Chronicle of other events in 2005
This year we had a lot of snow that lasted until the middle of March.
We could go cross-country skiing almost from our doorstep.
Demonstration against the Security Conference (11. & 12.
February)
"Jubilation" demonstration on Feb.11th. "Frieden durch Dialog" (peace
through dialog) was the insincere motto the "Security Conference". The
"invalid" had already participated last year. But that year he was more
on
the red side and many people thought he was supposed to be Santa Claus.
The wall of the Palestine support group. Departure from the
Marienplatz. Marie
in the
Samba group. Shortly after departure the demonstration was blocked by
the police. In a video surveillance van the videos were
apparently analysed immediately. The last photo was published by the
'Süddeutsche Zeitung' on Feb.14th . Depending on who counted, 3500 to
10000 people took part. All the white spots along the procession
correspond to the helmets of heavily padded police. This time
"only" 60 arrests.
Bush visit in Germany (Mainz) on Feb. 23th; small demonstration at
Marienplatz
Peace activist Gerta did the moderation. She had just married this
month.
Marie's 70th bithday
We celebrated in the social rooms of the Methodist Church. Erich
(first picture on the right) was the dance master for the
evening. For many people the simple Bavarian folk dances were a
new experience. Helmut (first picture, only to be seen from the
back) and one of his sons were our musicians, and everybody jointed in
the dancing. The fellow with the beard is Caroline's godfather
Herwig.
In the middle of May, Marie travelled with a group of American and
German peace friends to the US. There will be a report on that in
another place (sooner or later at www.mapc-web.de)
Rome and Naples
The beginning of June we went to Rome and Naples to meet with
the Sweeneys, our relatives from Florida, who were about to embark on a
cruise starting in Italy. In Rome we visited areas that we had
not yet seen, for example, the Coppede Quarter with many houses in a
somewhat fairy tale style that is considered Art Nouveau or Art Deco in
Italy.
Rome
A walk through the city, Coppede Quarter and St. Peter's square in the
evening
Naples and Herculaneum
In Naples we had a room, really a suite, in the Hotel Cavour, not far
from the train station. It was a beautiful room with a roof
terrace and a lovely panorama view of the city, Vesuvius and the sea,
and it was not expensive. We wandered through the old city to the
National Museum to see things found in Pompeii and Herculaneum, for
example the incredibly fine mosaics from Pompeii. On the second day we
travelled to Herculaneum, which was buried under 20 meters of hot mud
and therefore remained very well preserved.
And in July another rafting trip
In July we went on the annual rafting trip on the Isar River for the
second time. This time we were 20 people, who fitted perfectly in two
rubber boats. The weather report had predicted rain. That's why Leo
brought Neoprene suits. Marie struggled her way into one and also had a
matching hat. The weather turned out to be beautiful all day long.
There was supposed to be more water in the Isar than last year, but
there was actually less. Peter had again taken his camera along and
wanted this time to take some pictures of the rapids. After lunch such
a place appeared where for quite a long stretch there was fairly steep
fall. Unfortunately about half way down there was a rock sticking out
of the water. We noticed rather late that we were heading straight for
it. Peter tried with the camera in one hand to help paddle. This
however led to our boat hit the rock sideways and at the impact, Peter
fell overboard. The camera stayed dry, but Peter had to swim
alongside for a while, before he could crawl back on board. There
was no time to think about whether the water was cold or warm, and in
the boat it was warm enough not to freeze.
Visit, accident and rehabilitation
Lucienne Frappier came to see us in August on her first visit to
Germany. She was Marie's professor of French Literature at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1963, and they have remained friends ever
since. We did various sight-seeing tours with her, and she was not
afraid to let Peter take her around on our tandem. In this way she had
the occasion to see Munich's big park and other things, and also to see
Marie immediately after her fall from her own bike as she attempted to
avoid hitting a pedestrian who walked straight across in front of her.
She broke her leg and also tore some ligaments, which wasn't clear at
the beginning. The leg had to be operated on, but after three days she
could come home. She had to use crutches for six weeks.
August is sometimes a very rainy month. The end of the month the
Sylvenstein reservoir ran over its banks and in Munich the Isar River
had a height of 5.25 meters above normal. Fortunately, in Munich there
was very little damage done.
In October Marie went on a two-week rehab cure to Hopfen Lake near
Füssen, where our friends Bea and Jeff Schevitz live. She rented an
apartment there on the lakeside with a beautiful view of the mountains
and the lake (the mountain picture is taken from Schevitz' house a
little higher up the slope). Marie had wonderful Indian summer weather
the whole time, but unfortunately also caught a bad head cold, which
limited the success of the rehab somewhat.
Sailing trip
In mid-October Peter went on another seven-day sailing trip with
friends and new acquaintances. This time they left from Athens with a
somewhat larger boat because there were seven people aboard. They had
three experienced sailors along. Detlef, the youngest, was the captain.
The (German) boat was only a few months old but nevertheless several
things were defective. Most of these problems could be solved during
the journey. Peter became the specialist for the maintenance of the
toilet pumps. The journey went toward the south to the islands of Agina
(1), Hydra, Dokos (2) and then back via Hydra (3) Poros (4) and a bay
off Agina (5). The weather was pleasant, no rain, sometimes cooler with
wind. When the sun came out the wind usually died down, so that some
stretches could only be covered with the help of the engine.
Occasionally they sailed under strong winds and other times it was
totally calm.
Hydra has only a small harbor and on the second day they had to sail
rather unexpectedly but with favorable wind another hour on to Dokos,
where they stayed overnight in a quiet bay. The next day they started
their return journey. They arrived quite early in Hydra and therefore
had plenty of time to look around. On Hydra there is practically no
automotive traffic, except for the fire company and a few delivery
trucks. In summer there are no doubt many tourists, but in October most
of the restaurants were pretty empty.