Italy, Munich, Bitburg and home...

The long hiatus on this blog was due to internet and computer issues. It was kind of a nice break, but back on the saddle into documenting some of the happenings on this trip.

Italy

Italy is a respite in time.  They resist many external changes and tend to stay very, very much in their own nationalistic traditions.  Heck, some

mountain shops still accept Lira's... imagine that while the currency is not longer honored by any bank, the Italians retain their own currency as a sign of pride and resistance.
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Newsflash:  Italy's election yesterday:  they just went WAY farther right than Brexit or Trump... yikes!  they (and most of Europe) are really, really fed up with all the refugee

immigrants and cultural clashes on so many levels. I like what one of my friends said: 'if we want immigration to work, we need integration (not immigration) focus'   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ap-explains-populist-surge-leaves-hung-parliament-in-italy/2018/03/05/eb95a7ca-208e-11e8-946c-9420060cb7bd_story.html  
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The northern Italian Alps, Dolomites, Sud-Tirol, whatever you call them - are Gorgeous.  Non-Stop Grand Tetons.  The AirBnB I stayed in felt like it was surrounded by heaven-seeking peaks.  Every single window had it's own special composure of a specific peak/mountain range.  And when you walk through Merano (or any of the hundreds of little towns in the Alps) you always overshadowed, watched over by these gorgeous angels.

The little town of Merano sits about 50 kilometers northwest of Bolzano. Both are deep in the northern Italian Dolomites. Merano… wiki here… was the summer home of Queen Katherine II and is a picture perfect little Alpine village that is somewhat stuck in the past, oh! So Italian with some Germanic

tendencies. It’s part of ‘SudTirol’ or southern Tyrolean. Until WWII it was part of Austria but was annexed to Italy by the politicians as part of the WWII treaty. The nice thing is that the people never really noticed this. So you still have an uber-strong germanic presence which the Italians don’t mind. As a matter of fact the rest of Italy delights in being able to go to a foreign country (Austria) without leaving italy.

Merano has a goergeous river that runs through the middle of the city that hasn’t changed for 1000’s of years. It is still focused on being people friendly. There are only two bridges for cars. Both sides of the river are lined with wide open pedestrian zones dotted with charming cafes, pastry shops, bakeries and touristy shops. Countless olc wrought iron benches line the river sides. It is usually filled with people walking, kids playing, and various social activities. In the middle of the city is a brand new Thermal bath complex with a modern hotel. Super enjoyable!  

Munich

Munich continues to be Germany’s most popular city for techies, beer & soccer, gateway to the Alps, and the capital of Bavaria. It is a thriving megapolis of …. people… wiki here…. I’ve been coming to Munich every year since 1992 and it has just grown more hectic each year. Subways, buses and trams are crowded all

day, tourists continually flock to the MarienPlatz GlockenSpiel Kathedral and it continues to evolve as Berlin’s counterpart in the south. The weather in Munich is SO much nicer than northerly (and way colder) Berlin. The ‘sound of music’ alps are a stones throw from Munich.

Munich was also the first large western city that demonstrated successfully one can eliminate ALL cars from the central district and create a more thriving people-oriented commercial districts where the merchants also thrive. Initially the main pedestrian zone was a huge failure, but its continual persistence paid off a decade after it started and now merchants have higher per square meter revenues from pedestrians than from the previous car zones. And it’s more peaceful & comfortable, less pollution and noise…

My airBnB in Munich was the best of the whole trip – by far. Easy to get to – 200 feet from the Tram stop, an extremely hospitable host who disappeared right after I got there on a weekend trip. Hi-speed wifi (although my laptop was down the entire time).

Trier

This is the oldest city in Germany. It was founded as the northern most outpost of the Roman empire. The gateway to the main old town is the ‘Porta Nigra’

which are the tall remnants of a roman Colosseum. It is also the birthplace of Karl Marx. They are celebrating his 200^th anniversay this May.

Trier is a charming little town situated along the Mosel River which is an important and popular wine growing area in Germany. It is close to Luxembourg, and …. wiki here….

My parents live in Bitburg – a little town 45 km north of Trier, so I am very familiar with Trier over the years having toured it countless times with my folks. I do enjoy the quaintness of its compact size.

Bitburg

This is very my father settled 45 years ago upon his return to his homeland. I’ve been visiting him regularly alongside my adjunct-professor gig in Austria since 1992. He passed on in 2012. My step-mom is wonderful 92 years young lady who I’ve grown close to over the years and enjoy visiting. The main purpose of this entire Euro18 trip is to come spend time with her – she believes she’s on her last legs.

After WWII the American AirForce picked Bitburg to one of its main European hubs. There are two military airports here. One (Spangdau) is still in full operation. I hear at least five fighters take off and land each day… doing something in Poland with NATO I am told. Years ago, fighters took off from here for daily sorties and other havoc & death creations in Iraq and other ‘rich’ targets ole Rummy imagined. Politics aside, I wouldn’t be coming here if it wasn’t my parents home. Bitburg is a tiny little town high up the ‘Eifel’ plateau. Just to the north of here the famous Battle of the Bulge was fought and there’s a certain chakra around here that goes back eons.

Bitburg is home to Germany’s largest brewery: ‘bitte ein bit’ is the sound bite for Bitburger Pils, and if ever watched a soccer game you’ve seen their ads.

I enjoy shopping the stores here and know my way around every nook & cranny and usually load up on my last European goodies. I stock up on toiletries and other ‘negative chemical free’ products that the germans are the best in the world in with their ‘precautionary principle’.

the remains

I still have two more cities to go before the flight home. One is Bad Breisig where a good friend lives, whom I met at the Sieben Linden ecovillage several years ago. And then I return to Barcelona for a couple days before my flight. I learned a long time ago to always be right next to the airport a day before a discounted international flight is scheduled. When Murphy shows up on that flight – it can create the worse havoc I’ve ever experienced traveling – and it’s quite nice to enjoy a restful day before a long flight anyway.

Personal note

In one week I will be back home. What a whirlwind of a trip! The last two weeks have been delighted by Dolomite peaks, urban beauty & beastiness, trains & buses & trams, rooms in AirBnBs and a lot of walking in old cities’ pedestrian zones. But these two weeks have also been marred by no internet access, virus on my laptop (ubuntu!), and one big experience back in time.

By some measures this could be the definition of a few weeks well lived. By other measure (and by me) it’s a definitive big ‘why’? I’m getting a bit leary about travel – have been fortunate to have done a lot of it in my life and when I was younger it had a certain novelty and excitement about it. But the drudgery of

late and canceled planes have been replaced by the drudgery of security and the ever suspiciousness of our police state. We have truly evolved over the last two decades into a constant surveillance and ‘guilty until proven innocent’ state of affairs. It’s bad enough in our own backyards where we are accustomed to it and accept it without complaint or notice and travel more and more each year... we are willing lambs to the sacrifice...