Vermont

Route 17 seems to be our nemisis! Last year our goal was Route 17 and beyond-too ambitous. We didn't make it because of weather and slope. This year the same but we have met the Rubicon albiet through a circuitous route-down the Mad River Glen fern slopes and then via van from the south-at least for Dad.

This year saw us all (maybe not Ted?) in better shape and training as needed given the initial ascent up Mt. Abraham on Thursday from Lincoln Gap of around 2200 feet. Not a ferocious climb but one that requires mental stead and strong calves. The much lightened packs made it all much easier as we have learned to pack less food, clothing, hammoks, the entire cloth bound works of Lord Tennyson, etc... The peak of Mt. Abraham offers one of the top panoramic views of New England, and a fatal landing strip, but unfortunately we were fogged in at the top and missed the view. After the ascent the trail meandered along the ridge until we made it to Glen Ellen shelter which is actually off the trail around 3/10ths of a mile down a treacherous wet rocky path that requires a ladder at points. The shelter was primitive but sturdy and allowed us each our own bunk with Gandolf (our shelter mate) the non-eater and marathon bat like sleeper-they sleep 20 hours a day, he seemingly 15-suffered the night of snooring from the entire Fons clan. The morning saw Gandolf off early, whom we soon overtook at Mad River Glen, and us in good spirits as we set off for a light day of marching of around 6 miles. Fate dealt us a lucky(?) hand however as we decided to descend the mountain not on the trail but STRAIGHT down the ski slope to avoid the rocky and wet trail. I say lucky because as reached the road the heavens let loose a torrent of biblical magnitude that ended our hope of reaching our next shelter.

The entire trip only yielded 12.1 miles on our quest to finish the Long Trail but once again yielded much family bonding and bowl movements only found at certain altitudes of the Green Mountains.

Home

I don't want to sound Europhilic here but as I arrived in Chicago two things happened that reminded me of the home of the brave. I got to Chicago at around 6:30 PM on Thursday and my train for Milwaukee at Union Station left at 8:25, easily enough time a traveler would assume. Quickly I moved through customs and got my bag immediately and walked to the L by 7:15 PM. 55 minutes later I was at the Jackson street stop which is around 6 blocks to Union Station. I missed the train. Luckily I have good friends in Chicago that put me up because this, alas, was the last Amtrak train to Milwaukee. Questions Why exactly is there not a train from O'Hare to Milwaukee? Why does it take 55 minutes to get from O'Hare to downtown maybe 2 miles away? Why is there not an L stop at the central TRAIN station in downtown Chicago. The anawers are obvious in the questions, no integrated train system-destroyed by the auto/petrolio/rubber/road building complexxx. Enough said!

The second incident was classic US big city. As I was waiting for my friend Ed to pick me up at Union Station the direction scammers (usually black dudes who give tourists directions for a fee and figure the worth of the take at an opportune time) eyed me up as a target. There happened to be cops around but as they left they regrouped and made the rounds checking whether or not to make a grab for my bags. Not once in the 5 weeks of my trip did I feel unsafe once in Europe and I walked with the same outfit and load in many different locals, urban and rural/rich and poor, alike. The alienation in this place is at the surface. Too bad I work with it everyday.

A subjective ranking of Euro Tour 2006.

Most suprising on time Metro performance: Athens
Most stunning view: Delfi
Most supermodels per square block: Riga
Best bike infrastructure: Copenhagen
Most pregnant supermodels on bikes: Copenhagen
Best nation wide train system: Germany
Most confusing train schedules: Germany
Least talkative people: Estonians
Most talkative people: US History Majors
Best meal: Johanneses trout on a grill
Most overwhelming moment: the Hermitage
Sillyist moment: Belly laughing with Jeff, Theis, Dirk and Cuba Libre's in Saaremaa at the gun turret at 3 AM. Of course realed in by the war department.
Best peleton: Andernach to Niederbachem
Best danceing: Danish funk band with the Germans and the Danish supermodels
Best match/party: Germany v. Argentina in Bonn with Jouly, Sylivia and such...


Great trip.

Delfi

Awoke to very unfamiliar sounds this morning. Our hotel in Delfi overlooks one of the most spectacular valleys I have ever witnessed, the only parallel in my experience would be the high Sierra above the tree line. Not something we expected traveling only around an hour and a half out of Athens. Back to the melody, encantations, morning prayers, chior practice? As I struggled towards conciousness this morning I heard a signing style from an elderly man (?) resonating out into the valley. At first I thought is was a recording but as I listened closer it seemed to either be coming from the house up the hill from our place or the Greek Orthodox church at the top of the knoll. I presume it was Greek and in the style of the Muslim call to prayer but more melodic and it went on for at least an hour. The sound reminded me how history's imprint can not easily be erased given the Islam's retreat from the region at least 400 years ago (I am really not sure of the autonomy of the Greek Orthodox church under the Ottomans). At any rate a pleasant sound and not one easily erased from the memory tapes.

As I mentioned the setting of Delfi is undescribeable. Not only the valley itself but also the view of the Mediterranean to the west and the penninsula that once housed Sparta. Now the entire valley floor is carpeted with olive orchards which have an off green color that although the mono-culture is quite stiking.

The primary reason we came up to this region was to visit Tele and his family in their home in Levadia. The feasting of the region is renowned and along with Tele's dad's home cured olives we never have eaten so well the entire time in Greece. Tele and family are heading to Hios, Julia's childhood island home, so we had to clear out Saturday so we decided to take a bus up the way 40 kilometers or so and vist Delfi.

Again, ancient Greek history and mythology are not my strong suit but Delfi is one of the most important sites of classical Greece and the greater Mediterranean. Like the Acroplis the Greek government runs the site and a ticket system that allows you to visit the site numerous times for one price. The sites are also very non-commercial with no gift shops within a stones throw. The highlight of the site for me was the theatre which overlooks the valley with a view comparable to the Grand Canyon or Half Dome at Yosemite. I also was taken by the stadium at the base of the grand cliffs that top the site. To think of the crowds and competition at this presence made me want to know more and more about the region and events of the time. Paul actually has a digital video camera along and I think the clips from this chapter will be worth the view. I will try to create a link some how.

Two things I forgot to mention on the Delfi/Levadeia leg (I am writing this from Köln, Germany, Monday afternoon after a very shaky landing on Germanwings airline) 1). I had my first experience with what the Greeks call an Ottoman toilet. It's a whole, no seat, no railings, aim required. 2). At the Delfi museum there is the most haunting bust, I think the rest-the body was lost-I have ever seen. The artist and subject are debated but they claimed it might be this Titus cat who gave autonomy to the Greeks in Roman times. I will look for a picture and post it. A must see in person. Realistic, a cross in his left eye, pronounced Roman nose, erily human.

Today back to Athens and tommorow I am off to Cologne for a couple of days and then to Copenhagen for one day and then...sadly to the homestead in Milwaukee.

Ciao!

Greece

Arrived in Athens at 10:30 Sunday morning on July 9th and it was raining. I guess this is about as rare as Jerry Taft (local Milwaukee, fat, TV news reader) winning the New York marathon. The rain subsided in an hour and within three we were eating lunch at the base of the Acropolis and Agora sipping Greek wine and eating olives in the blistering 85 degree dry heat (we were warned by many of the unbearable heat of Athens in July-it has been the opposite-dry and breazy and cool at night).

Monday morning we decided on the major site of Athens, the Acropolis, Agora, etc... This "park" is at the center of the city overlooking the modern, but low rise-I think it is an earthquake issue-capital. A nice part of the park is that you pay the princely fee of €12 (around $14) for five tickets which allows the vistor repeat visits to the different museums and site but only once for the top of the mount which houses the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Nike. My public school prose cannot do justice to this monument to Western idolatry and experiment in male self rule but it certainly is impressive. The size-you can tell I took in the subtleties-of the shrines/Stoa themselves is awesome with a level detail in the sculptureure and friezes that I did not expect.

On the way up to the Acroplis from the southeast there are two theatres that were most impressive The Theater of Dionysos and The Odeum. Quite a site and given that up to 15,000 watched the early plays of western dramedy and satire added some gravitas.

Our tour of the Acropolis was interupted by a day by a jaunt to one of the closer islands, Aegina. Aegina was once a rival to Athens as a city state but now serves as a tourist destination for Athenians on the weekend. We ate cheap fresh fish, worshipped Rah and generally soaked in a very tranquil vacation village. It was nice to get out of the city for a day given the horrible time we have been having in Athens with its unbearable heat, high prices and smog (none of this is true, it has been just the opposite).

On Wednesday we headed back to the Agora which is part of the Acropolis park. The Agora, we thought, was just the public market place of classical Greece but we found out that this part of the site is actualy much more. As you enter there is an entirely renovated (most of the money came from JD Rockafeller and lots of Greek-Americans) stoa that houses a musem and an exhibit explaining the the rennovations of the 1930's. The site actually was occupied by housine for a few hundred years and all of the houses had to be bought out and destroyed. By the way when the new Metro was built for the Olympics around 7 years ago thousands of artifacts were found as they discovered that old wells became depositories of broken vases, pitchers, plates, etc... Needless to say this slowed the schedule down a mite. Anyhoo, The Agora was also the center of early democratic rule. The meeting places, speech'ifying and all that took place here. In other words Plato, Aristotle and other cats of this grandee style hung out here. As part of the rennovation the landscape was totally redone in what was researched as the shrubbery of the time. The time-lapse fotos of these changes were quite compelling. You should come here some day!

Last night Tele, Julia (friends of Paul from Georgia Tech-that I actually had stay in Milwaukee one night aroung 8 years ago-I told hime not to make idle invites) and their two daughters took us out to dinner at a fabulous Greek restaraunt in a park in the city. Needless to say another Bachanalian orgy!

Today off to Delphi to stay the night at Tele and Julia's.

Opa!

Bonn/Niederbachem

A little revisionism here given I have not had access to a computer in about a week. But quite a week it has been. Last Saturday I once again used Johannes bike and rode to Bonn to check out some museums and later to meet Johannes, Julia, Mary and Paul downtown for Shnitzel and ice cream (gelato). I ended up at the Kunst Und Asstellungshallee Der Bundersrepublik Duetschland. It's a museum that hosts traveling exhibits both contemporary and ancient. By the way it is very close to the parliament building under the old West Germany and the Post Tower which houses the offices of the German postal system. At the museum I saw four exhibits, some crappy modern white light extravaganza with noise and blood, large canvases with junk, the permanent exhibit of 20th century modern German artisits (which was great) and an amazing exhibit of Xi'an-Imperial Power in the Afterlife. Which is an exhibit of the Chinese terra cotta soldiers and the tomb that was recently excavated in cooperation with the German government. Again, this display was humbling. The tomb itself was around 2 square miles and included not just the terra cotta army but a boat load (I think that is the technical term?) of other booty honoring the after life of one of the uniters of the Chinese Emporer. I have seen the National Geographic specials and such but seeing the soldiers, the officers, the horses, replica carriages, paintings, etc... was surreal. The people working on the site have also reconstructed the paint schemes that were originally used and as you enter the exhibit two replicas, fully painted great the visitor. Quite impressive!

After the high culture of contemporary Germany and ancient China, the low culture of the uni-culture was indulged. In other words, we had a few beers, went swimming near the trailer park on the Rhine-this time entering the strong current and floating nearly a mile down stream, and watching the loser game-LG as we named it-between Germany (3rd place) and Portugal (4th place) of WC fusbol.

Sunday morning, off to Greece at 5AM. Another teary goodbye in Niederbachem as Johannes and Julia were incredible hosts who we have now vacationed with 4 or 5 times over the last 10 years. Maybe a bike trip in France next year with the family?

Andernach

The last 3 days have been dedicated to a severe exercise regime given the bachanalian depths of my diet the last few weeks. Johannes and I actually road 80 kilometers yesterday in a trip from his home in Niederbachem to Andernach. There is a very well maintained trail the entire way with lots of cafes and small towns along the way to keep one well fed and distracted from the pain in one's legs. The highlight however is the Rhine itself as it surges through the Sievengebirge mountain range creating dramatic landscapes dotted with castles and massive cathedrals at every turn.

Along the way there also is a scene of 20th century importance at the former bridge, and now museum at Remagen. In March of 1945 US troops took this bridge on their way to Berlin. Knowing the Soviets were on a tear from the East the Allies needed to quickly cross the Rhine (not an easy task as I have learned having dipped into the torrent 10 times in the last week-and I didn't have to traverse the deluge with tanks!) and advance to the last bastion of NAZI power. Remagen was the only place left to cross given the Germans had destroyed the other bridges as the Allies entered Germany. Hitler was outraged at this strategic loss and executed 4 local commanders who were in control of Remagen.

Andernach is also an interesting place. It's an old medieval city with new housing and a shopping/tourist center incorporated into the city gate and center. Quite a dramtic view as you descend the trail from the North.

Today more biking and museums in Bonn.

Tonight the loser game. I guess we will have to watch given we are in Germany.

Nooooooo!

Needless to say there is no joy in Mudville. I really was surprised by the outcome given how shabbily the Italians were playing but in sudden death.... There is no talk of fußball in these parts now, can you say vive la France?

The last couple of days I have biking the Rhine. Niederbachem is about 16 kilometers from Bonn along the river. Nice and flat riding with lots of walkers, bikers, cafes, views of vineyards, Drachenfels ruins, Petersberg castle, flat barges, tourist tour boats and parks. The biking culture is serious here. Not to the Copenhagen level but substantial to be sure. There are bike paths and lanes everywhere and the biker is treated equally on the road. I actually crossed the Rhine on a highway (Autobahn) that had a dedicated lane.

Today we are headed to Cologne for site seeing and putsing around.

50 States Complete

Completion of 50 State Program

I have completed the 50 State Program at the YRE at Great Falls, MT on June 21. Mom and I along with walking friends Roberta and Gene Ganske formerly of Arnold, MD and now retired to Northfield, MN completed the trip on a driving tour from St. Paul, Mn through North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. Mom has completed walks
in 47 states and will complete the 50 next year with a trip to Washington
and Oregon and one nearer to home for Connecticutt. The Fons' started
volkssporting in Annapolis in 1989. The Great Falls walk was my 783rd
walk and Mom's 464th.

The Ganskes started volkssporting in Germany during a tour of duty there in
1976. Both the Fons' and Ganskes combine quilting and walking on their
trips. Quilt shoppers have no 50 state program but the ladies have visited
quilt shops in equivalent numbers should one be initiated.

Beautiful scenery was enjoyed on the seemingly endless straight state roads
of North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota and the hillier roads of
Minnesota. Interesting stops were made at the National Parks and Monuments
along the way including Theodore Roosevelt Park, the Enchanted Highway,
Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore and Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Our stay included the Boot Hill Cemetary outside Billings, MT and a nice
walk up the butte overlooking the Yellowstone River Valley. Really enjoyed
the animals along the way, lots of antelope, mule and whitetail deer,
pheasants and a few bison. Even a family of magnificent Sandhill Cranes
along the road in Montana. The walk up the trail to Black Otter Trail Park
in Billings included the rising sun shining through the ears of a young
jackrabbit just a few feet away.

We concluded the trip with a walk in Buffalo, Wyoming and a friendly local
event in Flandrau State Park, New Ulm, MN. Where but in volkssporting could
you enjoy such a week?

Dad

Goooooallllllllll

Today is the big day, if they don't make the finals, here in Niederbachem! We will be watching the game via internet, Johannes and Julia don't have a TV, projected onto the side of their shed. Leland, their second oldest, is skeptical but the planners have assured us that the system has been tested and will be as clear as a brand new plasma screen.
For the last few days we have been hanging out here with the family playing games, swimming in the Rhine, which has some of the stongest current I have ever seen in fresh water, replacing windows, eating, eating, napping and just generally chilling. By the way we saw a hummigbird the size of a small peanut yesterday.

Prediction: Germany 2, Italy 1.