Early November brings darkening days and what are now rather melancholy memories. Today marks the fall of the Berlin Wall, a strike for freedom; tomorrow the birthday of the US Marine Corps, and 11 Nov is Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US), honoring those who served in the cause of freedom.
As a teenager visiting West Berlin, I took this photo of the Brandenburg Gate over the Berlin Wall. What I remember most from that trip is standing on a platform overlooking the Wall. There was a road leading to the East Berlin side, but the passage was closed and guarded, and the traffic light at the gateway shone red. Always red.
It had a profound effect on me. I was old enough to understand a little of what my military father did and the sacrifices it required. And I spent a good part of my life doing my best to serve and forward the cause of freedom.
Today, I grieve to see the ideology that built this wall still encroaching on the freedom of others. And I grieve even more to see the division in my own country, where those meant to serve are more focused on building walls of political ideology than bridges – while our country waits at the red light.
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To those who have served
in the reaches of the north,
the sands of the desert,
the heat of the jungle,
and on the swells of the sea…
To those who have walked through the valley,
heard the scream of the rockets,
smelled the smoke and seen the wreckage,
and comforted those who have…
To those who have watched the screens for warning,
waited for the order you hoped would never come,
guarded the land and seas and skies,
and to those who had to send them when you couldn’t go…
To all who have carried out the mission, flawed as it may be,
To those who returned to jeers instead of cheers,
To all who served in the cause of freedom,
For just a few or for a stretch of years…
Thank you.
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After a long hiatus, I’ve decided to revive my travel blog. Though Facebook has become the primary way to share our adventures with my family, I find that when I’m traveling somewhere, I like to seek out opinions, thoughts, and advice from others who have been there. Plus, I need to shake the rust off my writing skills! So, for the grand reopening, on to our first – and likely most exotic – adventure of 2016…Dubai.
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In Flanders fields, few poppies grow,
but crosses still stand, row on row,
to mark the place where young men lie
beneath trimmed grass and sunny sky,
so different from that long ago.
100 years have now passed by;
some carry still the torch held high.
Though troubled, still we love our land,
so serve in ice or hills or sand,
to keep the faith with those who’ve died
in foreign fields.
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We took a day trip to the “Romantic Rhine” – specifically the area more prosaically known as the Upper Middle Rhine. This UNESCO World Heritage site features about 40 castles in a 65 kilometer stretch between Bingen and Koblenz. Read the rest of this entry »
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Every autumn, numerous villages in the Alpine regions of Austria and Germany celebrate the Almatrieb, the return of the cows and their herders from the Alps, where they have spent the summer. This tradition is marked with festivals including food, music, and topped with the cattle parades and Viehscheid, where the cattle are separated and returned to the owning families. The cows are decorated with flowers and bells to celebrate the safe return. The festivals occur from mid-September to early October, and this year we decided to visit one in the Tirol region of Austria on my birthday. Read the rest of this entry »
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We got into Budapest in the late afternoon. Traffic was snarled up and parking, of course, was a pain, as in most cities in Europe. However, even though there was a miscommunication in the parking, the hotel people let us park in the one of the taxi spots right in front of the hotel, and the view from hotel was gorgeous–overlooking the Danube with a great view of Pest. (Budapest became a single city in 1873–unifying Buda and Óbuda on the west bank of the Danube with Pest on the east bank.) Read the rest of this entry »
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The Beautiful Blue Danube…isn’t. At least not the part we’ve seen. It’s brown, just like the muddy Mississippi. Still, it’s an impressive sight, especially seen from the mountain where Devin Castle stands. Read the rest of this entry »
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Well, the first tale I have to tell rather overshadowed a fairly nice day in Vienna–on the way back to the hotel, a (presumably drunk) older man slapped me on the tail in the subway station! I mean, really! Fortunately, he was moving pretty fast and apparently never skipped a beat, since he was halfway to the escalator when I whipped around. Sorry to say, this kind of spoiled a perfectly good day spent at Schönbrunn Palace and Tiergarten. Read the rest of this entry »
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I have wanted to visit Vienna for a long time; I have leave I have to burn, so was lucky enough to get some time off for one last summer trip before school started. (Side note–Rebecca is starting high school–AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!) I got home late Wednesday night, so we got a bit of a late start in the morning, but we finally got everything packed and got on the road to our first stop, Vienna. Read the rest of this entry »