Bear-lin? Nein, Berlin!

For those of you who know Susan and me well (maybe too well), I couldn't resist the pun. We have reached Berlin and what a thrill it is. It is truly one of the world's major cities in all senses of that term. The streets of Charlottenburg, a major brand name, big name, expensive shopping district, were teeming with Saturday shoppers. There are all manner of people out, too. I heard at least a dozen languages spoken as I prowled the KaDeWe department store.

And what a department store it is! As I recall Herrod's in London or Macy's in New York City, this has them all beat. I don't know if the website communicates its extent, but check it out if you are so inclined.

http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/

Sorry, no eye candy until maybe I return to the US. I'm posting from an Internet cafe in a Dunkin' Donuts (really!) for the duration while in Berlin. Why yes, I'll have another....

Zou saz ÄThe quick brown fox jumped over ....'

No, that's not an error in the subject. At least that's not an error for a touch typist who doesn't check his or her work. These German keyboards are a little different from American ones, with the y and z switched, for instance, and with an additional modifier key on the keyboard that's needed to access the "@" symbol. I'm going to have to learn to tzpe, er, type all over again when I get home....

Over on Facebook Gordon is leaving all the keyboard artifacts in his posts. Apparently it's the new irony to leave that stuff in.

Chocolate -- Soldiers

Chocolate? The Chocolate factory in Delitszch where the Timberwolf HQ was during the last stages of the war. It still operates, too!

Soldiers? We were guests at the noncommisioned officers school not far away. Had a great time with them. They were all fluent in English so we had an entertaining give and take over lunch.

Ein, zwei, drei... Halle (Salle)

A little German seems to attract greater expectations that you can speak more English. Even a little "bitte" (please) can start a whole stream of German, despite one's protestations in English.

We're here in Halle (Salle), site of a great victory for the Allies that you probably haven't heard of. The reason is that the capitulation was negotiated between Gen. Terry Allen and Count von Luckenberg (sp?), a respected citizen of Halle and a World War I hero. While the Count was not in the German military command he convinced the German commander to let him negotiate with the Allies to try and avoid the destruction of the city with the attendant civilian deaths. Needless to say the attempts were a great success.

Today Halle boasts many turn of the century (19th to 20th) buildings, making it in its way more charming than some West Germany cities that chose to deliberately bulldoze their inventory and replace them with contempory buildings, which are now ugly, old 50s era buildings. I certainly am enjoying the colorful, lively, typically European city center of Halle.

Our hotel room has a sheet boasting of Halle's attributes: home of Georg Handel, city center of five towers, 1,200 years old, etc, etc. Last but not least, home of Europe's largest Beatles museum! While I bumped into it during my wanderings I didn't have time to stop inside. Sorry, Rick.

Do not forget the Holocaust

Today was a sober day of remembrance for the Timberwolves. The 104th
Division liberated a concentration camp less known than others but one
that was equally brutal. In April of 1945 the Timberwolves entered
Nordhausen and discovered what other Allied units in other parts of
Germany discovered. In addition the prisoners supplied labor for the
underground manufacturing sites of the infamous V-1 and V-2 weapons of
the Germans. The caverns are immense and awe inspiring in their grisly
way. Google Nordhausen or Mittelbau-Dora for additional details. The
location is placid now amid countryside that reminds one of Western
Pennsylvania. But from 1943 to 1945 it was a place of the worst that
human kind can devise.

Happy Memorial Day from Europe!

If you're Belgian Memorial Day was Sat, 5.24. If you're Dutch it's Sun, 5.25. We were privileged to have celebrated it twice.

I am discovering that much of the Netherlands and Belgium have not yet forgotten the sacrifice of the US on their behalf, and that it not just the generation of WW II but also their children and their children's children. Did you know that Henri-Chapelle American cemetery in the Netherlands has over 7,000 American graves? And do you know that many of those graves have been "adopted" by local Dutch? That means that, at the least, they place bouquets on the graves on Memorial Day. Often the care goes way beyond that token. Likewise, at Margraten American cemetery, with over 8,000 graves, the Belgians do the same.

Yesterday evening we were guests of the village of Chapelle at a Memorial Day show. We arrived at 8 PM while the show was underway. It turned out this was by design. Led to our seats in the front of the community center with the veterans in the lead, the audience of over 800 people appreciatively clapped in rhythm as the vets made their way down the center aisle. Even now it brings tears to my eyes.

The Timberwolves are in Breda and vicinity

Today was a day of honor. The tour traced, roughly, the very first
days of combat of each of the Timberwolves' regiments. All of the
combat took place in the countrysides of the southern Netherlands and
the very northern edge of Belgium. And everywhere we went the local
communities wanted to pay homage to the Timberwolves. It is amazing to
me that these people have not forgotten. There have been at least five
occasions in the last two days where the mayor and citizens have come
out, wreaths have been laid, memorials refreshed and silence has been
observed. Citizens now three generations removed have been present at
these ceremonies, and flags fly from houses just for the Timberwolves.

In addition, today we were met by Timberwolf enthusiasts. The
Timberwolf Foundation (not the exact name) and friends took the day
off work and, in uniform, accompanied us from town to town in their
restored jeeps and trucks. I think there were at least 30 of them.

While I have no embedded eye candy let me refer you to some sites
maintained by local enthusiast groups. You'll get an idea of how
enthusiastic they have been.

How about those jeeps? Here you'll find YouTube videos of the stuff
these guys do, including, I believe, parade footage.
http://www.timberwolves.nl

And a couple of young guys, now 20 and 22, have created a museum in
their parents' garage. They've been working on this collection since
they were in grade school!
http://www.timberwolves.tk

Tomorrow we participate in the Belgian Memorial Day ceremony at the
American cemetery, Henri-Chappelle. And Sunday we're at the Margraten
cemetery for the Dutch Memoiral Day ceremony. These are big deals,
including royalty!

Timberwolves arrive in Amsterdam

Day one of our tour finds us in beautiful Amsterdam. Today Amsterdam puts her best foot forward with wonderful, summer-San Francisco-like weather. It is indeed a city interlaced with canals and alive with bicycles. The areas we've seen are picturesque low-rise retail and residential buildings punctuated with the majestic church or museum or other public building. Lots of interesting restaurants (Italian, Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Greek, often all on the same block) and small shops. A great city to explore.


The Timberwolves gather for ths first time for this tour this afternoon for a canal tour. Just like in SF, the winds are starting to pick up so it will likely be cool on the water. Then a tour-opening dinner. That is, if we can keep our eyes open. Our bodies are still under the impression that we are on Pacific Time, after all. Or in other words, during our 7pm dinner that part of our brain that remembers such things will still be saying, "what are you doing, trying to stay up 26 hours in a row?"

P.S. I wouldn't recommend clicking through either of these pictures unless you have a fast Internet connection. The file size is huge, like 4 MB each. These are the original files from my camera since I haven't figured out how to reduce the resolution before uploading the pix to the Internet.

104th Infantry Division Timberwolves return to Europe!

By this time tomorrow a group of World War II "alumni" from the U.S. Army 104th Infantry Division, along with spouses, kids and even grandkid, will have arrived in Amsterdam. The purpose - to tour the battlefields where the Timberwolves fought in WW II. My dad, my son and I will all be a part of the tour.

Watch this space. Assuming I can find convenient Internet cafes I will try to post. And assuming I can figure out uploading pictures from my camera to the cafe computer, and upload those pictures to Blogspot, and... well, pray for me.