Presentation

I know this blog is officially done, but I run into this pictures and thought it would be nice to share. It was our first presentation at the Kiel RC :)

It doesn't seen possible, but tomorrow morning we get on a plane to fly home. When we first arrived time seemed to go by slowly and we were savoring every moment and it seemed like we had lots of days ahead of us. And then things started to speed up and this last week time has flown. I think we all have mixed feelings. We all want to get home and see our families, sleep in our own beds, and be surrounded by our comfortable places and people. At the same time, we are a bit reluctant to have this incredible adventure come to an end. I don't think we will be able to fully process it until we have been home for a while. Our warmest thanks go out to all of the wonderful, kind, enjoyable, interesting, and special people we have met in Northern Germany. Today we did our final presentation, sang Roslein for the last time, met many of our friends from the Rotary Clubs we have visited, and said good-by. Wolfgang Janus gave a wonderful small speech about our visit and said he hoped we were taking back with us a good impression of Northern Germany. I don't know how it could be better. After the meeting I went out with Wolgang, Torbin, Claus, and Bernd and Christine for a beer at the Pavilion. So nice to sit and chat with them. Tonight I spend my last evening with my Hamburg hosts Arndt and Christina. I am picked up tomorrow morning at 7:15 for the short drive to the Hamburg airport and we will be on our way. I leave you with tow views from atop the Elbphilharmonie, the new Hamburg concert hall still under construction. What a gorgeous building.

Goodbye Sylt.

Hello Hamburg. Our arrival at the Hamburg railroad station was so chaotic that I didn't get any pictures.  But here are my wonderful host family the von Oertzens Arndt, his wife Christiana, and their daughter Maria.

Yesterday Arndt and I had a walk along a lake where we talked about music, golf, history, politics, families, etc, etc. We had a lovely dinner with some visiting friends from Argentina. This morning Arndt and I got in a jog before breakfast. We then did some city touring with the Argentines. Here is a view from the top of the St. Michel's church of the new and controversial (unfinished and way over budget) concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie. We will be visiting it tomorrow.

The we went on a tour by ship of Hamburg Harbor. Fascinating. The second largest harbor in Europe. Here are shots of the QE2 and a container ship over 320 meters long. I think I took more pictures in this one hour than I have at any other single stop.

Tonight it is German soccer. Yea!

Family time with our host families

Today was "family" time in Hamburg. Myles and mine host families went together on a boat ride on the Alster lake with paddling boats and had a picnic lunch at the Stadt Park. Here some pictures of our adventure! It was a blast!!

Our last stop...Hamburg

It's our last stop and we have arrived in Hamburg. I had a sick day yesterday. Too much wine and not enought to eat. I did have some delicious oysters though but I think I had too many. So I have taken around 1300 pictures and lots of video and I can't wait to share them when I get home. I can't believe we are leaving on Thursday. The host families have been so kind and have welcomed us with open arms all the way through. My deepest gratitude to the families and friends we have made along the way for sharing their lives, culture and time with us. It will be sad to leave but I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family and eating a tasty hamburger!

Today is a free day with our host families. My host father Christian is going to take me for a walk along the Elbe River and tonight we will have an easy evening and have dinner together with the family and maybe watch the Eurocup.

Sylt is incredibly beautiful - it is like some kind of cross between Cape Cod, Maine, and Scotland. It contains the most expensive real estate in Germany, and that is a blessing and a curse. It brings lots of wealthy people and tourists to the island where they spend money, but it also increases prices and the cost of living for everyone. We are told that some very wealthy Germans buy a house here, live in it only one month in the year, and don't rent it out. So for most of the year no one is living there. The locals talk about "dark"villages where there are no lights all winter. Last night our presentation went very well at the Sylt RC. Yesterday we got a tour of the whole island. Here is the team at the northern-most point of Germany.

During our tour we saw "Willie" the (female) seal

and a beautiful lighthouse.

Today the team had a half vocational day and I was lucky enough to get to take a long bike ride using my host Ralf's bike. This is where I rode.

Finally, this is what the sky looks like at 11:15 pm.

Moin, Moin.
Arrived yesterday on the island of Sylt by train. As always we hate to say good-by to our previous hosts but then it is always so much fun to meet the next ones. We got a great welcome at the train station.

Sylt is very beautiful and definitely reminds me of Maine. (Rather chilly today.)

Yup, step into the North Sea and it isn't bad at first, then your feet start to ache.

Last night our hosts took Myles and me out to a fabulous fish dinner and then we watch the Germ,an team defeat the Netherlands in Euro Cup Soccer. Today a tour of the Island. Alles Gute!