http://retired-ed.com/?p=736 Random thoughts from a happily retired American living in Germany Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:17:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://retired-ed.com/?p=736&cpage=1#comment-704 Sandra Bruce Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:00:07 +0000 http://retired-ed.com/?p=736#comment-704 A trip down memory lane! Oh, I miss those fun times--riding the duty train all night, shopping all day in the East, being watched by cameras perched atop buildings in Alexanderplatz, exchanging Deutsch Marks into GDP funny money at a 1 to 10 ratio. Such fun! I enjoy your entries, Ed! A trip down memory lane! Oh, I miss those fun times–riding the duty train all night, shopping all day in the East, being watched by cameras perched atop buildings in Alexanderplatz, exchanging Deutsch Marks into GDP funny money at a 1 to 10 ratio. Such fun! I enjoy your entries, Ed!

]]> http://retired-ed.com/?p=736&cpage=1#comment-644 Berlin! Getting There Was Half the Fun! Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:11:10 +0000 http://retired-ed.com/?p=736#comment-644 [...] It was quite a party that they held in Berlin on Monday past. Angela Merkel, the current chancellor who actually grew up in East Germany, hosted the chiefs of state of the European Union countries, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Hillary Clinton who was representing US President Barack Obama. (a side note here: I just noticed that my spell checker in Word Press recognizes the word “Obama”, but not “Barack”…is that weird or what?) But I digress. To chants of “Gorby! Gorby!” from the crowd, Frau Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor (imagine how tough that must have been in communist East Germany!) thanked Mr. Gorbachev for instituting reforms in the Soviet Union which eventually led to the demise of the hated East German government and the fall of the wall. I believe that Hillary Clinton also spoke to the crowd, but I was in the other room writing my previous blog post, so I didn’t hear everything she said. I would hope, but I seriously doubt, that she mentioned Ronald Reagan saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Had Reagan not been a Republican, no doubt she would have given him top billing in her speech. Perhaps she did mention him. I haven’t seen a transcript of her remarks. There are still areas where the wall remains as a reminder of the past. I hope that those monuments remain for a long time. You find the original post here retired-ed.com/?p=73 … | Retired-Ed [...] [...] It was quite a party that they held in Berlin on Monday past. Angela Merkel, the current chancellor who actually grew up in East Germany, hosted the chiefs of state of the European Union countries, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Hillary Clinton who was representing US President Barack Obama. (a side note here: I just noticed that my spell checker in Word Press recognizes the word “Obama”, but not “Barack”…is that weird or what?) But I digress. To chants of “Gorby! Gorby!” from the crowd, Frau Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor (imagine how tough that must have been in communist East Germany!) thanked Mr. Gorbachev for instituting reforms in the Soviet Union which eventually led to the demise of the hated East German government and the fall of the wall. I believe that Hillary Clinton also spoke to the crowd, but I was in the other room writing my previous blog post, so I didn’t hear everything she said. I would hope, but I seriously doubt, that she mentioned Ronald Reagan saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Had Reagan not been a Republican, no doubt she would have given him top billing in her speech. Perhaps she did mention him. I haven’t seen a transcript of her remarks. There are still areas where the wall remains as a reminder of the past. I hope that those monuments remain for a long time. You find the original post here retired-ed.com/?p=73 … | Retired-Ed [...]

]]> http://retired-ed.com/?p=736&cpage=1#comment-642 Sue Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:26:40 +0000 http://retired-ed.com/?p=736#comment-642 WOW! I learned so much from this post. Thank you.... WOW! I learned so much from this post. Thank you….

]]> http://retired-ed.com/?p=736&cpage=1#comment-641 Allison Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:30:42 +0000 http://retired-ed.com/?p=736#comment-641 This was fascinating! Thanks! This was fascinating! Thanks!

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