Calgon!! Take me away!!!

Holy shit!

That is just about all I have to say! Well, maybe I have a few more things to say than that… ...but if I told you EVERYTHING...you would be up for days trying to catch up with me! Then the bags under your eyes would be as big as mine!

We are very, very tired and we have very, very long days and all the future weeks look just as long as this past week. I think the smartest thing is to have an outline form for you...ah, well...maybe stream of conciousness would be more fun!

It is damn hot here and the humidity is GROSS!

Ok, here goes...

Day 1: Walking tour of Wiesbaden...this town is from the Roman Empire days...they have spas and hot springs...nuff said. Dinner with our host families. This meal had white asparagus...

Day 2: Tour of Wachendorff Electronik company and a discussion about globilization and its effects on employment. Gondola ride at Rudesheim and lunch...this meal had white asparagus, gorgeous walk all along the Rhine river to Assmanshausen, river boat cruise, visit an old Gothic church and wine tasting with a quiche thing that had white asparagus in it...

Day 3: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical company (with Mr. Boeringher himself...he is a Rotarian!!) another old church and another meal with white aspargus (are you getting the picture--it#s white asparagus season here!!), Rotary Club meeting presentations, visit to the Staatskanzlei (state capital) its an old building and has been remodeled and is modern on the inside, we toured and visited to the Marktkirche of Wiesbaden. We a special evening meal with the German GSE Team and we had...yep, you guessed it!!! WHITE ASPARAGUS!!!

Day 4: Freakin' awesome power plant!!! We American's are so lame sometimes!!! These people collect their trash like normal (no sorting or any hassles) and the refuse is dumped into a power plant/ fancy fireplace thingy and turn it into steam and power. It is clean, does not smell, the smoke runs through a fancy ass filter so there are virtually no emissions and they bury the ashes. No land fills folks!! This place is so environmentally safe and sound, that is is placed right next to the Rhine. These German guys are pretty smart! This was followed by another Rotary Club meeting (and this one did not have white asparagus!), a walking tour of Eltville (super cute!), a quick trip home to change for the theatre, off to the Wiesbaden Kurhaus to see 'Cirque Louise'...a graceful, humorous, acrobatic masterpiece. It was quite good! Finally, this evening, I got to spend a little bit of time with the von Bismarcks...they are truley lovely people with an amazing family history.

Day 5: A tour of ZDF television station (the largest in Germany...this place was MASSIVE!!), then back to Wiesbaden for one more Rotary Club visit before leaving town. We were picked up by the Rotary Club Alsfeld President and he escorted us back to Alsfeld. The entire van full of GSE Team members fell asleep in the car. We have been running so hard since the very beginning! Arriving in Alsfeld, the club had a welcoming dinner for us and guess what!!?? It is white asparagus season here too!! We had some for dinner!

Day 6: A tour of a furniture showroom, manufacturing company, then an unbelievable lunch meal in a place where this furniture was installed. This furniture stuff is hard to explain, but it sure it beautiful! And the meal was so incredible! It was a very, very local style of food in this region and it was a real treat! There was no white asparagus this time! After lunch, we visited the world famous Ferrero Chocolates...yes, this is Nutella, Mon Cheri, Kinder Eggs and Kinder Bueno...what an awesome tour!! Then a family BBQ to meet all the families of the Rotarians in this area.

Day 7: A visit to a salt mine, lunch at a beautiful lakeside restaurant and a visit to Point Alpha.This is a special place and it is an amazing feeling to walk across border into and across former communist soil. This place is special enough to deserve it's own blog entry, but I just went there today and have not completely digested what I learned and saw. Believe me...it is really something to see and feel...

I will post more later as I have the time, we are running out the door to a mushroom farm in the forest...

Auf wiedersehen!!