Germany

In the town of Winsen we visited the cheese lady. I call her that because she sells cheese that she makes from her 13 cows. She has 2 kids about 8 to 10 years old and she works very hard. Her farm, which was past down from her parents, was very interesting. The buildings were old but were very well built. In this part of Germany all the local farm houses and barns are located in a cluster and the farmers have to travel to the fields. So in the cheese ladies farm she walks her cows twice a day to the barn to milk them. If I opened the gate at my farm the cows would go running and eat the grass and flowers of the neighbors. She has an interesting task at her place. Lots of farms in the country side.

In Hamburg we visited the harbor, the old church, St Mickaelis, the red light district, toured the city, and WW's place. The red light district was interesting in that they do not allow women to enter this street and the ladies that work here sit in the windows tlaking to the men so that they will hire them. Hamburg was very beautiful.

I would have to say that there is really no difference between what was the East and West. The Germans have put a lot of money into upgrading everything. Once in a while one can see an old building from the East that has not been renovated.

In Potsdam, which was in the East we visited the palace Sans Souci. Which means "without worry or care" translated from French to German to English. What a beautiful place. The grounds were nice and the buildings were amazing. About 18 huge old structures scattered around 600 acres of grounds. It was a Kings residence back when there were kingdoms in Germany and now it is an attraction. The East Germans did not keep up the place and now the goverment is putting a lot of money into upgrading everything. It was really beautiful.

Till next time, Jorge