Trip To Germany -- Mozart

On Saturday, June 26, Carol got to pick where we went; only fair since we had spent two days at the BMW factory. She decided to go to Salzburg, Austria to see the birthplace of her favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We had a Garmin Navigator that thought there was a particular street in the center of Salzburg that was not there. As a result we did several long laps through town before we found a place to park. We had to walk a long distance along a pedestrian street and then up three stories into the house where the great man was born.

The museum was disappointing in that there was not much there but, we did learn something interesting that made us compare him to Michael Jackson. Both men were very talented and in both cases, the families lived off that talent. As a result, neither had a childhood, neither grew up, and both died young.

Trip to Germany -- The Autobahn

Driving on the autobahn is an experience all should have. First, the quality and discipline of the German drivers is wonderful. The left lane is used only for passing; once done the driver immediately pulls out of the left lane. Second, there are areas where there is no speed limit. There is a sign, round, with four diagonal strips, that means no speed limit. Here is the something important: the autobahns in Germany are the safest roads in the world. The Germans have not bought into our "Nanny State" way of thinking that has led us wrongly to believe that speed itself is unsafe. (What is unsafe is following too close, weaving in and out, texting, and so on). The German word for "exit" is "Ausfahrt."

We rented a Mazda6 diesel that I took up to 160 KPH a few times. That works out to about 100 MPH. I did not want to go any faster. Further, even the Porsche Turbos and S Class Mercedes were not going much faster.

Trip to Germany -- The Meadow

Another way Germany is different from the U.S. is how clean it is. There is virtually no litter, and they have been able to control growth and building styles in a way to insure the beauty of their countryside. They even stack their firewood neatly. Many beautiful little villages are protected from the noise of cars and trucks by tunnels built for the sole purpose of quiet.

In Garmisch, within easy walking distance, is a meadow. This meadow is used by various farmers to graze their milk cows. They cut the grass, dry it, and store it for the Winter. The meadow is also shared by people walking, jogging, riding bikes, and para-gliding. The little buildings out in the meadow are used to store the dried grass, farm equipment, and firewood. The fourth photo show three peaks. The middle one, which appears to be lower than the two outside peaks, is actually the tallest and is the highest mountain in Germany. It is Zugspitze. I pronounced (mispronounced) it near a German couple who turned and looked at me as if I had blasphemed their religion.

Here are some photos and movies.

Innocence Network Annual Meeting

I was honored to be asked to go to Atlanta to represent the University of California Irvine Innocence Project there. We learned the latest in the science of forensics, including DNA, matching latent prints and determining whether fires were arson. A few years ago the National Science Foundation published a great report debunking a lot of bad science and suggesting ways to help judges understand what evidence should be admitted. Judges are coming around. Slowly.

A very emotional highlight of the conference was the introduction of 64 exonorees. These men and women, black, white, hispanic and asian, had been convicted and the Innocence Project proved they were innocent. This is generally done with DNA. I talked to two of them at length. The photo here with me and one fellow is Juan who was one month away from being executed. The photo with four of us is a mother with her son and daughter. The son was convicted of a rape murder in upstate NY and served twenty years, with his mother visiting him every Saturday. She learned about the Innocence Project, contacted Barry Scheck, and got the evidence tested for DNA. Science proved it wasn't him. The story is very dramatic. They are a typical middle class family with college educations doing everything right. The story should be turned into a movie.

I got to meet Barry Scheck and some other hardworking talented people. Thank you UCI for sending me.

Trip to the Ukraine, Days 9, 10, 11, Kiev

From Kaniv, burial place of Shevchenko, we sailed upstream to Kiev, the capitol, arriving on September 26. Kiev is one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back more than 1,500 years; it is sometimes called the "Mother City." The locals spell it "Kyiv," and pronounce it "Keeve." At a time London had a population of 5,000, Kiev had 25,000.

We toured the city and learned more about how Stalin treated the people of the Ukraine. During a time of good harvests, he starved to death farmers because they would not willingly give up their farms as required by Stalin's version of Communism. So Stalin took their harvests and starved to death more Ukrainians during the "Great Hunger" than the number of Jews Hitler killed. There are very few statues of Stalin left in Ukraine, but most statues of Lenin have survived.

Stalin, who had studied for the priesthood, tore down a very large number of churches in Kiev and elsewhere. One church was spared, however, because the French Ambassador went to its defense. I think that is the church in the photo at the bottom. It is a slightly smaller version of Haggia Sofia in Istanbul. Most of the destroyed churches have now been rebuilt.

The next photo up is "The Great Gate of Kiev," the inspiration for a piece in an orchestral suite entitled "Pictures At An Exhibition," by Mussorgsky. (The music was the first thing Carol thought of when we saw the gate.)

We went to the Kiev Opera House and saw the "Barber of Seville." Carol posed by the orchestra pit. The opera was very well done and was sung entirely in Ukrainian which, our hosts told us, is the second most musical language, Italian being first.

On Sunday we saw the Mormon Temple being build in Kiev, top photo. We flew home on September 28 through Moscow; with several plane changes and it took 30 hours to get home.

Trip to the Ukraine, day 8, Kaniv

On September 25, we stopped at near Kaniv and visited the burial site of Taras Shevchenko, a rebel-rousing poet and artist who wrote in Ukrainian after the Soviet Union banned the language. In defying the ban, he probably saved the language. In addition, he prodded the Ukrainians to long for independence, which he did not live to see. Ukraine has no one like George Washington, and Shevchenko is the nearest to a national hero of Ukraine, and is known throughout the world (though not previously by me). There are monuments to him throughout the world, even in Washington, D.C.

The bottom photo shows us walking up the stairs from the ship to the top of the hill where the great man is buried. Next photo up shows Wilf, Meka, and Kim overlooking the river and our ship. There is a giant statue of Shevchenko but the light was not right and I could not get any detail of his countenance. The top photo is of a barge moving by.

He died at age 47, having spent most of his life in various prisons, and is buried on a beautiful hillside overlooking the great river because of something he wrote.

Here it is in English.

The Testament

Dig my grave and raise my barrow
By the Dnieper-side
In Ukraina, my own land,
A fair land and wide.
I will lie and watch the cornfields,
Listen through the years
To the river voices roaring,
Roaring in my ears.

When I hear the call
Of the racing flood,
Loud with hated blood,
I will leave them all,
Fields and hills; and force my way
Right up to the Throne
Where God sits alone;
Clasp His feet and pray...
But till that day
What is God to me?

Bury me, be done with me,
Rise and break your chain,
Water your new liberty
With blood for rain.
Then, in the mighty family
Of all men that are free,
May be sometimes, very softly
You will speak of me?

Trip to the Ukraine, days 5, 6, and 7, The Dnieper

On September 22, we sailed back across the Black Sea from Sevastopol to the delta of the Dnieper River (Ukrainians refer to it as Dnipro). This time, sailing the Black Sea was uneventful with calm waters. The balance of our trip ,was sailing up this river, which is very large. Combine that with the flat land along the river, "steppes," (think Kansas) and the river widens in places to miles. At one time there were rapids here and there, but dams have been built in these locations. What this means to those in boats is LOCKS. One of the five locks we went through is the highest in the world.

On September 23, we visited the island where the Cossacks headquartered, the city of Zaporizhia. The island protected them from their enemies and they took over a large portion of the Ukraine from there. In the morning, we visited a museum on the island and in the afternoon saw a horse show put on by actors pretending to be Cossacks. Cossacks were great horsemen. Below is a video of Wilf participating in this. Then, we boarded the ship and ascended the world's highest lock. See the video below

On September 24, Thursday, we visited Kremenchuk where we wondered around, looked at the modern shopping centers, and I bought a Pepsi and a candy bar. Aah! The food on the ship was very good, but they had only Coke and had no candy bars.