I have 2 weeks holiday, Susanne has 1. I went to Poland and Slovakia for a week, Susanne went to visit our new niece (Jule) in Bielefeld. She's very cute, and so is Jule
I took the train to Wroclaw, Poland, stayed a couple days, then took the train to Krakow. In Krakow I biked around, took the train to Auschwitz, then trained south to Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra mtns. They're like a small Alps. I then biked around them to Slovakia to a small town called Pisska Bela, then biked on to Poprad and a little bit up into the Tatras again. I missed Susanne too much, and caught a train back to Leipzig.

Poland and Slovakia are similar to Germany, except poorer, dirtier, and not as comfortable with foreigners. Most don't speak a second language, but it seems German is more common than others. Both are much cheaper to travel in than Germany, and the standards (train, hotels, food, shopping, etc.) are as or nearly as high.

You can check out photos at www.flickr.com/photos/wduplooy and videos at www.putfile.com/warrenduplooy

Bye.

Just wanted to share some new photos of the Neo-Nazi march that went through Leipzig on the "Day of Germany Reunification" holiday. The march consisted of 200 Neo-Nazis from around this part of the country protected by 2100 riot police (from all over the country). They were being protected from the 3000 or so Lefties (anarchists, antifascists, etc.) that wanted to lure the police away so some of them could attack the Neo-Nazis. Everything was very organized (as we've come to expect from Germans) and under control, until a few hundred of the Lefties started destroying public and private property to lure the police away from the march.

They burned whatever they could find on the streets, smashed police cars and vans, and threw rocks, bottles, etc. at the police. A few of them obviously did well in their high school PE class because they were able to lob rocks about 100 m over police barricades and managed to successfully hit Christian Worth, the march leader, in the arm. Susanne and I followed much of the action with our camera, so you can check out a short video of the protest at www.putfile.com/warrenduplooy and photos at www.flickr.com/photos/wduplooy.

We're headed for the town of Rathen (on the Czech border here in Saxony) for a quieter weekend. It's considered Saxon Switzerland because of the geography. Google or Wiki it if you have time. There was a fortress on 300m rock pillars, and they would cut the ropes of the bridges when attackers were close enough. Once again I wish I was alive in the 1300s.

Bye for now.

Click on www.flickr.com/photos/wduplooy to see our new photos.

Last weekend we went to Susanne's grandma's 85th birthday in Emden (6 hour train ride on Friday night, then back on Sunday night). Ouch. 85th birthday party. Ouch. In German...

One cool part was that F.C. St.Pauli (a pretty low level pro team) was in the salon next to our 85th party, so I got some photos and met a couple players before their afternoon game.

Other than that, not much news. I'm settling into my classes in the gym and Susanne is breaking her back at work as usual. We went out to Cospudener See (lake about 30 minute bike from our place). There are lots of beaches and naturists (ie. nudists), so our bike pace stayed between 15-20kms the whole time. Awkward...

We also visited Susanne's sister Petra, who is due in a couple weeks. Luca, her daughter, is so cute that we wanted to take her back to Leipzig with us. She can't speak too well, yet, so she calls me "Orren" and Susanne is "Hanne".

This city is so beautiful at this time of year, and the 25 C doesn't hurt much either. We are still loving our bikes, and plan to make a short trip somewhere with them this weekend, unless we stick around for a huge antique market.

Drop us a note,
Warren and Susanne