Camp Champions Blog

I started to become aware of international politics in the 1980s.  In addition to being the decade that gave us marginal musical acts, it was also the decade that the Soviet Union cratered and the Iron Curtain was lifted.

I share this because when I was first starting to understand the world, the Soviet Union was in obvious decline.  They failure in Afghanistan had signaled the end of their military aggressiveness and dominance.  I could see all that and I believed that they truly wanted to modernize and become less belicose.

OK, I do not have the blues from Budapest, but I am struggling with the fact that our apartment here has a virtually non-existent internet connection.  I am seriously longing for the speedy days of dial-up.

Nevertheless, I want to share a few thoughts despite the ridiculous connectivity.

I am dead-dog tired.  As I alternate between staring at my bed and this screen, I think hard about passing on the blog for a day.=

But then I see this problem as an opportunity.  I think this is a good time to talk about sleep.

My goal today was to write about the unequaled splendor of the Prague Castle and its massive Gothic church.  I had been thinking of ways to describe how it majestically overlooks the city, giving the city a sense of majesty and magic.  It truly feels like a combination of Walt Disney's castle and Hogwarts, except oddly more impressive.

My writing mood has shifted slightly today.

I hinted yesterday that Prague is a wonderful city.  I understated the case.

Take away the years lost to Soviet puppetry, and Prague would be in the same category as Paris, Rome or London.  The location and history are top notch.  They were among the leaders in the Reformation, they were members of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they have the largest castle in the world (according to Guinness).

The agenda for Thursday was aggressive even under ideal circumstances.

[Quick Note - After being unable to upload a key picture in my last Copenhagen blog "Walking in Copenhagen", I finally found an internet connection that allowed it.  Please scroll down to it and look at the pictures at the end that show Terrill and Susie's relative height as affected by our tilted floor.  Now back to Berlin.]

Wedensday was our day in Berlin.  I did not know what to expect, yet I had so much to think about:

1. The Berlin Wall and the Berlin Airlift
2. The Kennedy speech - Ich bin ein Berliner: “I am a Berliner”
3. Massive destruction of the city
4. Reports that the southern areas of Germany are prettier than the Northern (where Berlin is).
5. Cabaret
6. The fact that we were leaving the home of the USS Enterprise and odd cat posters at 11AM (our efforts to wake earlier continue to fail).

Goodbye Copenhagen.  We left early to head to Berlin.

The journey began as I was tasked to get Kenny (the Volvo) out of the tiny courtyard it had been parked in.  If you missed the blog from 203 days ago, you do not realize that parking greatness happened in Denmark on Saturday, August 12, 2010.  Andreas (the owner of the tilty apartment we rent) backed a Volvo x90 through a desperately narrow and crooked archway.  On this morning, I was responsible for reversing his efforts.

Our final day in Copenhagen was also a big walking day.