{"id":1823,"date":"2011-05-26T23:57:04","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T06:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=1823"},"modified":"2011-05-26T23:57:04","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T06:57:04","slug":"spring-forward-day-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/spring-forward-day-69\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

Munich\/Dusseldorf\/Moscow
\nMay 20, 2011\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Distance Traveled Today:\u00a0 1600<\/h3>\n

Total Distance so Far:\u00a0 12, 077<\/h3>\n
\"I'm<\/a>
I'm sorry to leave this beautiful, gracious city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was my last day in the Munich office so I took my pal Christine, the Office Administrator, out for Indian food at lunch.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, the whole history thing, \u201d I said.\u00a0 I then told her how that visit completely changed my opinion of this gorgeous country, which I will now visit at any opportunity. \u201cThe difference in how Germany has worked to process the lessons of the War are how Japan has is stark, \u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cJapan has pretty much dealt with it by trying to pretend it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t believe me, just try contrasting how Western Europeans feel about Germans today, as opposed to how the Chinese feel about the Japanese.<\/p>\n

Germany, on the other hand, has never st<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The sun sets on this visit, but hope to return!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

opped working hard to get past the horrifying lessons of the Third Reich.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still a big problem, \u201d Christine told me.\u00a0 \u201cGermans don\u2019t feel entitled to be proud at all.\u00a0 About anything.\u00a0 We\u2019re meek and apologetic all the time.\u00a0 And this has negative consequences when it comes to public policy, particularly in the area of immigration.\u201d\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

I told her I hoped I\u2019d have many chances to return to Munich.\u00a0 She wished me well on my Russian adventure, which will start in just a few minutes when boarding starts.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n

I sure hope the fact that I don\u2019t have a return airplane ticket from Russia in my hand turns out to be a problem as I enter Moscow tonight.\u00a0 Within ten minutes of arriving at the airport, I was asked about this.\u00a0 I can understand how a closed country like Russia wants to make sure I don\u2019t plan on trying to stay in the country illegally (as IF).\u00a0 But no one told me I would be required to have proof in writing in my hand to make it through customs or immigration.\u00a0 The fact is, I don\u2019t <\/em>\u00a0have a return ticket from Moscow.\u00a0 I\u2019m not leaving Russia from Moscow, and I\u2019m leaving from St. Petersburg, and I\u2019m leaving by bus, not plane, and I don\u2019t yet have bus ticket.\u00a0 Oops?\u00a0 Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n

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:\u00a0 You may search anything of mine, any time, for any reason.\u00a0 Consider me at your disposal, bitte und danke.<\/em><\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n

It was a little weird as I got processed through the Passport Check.\u00a0 I thought of all that work we did in Cleveland, New York and Washington to get my Russia visa.\u00a0 All those phone calls, all those fees, all those forms, all that worry, all for this tiny little thirty-second moment.\u00a0 It is unlikely that anyone else will look at the visa stamp again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n

The whole night, during the flight and especially after I landed, I had fears that something awful would go wrong and I\u2019d find myself as a character with a (brief) supporting role in some Nelson DeMille thriller.\u00a0 There would be a problem with my passport.\u00a0 Or there would be a problem with my visa.\u00a0 Or the driver who was supposed to be there to pick me up wouldn\u2019t be there, leaving me stranded and ruble-less at 3:00 a.m. in scary Moscow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the passport and visa were fine, and the driver was there waiting for me, thanks.<\/p>\n

I got glimpses of both The Kremlin and St. Basil\u2019s during the drive.\u00a0 Coolness!<\/p>\n

The hotel was perfectly fine (there were some pretty iffy reviews of it on TripAdvisor.com, so this was a relief).\u00a0 Almost 5:00 a.m. before I got to bed.<\/p>\n

Ethnic Restaurants I\u2019ve Been to in Munich<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Chinese<\/li>\n
  • Indian<\/li>\n
  • Mexican<\/li>\n
  • French<\/li>\n
  • Italian<\/li>\n
  • Israeli<\/li>\n
  • German<\/li>\n
  • Austrian<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Average Rating: 4.6<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 243<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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