I had a quick side trip to Germany from Barcelona to see my wonderful friends Susanne and Inge! I met both of these ladies at a conference I attended about almost 10 years ago in Freiburg and we have been friends ever since. When they found out I was coming over to their side of the pond they invited me to visit with them.

I stayed with Susanne and her lovely husband Herbert. Their house in Stuttgart was amazing and the most generous hosts! Susanne played the harp for me.. been playing for over 20 years.Herbert plays the ukulele (guitar as well). They even serenaded me with the song “Michelle” by the Beatles… so sweet! They are such lovely and talented people. It was wonderful to stay with them. They also surprised me by taking me to a bar with an american band from Austin! Such a small world.

Inge lives in Freiburg and she traveled to Stuttgart to join us for the day visiting  the Staufeenberg Memorial. It was an amazing place that was dedicated to the Stauffenberg brothers; Berthold and Claus. Both brothers were high ranking officers in the German army and were involved with an assassination attempt on Hilter. Unfortunately after it was botched, Hilter had them killed. The movie Valkyrie with Tom Cruise documents their story about the attempted assassination. Susanne also took me to worlds 1st television tower – amazing view.

We also went browsing at a local flea market…. look what I found! A Key West licence plate in Stuttgart. For those you don’t know me… I lived in Key West for 2 years. I was living there when I found this. 😉

When we were browsing we witnessed a peaceful protest by Kurdish people and my friends educated me about how they are being treated in various countries and particularly by Erdogan  – the president of Turkey…. you know the man who sat in his car and watched his security brutally attack Kurdish people that were exhibiting a peaceful protest in Washington when he was visiting our POTUS. 

And this dog sure had a style of her own….  🙂

I was also able to see Inge’s son Daniel, who was at a conference called “Model United Nations”.  It’s basically a simulation of a UN conference where the students represent the countries and the NGOs.

Daniel was in a group of 4, representing Saudi Arabia. They had to try and negotiate in the interest of “their” country. The goal was to have fun and learn how the UN and diplomacy works. Daniel is an amazing, intelligent, mature young man! The first time I met him he was only 12 years old and spoke very little English. He has graduated high school and is totally fluent now.