Trip to Germany

I am sure Erich will be enjoying this trip to the country where his dad (me!) was born.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber used to be my favorite town to visit when I was a kid because it still was so medieval. You had to park outside (a few local cars are allowed inside, but not many). We stopped there on my honeymoon, too.

My own dad lived for years in Norden, only about 30km from Emden, and my little (half-)sister was born there. This is the area in Germany everybody makes jokes about. ["Why do the East Frisians have cut-up faces on Mondays? Because they try to eat with knife and fork on Sundays."] This sounds in terrible taste (almost nobody tells ethnic jokes in the United States anymore), but the East Frisians seem to be quite proud of it. My dad had a bumper sticker when he lived there: "Nicht hupen, bin Ostfriese. Benutz Klopf-oder-Rauchsignal". ("Don't honk at me, I'm East Frisian. Use knock (like banging on a hollow log) or smoke signals").