Oct. 14
Today is Sunday, my last Sunday in Germany. We rose early to get the train this
morning. We left our hotel at 7:00 and
drove to Saarbruiton and caught the 7:50 train headed for Bonn. We enjoyed a beautiful ride along the Rhine River,
one of the most pretty train rides we have had, it will also be our last train ride
of the trip. We arrived in Bonn about 11:30
and were met by Stephan Metzdorf, a McCloy fellow from last year, and
also Dr. Klaus Martin Lotz, Former director of international relations for the
DBV, Dr. Lots has worked with many McCloy groups and still enjoys meeting with
them every year. He told stories about
several of the groups he has hosted in the past and even remembered Leland
Hogan coming with the first McCloy group 32 years ago.
We were joined for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant by Willy Kampmann,
Head of the DBV office in Brussels, we will be with him later in the week. This afternoon we went to a multi-generational
housing complex where Stefan, his wife (who is out of town) and their young son
live. It is an interesting mix of older citizens
and young families. They share many common
areas such as a laundry room, a work shop where they share tools, and a large
dinning room. They each have their own
separate apartment were they have their privacy. We had coffee and cake with his neighbors and
had a very fun visit. The apartments overlook the cemetery where Beethoven's mother is buried.
We got to our hotel about 5:30, we are all so tired are glad to have
some time to rest. I can't seem to get
the internet to work for me, it works great for everyone else but apparently it
doesn't like me. Bonn is the former
capital of West Germany and still has a lot of government offices and even some
EU and international offices. It should
be an interesting few days here. Stefan
only has a small car so I hope we don't have to drive very often. Paul, Raquel, and I are getting a little too
well acquainted stuffed in the back seat; I can't even put my head up straight. 
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