27 September 07
Barth definitely seems like a vacation spot for old Germans and families (in the Summer).
(Without a Trace is on, dubbed in German. The main guy sounds like himself, without the NY accent).
This morning I walked to the Pommern Hotel to meet the tour group. It was easy and the weather was beautiful. There were people riding bicycles everywhere, I wish that were more common in the US, especially for retired folks. I ate lunch with Bill, one of the nicest men, intelligent, kind, good sense of humor. Also with Patty and her husband from Virginia. Bill wrote a detailed journal while he was in the prison camp, kept track of everything, even the songs the men wrote.
First we went to Sankt Marien Kirche, a huge gothic cathedral in a tiny town on the north coast. It was important to the men because it was very visible from the camp. Construction began in the 1200's. The bronze font is from the 1300's and they just baptized someone in it last weekend. It was Catholic until the Reformation.
From there we went to the Stalag Luft 1site, but didn't stop long. I can't believe we were actually there.
We had dinner and then went to the Rathaus (town hall) to meet the mayor. He gave each of the men a beautiful book about Barth and the area. The men looked so touched by the gifts. One of the men was in the plane that Anne Frank wrote about when she saw it crash into a school. It's really amazing to be here.
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