Manfred's contribution

Hi everyone, this is Manfred, we have just boarded an ICE (fast) train in Berlin, going to Koblenz via Cologne, about 5hrs. I just looked at an electronic sign in the train and it said that we are travelling at 250km/hr. WOW! I just ordered a Becks draft beer, 1/2L, about $6. (food on trains is expensive) I'm just going to ramble on about things that I either remember or are happening now. The sky is blue, lots of cumulous clouds, cool nights and quite warm days, up to 20c. The fall colours are just starting to show. The Youth Hostel in Berlin Wannsee was very good, nice 2 bed room w/ toilet and shower (Dusche). We have just stopped at Wolfsburg, where the main Volkswagen factory is located. If anybody thinks that Canada (or US for that matter) has a lot of cell phones, think again! Germany has nothing on them. I can count on my 10 fingers how many people did not have a cell phone in action. And there are so many different styles and types as well as brands, everybody is represented here. And so many different gagets. I saw a group of youg Italiens watching a live soccer game with full sound, while they were sitting on steps waiting to vitit the German Bundestag Building, on a device about the size of a cell ph. but all screen, amazing!! The next place we will be sleeping is a small hotel in Koblenz, just one night and then on to a Rhine River boat called "Goethe" to Bingen, 6 hrs. ----- We just rolled into Hannover. It's 1:30 local time, here called 13:30 hr. The ICE train has blug-ins for our laptop, with an adapter, no problem. The newspapers are full of the up-and-comming German elections, September 27, the showdown between Angela Merkel and her opponent, I forgot his name. Also the German national ladies soccer team just won the European soccer title, front page!! Also the purchase of Opel, the German GM car devision, was bought by an Austrian/Russian consotium thus saving Opel. (lots of Opel vehicles hedre in Germany)!