Munich/Dusseldorf/Moscow
May 20, 2011 

Distance Traveled Today:  1600

Total Distance so Far:  12, 077

It was my last day in the Munich office so I took my pal Christine, the Office Administrator, out for Indian food at lunch.  I told her how, despite my excitement leaving for Russia and my increasing homesickness, I was very sorry to be leaving my beautiful, beloved Munich. I admitted to her how, before I had come to Germany for the first time in 2006 (also to Munich, on an earlier project for this same client), I had been pretty negative about visiting Germany.  “You know, the whole history thing, ” I said.  I then told her how that visit completely changed my opinion of this gorgeous country, which I will now visit at any opportunity. “The difference in how Germany has worked to process the lessons of the War are how Japan has is stark, ” I said.  “Japan has pretty much dealt with it by trying to pretend it didn’t happen.” 

And if you don’t believe me, just try contrasting how Western Europeans feel about Germans today, as opposed to how the Chinese feel about the Japanese.

Germany, on the other hand, has never st

opped working hard to get past the horrifying lessons of the Third Reich. 

“It’s still a big problem, ” Christine told me.  “Germans don’t feel entitled to be proud at all.  About anything.  We’re meek and apologetic all the time.  And this has negative consequences when it comes to public policy, particularly in the area of immigration.”  In other words, Germany has gotten the reputation as being the cushiest destination for immigrants, because Germans are afraid to demand any sort of compliance or assimilation from newcomers.

I told her I hoped I’d have many chances to return to Munich.  She wished me well on my Russian adventure, which will start in just a few minutes when boarding starts.

///

I sure hope the fact that I don’t have a return airplane ticket from Russia in my hand turns out to be a problem as I enter Moscow tonight.  Within ten minutes of arriving at the airport, I was asked about this.  I can understand how a closed country like Russia wants to make sure I don’t plan on trying to stay in the country illegally (as IF).  But no one told me I would be required to have proof in writing in my hand to make it through customs or immigration.  The fact is, I don’t  have a return ticket from Moscow.  I’m not leaving Russia from Moscow, and I’m leaving from St. Petersburg, and I’m leaving by bus, not plane, and I don’t yet have bus ticket.  Oops?  Fingers crossed.

///

Note to the security guy with the handsome face and rippling biceps bulging out of his white short-sleeve shirt who performed a special search of all of my photographic equipment:  You may search anything of mine, any time, for any reason.  Consider me at your disposal, bitte und danke.

///

It was a little weird as I got processed through the Passport Check.  I thought of all that work we did in Cleveland, New York and Washington to get my Russia visa.  All those phone calls, all those fees, all those forms, all that worry, all for this tiny little thirty-second moment.  It is unlikely that anyone else will look at the visa stamp again. 

///

The whole night, during the flight and especially after I landed, I had fears that something awful would go wrong and I’d find myself as a character with a (brief) supporting role in some Nelson DeMille thriller.  There would be a problem with my passport.  Or there would be a problem with my visa.  Or the driver who was supposed to be there to pick me up wouldn’t be there, leaving me stranded and ruble-less at 3:00 a.m. in scary Moscow. 

But the passport and visa were fine, and the driver was there waiting for me, thanks.

I got glimpses of both The Kremlin and St. Basil’s during the drive.  Coolness!

The hotel was perfectly fine (there were some pretty iffy reviews of it on TripAdvisor.com, so this was a relief).  Almost 5:00 a.m. before I got to bed.

Ethnic Restaurants I’ve Been to in Munich

• Chinese
• Indian
• Mexican
• French
• Italian
• Israeli
• German
• Austrian