Another Trip

So, we are on another journey! We left this Monday to set out for
Nurenburg. Over the weekend, we had all been praying that we would not have
to ride all the way to Munich on another short bus. We were all relieved
when we walked out of the building and a charter bus pulled up. It looked
like heaven on wheels compared to the previous bus we had ridden. It was so
spacious and relaxing. We all had our own seats!

After five hours on the bus, we stopped in Wurzburg and had lunch and
another wine tasting. The tour of the wine cellar was pretty interesting
because we learned that the small hole at the bottom of the wine vats was a
manhole. It is used for men to crawl inside and clean it out. I stood in
disbelief as Shannon volunteered to crawl in. She actually fit with ease!
And then everyone had to try. I even gave it a shot. It was pretty cool to
say that I have been inside a wine barrel. Now, all the girls are suffering
from a bruise on the right leg from scrapping it on our way out.

Our next stop was Nurenburg. We were all pretty impressed with our hotel.
We had tours of all the Nazi rallying grounds. I have to admit that is was
a very somber experience. The most interesting thing about the tour was our
tour guide's personal opinion. I am just totally shocked and amazed at the
mind-set of the people here. She went to tell us that she was not proud to
be a German but a Franconian. I understand that Germany did very awful
things in the past, but now I believe that they have become a great
country. I do not understand the guilt that these people are holding on
to. CJ even said that there is a feeling that cannot be let go of. I
understand that I am not German, so it is a very hard feeling for me to
grasp. I just have found it very interesting and I really enjoy listen to
the natives talk about their feelings about the Holocaust.

We leave tomorrow to go to Munich and I am very excited about visiting the
concentration camp on Thursday. I know that it is going to evoke some very
strong emotions!