 or 9am. Today, it was full daylight at 4:30am. You could have played a baseball game at 4:30 in the morning. The sun will go down tonight about 9pm.

I assume transportation limitations has made everything feel worse. To get out of the house, you can’t just walk 10 feet to your car, and drive the front entrance of the local Applebees to get rid of cabin fever. We are now at the mercy of outdoor public transportation. I use to think it was such as hassle to get into my car and drive to Brookside to my campus. Now, I walk a 1/2 mile, wait outside for up to 30 minutes for a tram, ride the tram, then walk another 1/2 mile to my office.

Alright, enough complaining. I just have a severe case of cabin fever from this never ending winter, that still seems present in May.

As I said to my friend the other day, if the weather is the worst part of getting a chance to live in Europe for a year- then life can’t be so bad (but I will still complain).

3 Day Holiday

May in Poland starts with two quick national holidays; May 1 and May 3.

May 1 (May Day) is a holiday in many places around the world. However, in Poland it was the Communist celebration of Labor Day until 1990, with government-endorsed parades, concerts and similar events. My colleagues that are my age, tell me that when they were kids, they remember being made to go to Labor Day parades and having to wave red flags. You could get in trouble for not going.

When Communism fell, the new democratic government decided to keep the holiday, but rename it to something more neutral- simply called “State Holiday”. I heard many people still referring to it as Labor Day, but without the obvious Communistic influences.

The bigger and much older of the two holidays is on May 3rd. That is Constitution Day. Constitution Day began in 1791, when Poland was the second country in the world to sign their own Constitution (The US was first). Unfortunately it did not last long- as the next year Poland was invaded (again) by Catherine The Great’s Army from Russia and ultimately carved up for the next 200 year’s by Russia, Prussia and Austria (called the three partitions). Poland did not geographically exist from 1793 to 1918.

Even during the partitions and during Communism, Constitution Day was held by Poles with national pride (and many times celebrated in secret).

Constitution Day is celebrated by Poles all over the world. Chicago had a big parade today, and Kansas City (who has a moderate sized Polish community) also has a parade (they call it Polski Day). We went to it last year. For those Kansas Citians on this blog- the neighborhood in KCK is at 8th and Vermont (near the old St. Margaret’s Hospital) which used to primarily be a Polish neighborhood. Last year we attended the parade, went to a Polish Mass at St. Joseph-St. Benedict’s Church, and had our first samplings of real Polish food. We will likely be regular attendees in the future.

However, this year we had our own festivities in the homeland. We were invited to our neighbor's house for a BBQ.

Basia and Mariusz made bigos, grilled pork steaks, smoked kielbasa, and Polish Salata (what we yanks call cole slaw). Charles and Karolina did the translation. It was a very nice day, but a tad cool. Mariusz has this really neat hanging BBQ grill, that he said could even hang a wok from. The meats were great. You can see us in their backyard, and our backyard is just behind the wooden fence. Trey had a great time playing with their dog. Their youngest daughter Anita joined us for a while, but she is finishing high school this week and has her final exams.

On the 2nd, although not technically a holiday- most people take it off. This year the 2nd fell on a Sunday- so that made it even easier to relax.

Lisa, I and the two smaller kids went down to Old Town. The former Coal Market (now an open area for events) had several booths set up with vendors and carnival type rides. Trey enjoyed the big slides and Abbie liked the flowers. We walked down the Dulga (Royal Route) through the Old Town. Four weeks ago we could walk down the Dulga and see almost no one. But not only is it a holiday, but spring is coming and so are the tourists. So there are now hundreds walking this area. By June, there will be even many times more people. All the vendors are out selling their amber jewelry and other trinkets of the city. The Fountains are on, people eating outside and the sun is shinning. It was a long winter! Glad to see spring get here.

It is suppose to be cold and rainy tomorrow on Constitution Day. Everything is closed (including grocery stores). So not much to do inside or outside. But looking forward to a day of not doing much.

Happy Constitution Day!

Up and Down the Rhine

After a couple of days in Cologne (by the way, that is where the “perfume type” originated from)- we decided to spend some days going along the Rhine.

A few years ago, I took a train from Strasbourg France through the Rhine Valley, into Koblenz Germany (about an hour south of where we are staying). It made quite an impression on me. It was one of the most spectacular and scenic trips I had ever taken. So, I was excited to see more of the Rhineland. And I knew Frau Lisa would really enjoy it (she also always brings these 4 short people with her at all times- however, I did not catch their names).

The Rhine is pretty neat river. It starts in the Swiss Alps and flows all through western Germany, to the Netherlands and out into the North Sea. The Rhine has great historical significance and is lined with many castles. But you have to take the full class to get all the details and slides.

On Monday we went to Bonn, about 30 minutes south of Cologne along the Rhine.

Bonn is a very nice, smaller city (19th in Germany, vs 4th for Cologne). It was the capital of Germany between WWII and the fall of the wall, when there was such a thing as Western Germany. There is still a President and Chancellor’s residence, and many, many government and UN buildings. Most of the German government did not actually leave Bonn for Berlin until 1998 (it took that many years to physically move the capital). Many government employees still work in Bonn today, but Berlin is unquestionably the capital now.

Bonn would not be one’s normal choice for a capital city, given that much larger cities (Frankfurt and Cologne) were on the West side. Bonn does not even have its own airport. People called it a Capital Village (as opposed to a Capital City). Rumor has it, a politician in the 1940s with some money and political weight was from Bonn and had it placed there.

Of course, Bonn sits right on the Rhine and makes for some beautiful scenery. We had a delightful walk along the old town. We also happened to be there during the annual marathon. So there was lots of activity on the streets. Although that was purely accidental on our parts- we benefited.

Bonn’s most famous citizen was Ludwig Von Beethoven, who was born there in 1770. Everywhere you go, you see “a Beethoven was here”-type sign. Ironically, Beethoven hated Bonn. He could not wait until he became old enough to leave home and move to Vienna. He then returned for 5 years to take care of his sick mother. When she died, he left Bonn again never to return. However, you don’t see that part in any of the city brochures. They just proudly call themselves the home of Beethoven. We saw the house he was born in.

.
On Tuesday we went to Dusseldorf, about 40 minutes north of Cologne along the Rhine. Pretty similar travel on a train as we had to Bonn, just going north this time.

We could not tell if were tired of seeing things or if both Bonn and Cologne were greatly superior to Dusseldorf. But we definitely liked Dusseldorf the least of the three Rhineland cities we visited. The Rhine of course was beautiful. Dusseldorf has some great high end shopping areas called the Kö (we are not much into that)- but if you like your expensive brand names, you would have loved several of the streets. Also, the old town (Altstadt) Sorry, is nice.

Heinrich Heine is their most famous resident. Now if his name is a mystery to you- I had to look him up. He is a famous poet. His stuff does rhyme, so he must be good. The main street in town, with the best shops is Heinrich Heine Alle, the University and a couple of other famous buildings are named after him too.

One thing we did notice about Dusseldorf is its great amount of green space and parks.

We learned there is a great competitive atmosphere between Cologne and Dusseldorf. You are warned in the tourist guides not to compare one city to another in pubic (unless you are praising the city you are in over the other). Even the lady who rented us our Cologne apartment commented “people in Dusseldorf are all snobs”, when we told her of our day long outing.

This even comes down to their beer. Now, I have to admit I had to sink pretty far into beer-geekdome for this difference- so I consulted my beer swami- Dr. Martin Stack. Turns the two cities have their own very similar, but separate beer styles. I mentioned the light, hoppy Ale style, called Kolsch, in my last blog. Well the Dusseldorfers (yes, that is what they are called) have their own, Altbier (or just Alt) style. Residents debate for hours if Kolsch or Alt is better. It is against German law for Kolsch to be made in Dusseldorf. I tried two Alts. Not bad.

That said, Germany is one of the three great meccas of beer: Germany, Czech Republic & Belgium. (Sorry, St. Louis is not the fourth). I greatly prefer the Belgiums’. But research is research.

This is our 7th country visited as a family and my 10th since we have been here in September. We have 2 more to go (Sweden and Denmark in May) before we return home.

Finally, although this will be addressed in the next blog from Lisa and I- our last day in Germany was our 19th wedding anniversary. We did something unique.....

Cologne

We had planned to visit the Rhineland of Germany for the past several weeks. Airplane tickets had been purchased. An apartment was found and pre-paid (as usual, I had a hard time finding an apartment for our 6 people). Then came the volcano. Most flights in Poland, Germany, and most of Europe did not move for 7 days. 100,000 flights were canceled during this time. Airspace only started to partially open up the day before our trip- and Poland to Germany had not opened up. As of midnight the night before, they had not made a decision if our flight was going to go. By the time we woke up the morning of- all flights were planning to leave. We decided to get to the airport early- having no idea what to expect. As Lisa mentioned in her blog- the airports (Gdansk and Cologne) looked as it they did on any day. We were quite surprised. I know some of the larger airports had long lines- but fortunately we had a seamless experience.

We flew into Cologne (Koln) Thursday afternoon. First after finding a cab that would fit our family, we headed towards the apartment. Finding a cab for a party of six is one of my most frustrating experiences. I feel we are like a bunch of circus freaks, walking from minivan cab to minivan cab asking if they will take 6 (almost always they say no)- 5 at the most. I finally grabbed a cab steward- who had to call his supervisor to send over a “special” cab to fit us. I am rarely in a good mood by the time we are loaded in the cab and on the way.

Cologne is a great city, I had been to the Rhineland once (but a little further south)- I knew Lisa would love it. Cologne is the 4th largest city in Germany and it is dominated by the Cologne Cathedral. This grandiose building took 600 years to build. For me, an old church fan, this is right up there with Notre Dame and the Vatican. Our apartment is maybe .5 miles from the Cathedral. Cologne is a very old city (3th century AD) founded by the Romans. Every time they try to build a new building and dig the foundation- they run into Roman ruins. Here is a site they are excavating now. It was suppose to be an extension of city hall.

I am trying not to repeat too much of what already placed in Lisa’s blog. As always- she tends to focus on the family activities, while I am usually unaware they are with us- and thus concentrate on the history and culture. So make sure you read http://anamericanhouseholdinpoland.blogspot.com/2010/04/so-far-i-am-loving-germany.html and anamericanhouseholdinpoland.blogspot.com/2010/04/splash-of-cologne.html to get the entire story.

We have been in the Cathedral several times. Once for a long tour. Of course, I purchased a guide and made the family walk with me from fascinating object to fascinating object. Catholic pilgrims have been coming to Cologne for centuries. It holds a special relic, which has been in the Cathedral for several centuries. It is the sarcophagus made of gold that hold the remains of the Three Wise Men (pictured below). The Magi sarcophagus is prominently displayed above the high alter (also quite a sight in its own right). The Catherdal has spectacular stain glass windows and alters all around. On Sunday we attended Mass at the Cathedral. It was the High Mass- which we learned meant: really, really long.

The city skyline is dominated by the Cathedral. It can be seen from most anywhere (and is actually a good landmark when you get lost).  (I did not take this arial shot, just to clarify).

The Cathedral sits on the bank of the Rhine. In addition to old churches, I Iove big ornate bridges. When we were in Budapest, seeing all the bridges were my favorite part. As with Budapest and the Danube, Cologne has many great bridges crossing the Rhine. My favorite is the one right in from of the Cathedral called Hohenzollern bridge. You can walk or bike across it.

The Rhine was a very important part of the battle field during WWII. First, the Germans easily went west into France and Belgium. But as the Allies started to push the Germans back- the Rhine became an important barrier. As the Germans retreated back to the east- they blew up the Hohenzollern bridge (and the others) to slow the allies down. Here is a before and after (1945 and today) of the bridge.

Also, in pursuit of research- they have a special style of beer here called Kolsch. By law, it can only be brewed in and around Cologne. It is a light, hoppy Ale, rather low in alcohol content. Not bad- I have tried about 5 different brands. Uniquely, it is served in very tall, but skinny glass (.2 Litres). One of the major Kolsch breweries is Sion.

On our first night here we saw a good steak house that advertised “American steaks”. It even had US flags all over it. The steaks started at 15 Euros (which is not very cheap). But I miss steak and we decided to try it. Once inside, you find out their menu is for Argentinean steak. Then they give you a menu supplement that indicates if you want to substitute the Argentinean beef with US beef- add an additional 10 Euros per steak.... I stuck with the Argentinean- still better than pork.

Besides walking the city and enjoying the warm air and great shops, we took the kids to the Chocolate museum. It was a great kid friendly place, that is owned by Lindt Chocolates. It shows from the cultivation of the chocolate plant all the way to the packing of fine chocolates.

Lisa and I about got into a fight with one of the museum guides. He was in the same room as we were, giving a loud talk to a group of tourist. I was on the other side of the room explaining something to the kids. He stopped his talk and told me to “keep it down”. I politely told him we paid the same amount of money as everyone else did- and I was just explaining something to my children. He moved the group off in a huff. He was quite rude to me- as he called me out from across a room. I complained to a supervisor (who actually saw the incident).

But that did not stop us from buying good chocolate for all of us. I got a Lindt white chocolate bar, that had white chocolate moose filling. Amazing! I did learn something else. I have had a academic curiosity with coffee industry (like the beer industry). I frequently take my students on a tour of the Roasterie Coffee plant in KC. Knowing little about chocolate- I was surprised to see the similarities in the cultivation, production process and other issues with coffee. Will have to maybe add a little research to that area as well. beer, coffee and chocolate (and of course health care).

Finally, as we are on the Rhine, we spent an hour boat tour just going up and down the river. I am enjoying the fact that the kids are seeing (and riding on) some of the most famous rivers in Europe- so far Danube, Vistula, Rhine.

Of course the food is great. Bratwurst and Currywurst at every meal.

Funeral and Volcano

This has been a somber week of mourning for the Poles. This weekend is the funeral for President, his wife and the other 94 who died in the plane crash last weekend.

Although the country has been in mourning all week (7 days)- life pretty much goes on as normal. The major exception are all the Polish flags with a black ribbon on it. You see these on every house, public building, trams, buses, fences, and many personal cars. Also, you see candles in a white or red vase all over memorial cites (Poles do like their candles).

This weekend, the weekend of the actual funerals, most activities came to a stop.

At 8:56am on Saturday all the church bells and national warning sirens went off for 2 minutes. That is time, a week ago, that the plane went down. I was actually teaching that morning and we stopped for the two minutes. The funerals started at noon on Saturday- and that is when most of the city and country shut down. Our University shut down from noon Saturday through all of Sunday. We end our class at noon anyway, so it was a easy transition for me.

At noon, just as we were finishing class- the church bells and national sirens went off again. This signified that the national service had begun in Warsaw, and they were reading the 96 names of the dead. By then I was downstairs at the University and we had a big screen on where I watched the reading of each name. They read the name, their age and their position. For me, it was eerily similar to the services for 9-11, I remember seeing.

Most countries have had a national tragedy, and Poland has had many tragedies over the centuries. In September 1939, the Nazis invaded from the West and 17 days later Stalin invaded from the East- millions of Poles died at the hands of each. Much of the Holocaust occurred on their soil. Martial law from the Communist was established in 1981 and lasted 18 months. Before that, Poland has been invaded and exploited from almost every major empire that existed in European history. But this is certainly the current generation’s national tragedy- it is like 9-11 is for us Americans.

Now this air tragedy has certainly reinforced why it is a good idea that “important” people never travel on the same airplane. We would never have a single plane loaded with so many dignitaries and officials- due to the one in the million chance something might happen. As we saw- that one in a million chance does happen. I am sure the Poles will drastically change their policy.

The political transition has been quite smooth. Although the President died, most of the other high political leaders were not on the plane. The Prime Minister and higher level members of Parliament did not travel with him (they frankly don’t like him). So the appointment of a new/temporary President was seamless. Also, frankly the President does not do much with the day to day running of the government in the Polish system- that is the job of the Prime Minister.

What was decimated was three other groups. First was the military: 6 of the 7 highest military leaders (equivalent to our Joint Chiefs of Staff) were on the plane. Second was lots of high level cabinet members who were responsible for things like the Central Bank of Poland and also for foreign affairs. Third were the dignitaries. A past President, several symbolic leaders of the Solidarity movement and other people who were very iconic to the Poles. So, although the world news is about the President- to the Poles it is a much larger event.

During my class on Saturday, I spoke to my students (they are mid-20 year old Master’s students). We talked about their reaction. Of course, they were sad and shocked- but they had a very interesting observations about the process of things. They were shocked and “sick” of all the TV coverage this has received. This has been on TV 24/7 pretty much all week, non-stop. They had never seen so much attention paid to one event on TV. That was odd to me, as we are now use to cable TV’s 24/7 coverage of anything semi-important. But we also know the coverage gets ridiculous at a point. This is the first time something occurred in Poland to get that 24/7 cable TV coverage. All my students were sick of it. One commented that when they interviewed a shopkeeper who was the last person to sell something to someone who was on the plane- he finally turned off the TV.

The other thing they commented on was how the world is perceiving Poland. First they thought the heated debates Poles were having about where the President is to be buried was hurtful to the country. He is being buried in the Wawel Castle in Krakow along with Kings and Saints, some think that is inappropriate for a politician to be buried there along with national heroes. They thought the public arguments were petty and embarrassing to Poles. I assured them this debate is getting very little news coverage outside of their country.

With that is the perception of the country itself. They realize most people (like in America) know little about Poland. I even tell them most Americans could not find Poland on a map. However, what people DO know about Poland tends to revolve around WWII, The Holocaust, Communism, etc. They don’t want to be known for their tragedies anymore- but rather their growth and accomplishments. Really, this is the first time Poland has been major international news since 1989. That is not the Poland they want projected to the world.

Saturday was a service in Warsaw for all 96 victims (Warsaw is about 4 hours south of us). They had a big stage and memorial with all of their pictures on it. We will be in Warsaw next month, and we hope it will still be up. It lasted a good part of the afternoon.

Sunday was the State Funeral just for the President and his wife in Krakow (Krakow is about 9 hours south of us). The funeral Mass was said at St. Mary’s Cathedral and then they had a funeral march (about a mile) to Wawel Castle (by the way- Wawel is also the Cathedral where John Paul II was Arch Bishop and Cardinal before he was elevated to Pope). The Sunday service in Krakow was were Obama and the other world leaders were suppose to attend. Only a few world leaders made the trip (mostly ones from neighboring countries that could travel by train or small plane). The Iceland Volcano keep most of the world leaders grounded. We have watched the impressive funeral march from St. Mary’s to the Wawel on TV (my favorite part, along with the reading of the 96 names on Saturday). There are 100,000s of people along the funeral route. We have been to all of these places during our travels.

This brings me to the last part of the blog- the volcano. This Volcano in Iceland has literally shut down all the airspace through out most of Europe. Only the most southern areas such as Spain and Italy are not yet effected. No airport is open though most of the continent. Here is a Satellite photo so you can see just how big the ash cloud is and why is has shut down so much (click on the picture to see the full effect). European airspace is completely closed until at least Monday- and very possibly longer. Just to give an idea- The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel was coming home from a summit in the US. She was only able to fly as far as Italy. Then, the Chancellor of Germany had to take a bus from Italy back to Berlin.

We have a flight planned to Cologne Germany on Thursday. I give about a 50/50 chance that the airspace will be open by then. The bigger concern of this volcano is the one next to it- which is much, much bigger. It has a tendency to erupt after this one does. Airports from the UK to the Russian border are closed. On the news, it is showing major airport runways being opened to the public to ride bikes and fly kites. Some are taking the opportunity to paint.