Final Entry

Well, the goodbyes have been said in Amsterdam where I left the group
in the able hands of the other Dr. Carls who is traveling all the way
back to Memphis. I confess that, not having seen my baby Paul who is
doing graduate work in the Netherlands, since last August, I could not
pass up this opportunity to stay behind for a few days. So I have
already embarked on an adventure of my own: to cover a distance of
appr. 75 miles, I have had to change trains twice. Perhaps this will
be the focus of a new Travel Study trip? Who knows. In the meantime,
farewell, thank you for entrusting your travelers into our care. This
has been a wonderful experience.

Sent from my iPhone

We made it!

We are waiting at Warsaw airport and filling exit questionnaires. Your
travelers are ready to come home. The weather is fabulous-- a great
day for traveling.

Farewell Dinner

After one afternoon of fun, we gathered again for a wonderful
farewell dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. This picture was
taken after our travelers had chosen from a smorgasbord of homemade
desserts!

I made some final comments that I want to share with you. Walls, we
have seen all kinds of walls during the past two weeks: ghetto walls,
the Berlin wall, camp walls, wailing walls, prison walls, and walls of
remembrance inscribed with victims' names. Walls made of cement,
barbed wire, concrete slabs, tombstone fragments, bricks, wood.

Walls symbolize the brokenness of the 20th century: they displaced
people, inflicted pain, created otherness, enabled disrespect and
stereotyping; walls separated, isolate, tore through, and instilled
fear of contamination by "subhumans." I urged our travelers to tear
down these walls and to help repair the world. Tikun Olan! I hope I am
spelling these wonderful words right. Repair the world. The other Dr.
Carls ended with an oecumenical prayer and we all adjourned to go
packing and be ready for tomorrow's trip home.

Safely back on the ground , in the arbor

What a treat! An outdoor lecture by Dr. Sandra Horvath Peterson on
Christian-Jewish relations during the Holocaust, our last lecture of
this trip.

Over the mountaintop we go. . .

Can you see us?

On the rooftops of the new university library

The new Warsaw University library is a wonderful example of the new
ecofriendly architecture, actually the best in Europe. Solar panels
and suspended gardens are a few of the attractions of the place. There
is even a bowling alley in the basement! And I thought the Biltmore
had it all!

Is it my imagination or us this friendly competition Warsaw style?