Our journey through Germany was a lot more exciting than I had anticipated. June 16 was another day with two visits to Dow sites (Schkopau and Böhlen), and I was also able to meet my parents in Schkopau for a while. Both events were well organized and also very well attended. The events included kids dancing groups, cheer leaders and a local marching band, in Schkopau I run out for about two miles, starting with a group of the local runners. The event in Böhlen took place just a few hours later. A brief rain storm just cleared the air and the rain ended quickly just in time and everyone had a great time with music, food, cheer leaders and a high school band. For me, Böhlen ended with a very special moment. The parents of my former girlfriend in Germany visited the exchange point just before I was ready to leave for a two mile run out of town. I hadn’t seen them – or even spoken to in more than 13 years!!! - It was truly an emotional moment. Over the next few hours I also got several calls from the road – some of my former college friends had been at various exchange points – and had left me a nice present (beers from Germany)- in the hope of meeting me on my way through. Unfortunately, I was already on my way to the night shift with my “regular” team mates. We left at about 8 pm that evening and I had a pleasant “midnight” run en route towards Dresden. At 3 am we were finished with our shift and left for Prague, arriving there at around 8:30 in the morning. On the way I learned that more people had been looking for me at the Dresden exchange point, among them some former college friends, relatives, and even my former college professor!!! To bad that I couldn’t meet with all of them – this was rather difficult due to our demanding schedule. All in all, the few days in Germany had been very memorable and I again promised myself to better stay in touch with my friends and colleagues...

The next day (or rather later on the same day) was REST DAY, and it was badly needed. We visited Prague for a few hours and had some fun with the local food and, of course the beer. Next day we drove to Retz in Austria, and started at 3 am our next four “early”, 3-9 am shifts. The town was very nice, surrounded by wine yards, the main local attraction of the town is the largest, and oldest wine cellar in Austria. Unfortunately, there was no time for further investigation, and I was scheduled to run into the capital Vienna (Wien!!!) by 8:15 am. The traffic into town was the worst I had seen in years – lots of road and other construction, heavy rush hour traffic and plenty of angry drivers. Needless to say that I had a few (very short, non-verbal) exchanges with some of them… I finally arrived at the exchange point one half hour late, it still was a great feeling to finish a rough day in the center of this major city. We later drove back to Brno into the Czech Republic and collapsed for a long nap before heading back out for the next 3 am shift. The next two days were pretty uneventful, I just came to realize once more (not truly a surprise), that I REALLY DO NOT DO WELL in these early morning events. In the mean time we had actually already crossed the border into Poland, and spent our first night in Oswicin, a place rather infamously known as Auschwitz. The actual site and memorial was in walking distance, and some of us (not me) went out for a short visit. The next run took us right into Krakow, with a beautiful – and huge – central plaza. The plaza is thought to be the oldest one in Europe – from the 12th century. Also, one of the polish universities (Krakow or Warsaw???) actually has the original telescope from Copernicus in its possession. Well, enough historical tidbits, one more day to go and we’ll be back on a day shift. Tomorrow’s run will take us into Warsaw, Poland’s capital. In the evening we are about to cross the boarder into Belarus. We will meet our new crew, and from there on, things are REALLY going to get interesting…