(continued from last week)

Even though I was still shaking from driving on the left side of the road throughout Ireland for a week, three of us cleared all airport security screenings and met up with Sascha Vogel at the Berlin Airport on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 16.

After an enthusiastic round of hugs between the four us (I was glad we landed safely and was hugging randomly), with luggage in tow, we took trains and the Bahn Berlin subways in the direction of downtown Berlin in search of the elusive Courtyard Marriott Hotel.

We wandered about 12 blocks the wrong way downtown pulling two sets of luggage each before getting on the right street to the hotel.

Sascha took us on a quick evening tour of parts of Berlin and we enjoyed a wonderful meal at a Thai restaurant before embarking on trains and two subway treks back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, we had more time to explore Berlin, which was full of people going every which way, traffic, trains, and subway connections taking us to the next historical site.

The German capitol has a population of 3.5 million and extends almost 889 kilometers and hundreds of miles of subways and trains.

We did notice since landing in Berlin and throughout our stay in Germany, a lot of graffiti on many of the buildings, especially in the cities.

People had the freedom to consume their favorite alcoholic beverage whereever they were at, including the parks, streets, trains and subways. The most popular choice were cans or bottles of German beer.

Sascha set up a very special, private tour of the Reichstag Building, home of the German Bundestag, where the German Parliament meets. There are 16 states and a total of 611 members of Parliament representing five political parties and three "non-attached" members for a total of 614 members.

Sascha’s family lives in a nice house in the agricultural state of Thuringia, approximately in the middle or "green heart," of Germany.

Sascha set up the tour through his state Parliament representative, Volkmar Vogel (no relation, but a popular name), a member of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) Party, which has 222 seats in Parliament, second only to the 221 seats held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The other three parties are: Free Democratic Party; Left Party; and, Alliance 90/The Greens.

Most of our tour was led by Volkmar’s very pleasant public relations representative Sandra S. Schmid. When Volkmar had time, he would join us and we would try to communicate (both he and Sandra spoke some English).

We sat in a Parliament gallery, usually reserved for foreign diplomats and other dignitaries, during a special session honoring German Democratic Republic Day. Although the hour or so program was completely in German, we found out later the significance of the day on the Internet relating to German history from 1949 until the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago.

Afterwards, we toured the transparent dome and roof terrace above the Parliament, (pictured below) where visitors take a winding ramp to the top that overlooks most of Berlin.

As we were leaving the Bundestag, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was among a few people answering questions after the event for the media. We were less than 20 feet from her, security was present, but I was close enough to hold up my little Nikon camera and take a picture of her.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to our hotel, gathering up our luggage, and once again took a series of subways and trains back to the Berlin Airport to rent a Nissan Note to power around Germany the rest of our trip.

After loading up, adjusting the seat and practicing using a stick shift again, we headed south, thankfully on the right side of the road, southwest to Sascha’s home in Friessnitz, a town about the same size of Panama.

We arrived around 8:30 p.m. that evening and enjoyed meeting and getting to know his parent’s, Norbert and Monika.

It was unseasonably chilly the whole time we were in Germany, and we were glad we brought sweaters (temps were in 50s to 70s).

Keep in mind, his parents were just as nervous about meeting us as we were them. You always hope to hit it off, especially since we were to be their guests for several days.

Luckily, Sascha was there the first evening to help with our communication problems. They knew very little English, and the only German we knew was "gesundheit" after someone sneezes and "danke schoen" (thank you).

But as our time together increased, we played an extensive game of charades and ended up communicating just fine. We all agreed our fears were not as imagined. We got along great and had a wonderful time together, laughing with and at each other as we tried speaking in each others language.

Monika’s breakfast each day featured cold cuts, garlic cloves in olive oil, fruits, strong coffee, breads, and pastries that were not too sweet.

On Thursday, June 18, the day before Sascha’s graduation festivities, Monika and Norbert took our family to the historic city of Dresden where we learned the city’s history. Dresden was completely leveled by bombing raids during World War II and rebuilt by the United States after the war by following photographs and old architectural drawings. The architecture and the idea of the reconstruction process added to the breathtaking beauty of the city.

One of the highlights of the day was touring the Green Vault Museum. This museum in the city centre reopened in September 2006 after an extensive restoration. It shows treasures of the Saxony royal house - in particular, decorative objects and jewelry from about 1650 to 1800. It was mind-boggling seeing the intricate works of art using all the gemstones, precious metals, and ivory from around the world during that time period. It made me think that everything made now is basically junk.

Before heading to the next site, we ate Wiener Schnitzel at a Dresden sidewalk cafe.

We also toured one of Europe’s most impressive mountain fortresses, the Festung Konigstein, which is south of Dresden. This castle was built on top of a table mountain and can been seen for miles, as well as being able to see for miles.

Thirty different buildings are spread on top of this 9.5 hectare rocky plateau and stands as a place "Where kings once celebrated and soldiers lived." Some of the barracks date back to 1589 and the garrison church dates back to 1624. It was by far one of the most impressive castles we toured over the entire trip. Thursday night Sascha and Asa took off for a graduation party with Sascha’s classmates.

On Friday, Norbert took the three of us on a "behind the tourist scenes" tour while Sascha and his mother Monika prepared for graduation later in the day.

Our first stop was the Osterburg castle in the city of Weida. It was built between 1163 and 1193 and served as the ancestral seat of the feudal lords and governors. The long hike up inside the narrow "Great Tower" was a great experience and the view of Weida awesome.

We next visited the village of Wuenschendorf/Elster, which also isn’t far from Freissnitz. The heavily forested, lush area, just oozed with old quaint houses and buildings, beautiful gardens, and winding roadways featuring the oldest bridge (1,000 years-old) in Germany, and foliage covered mountains. We wound around here and there and pulled up to a beautiful old building. Through our method of charades, Norbert told us we were at the Monastery Mildenfurth, a former Premonstratensian monastery. It was built in 1193 by Vogt Heinrich II from Weida.

The monastery is used by the artist couple Volkmar Kühn and Marita Kühn as a place of residence (since 1968) and exhibition space (since 1999) and Gallery (since 2007).

While there, we were able to meet Volkmar Kühn and see his stunning sculptures in that amazing historic setting.

From there, Norbert some how found this 100-year plus children’s wonderland of Marchenwald that is over 100 years old, free, and features small scale buildings along a creek where the water wheels make the characters move. This favorite of local Germans was definitely off the beaten path and if not for Norbert, we would have never found it.

We had a wonderful lunch at this German hideaway ZwergenKlause, before heading back to Freisnitz to prepare for Commencement that evening.

We arrived at 5 p.m., at this large furniture store in Gera, approximately 20 miles northeast of Freisnitz, and on the fourth floor was this huge reception hall. We were greeted by waitresses serving everyone a glass of champagne, including the grads who were lined up waiting for the ceremony to begin. Since Sascha was the one who headed up the graduation program, we were seated near the teachers and administrators, close to the front with his family.

There were three open bars that were catering to teachers, administrators, students and guests buying whatever they wanted before commencement started.

Commencement was much like what we have here in Nebraska. Instrumental and vocal solo’s, choir and instrumental music, speakers; including Sascha who was voted by his class, regardless of class rank, to give the commencement address.

He had total freedom of speech with his address, which was not edited by the administration, even though parts of his speech criticized some of the teachers and actions of the administrators throughout the year. There was a mutual of respect between the teachers, administrators and the students, which became even more evident throughout the evening.

Diplomas were handed to the class of 84, five to eight students at a time, that featured comments and awards. When that was over, all the students flowed back to their family tables and a huge German buffet dinner followed. It was a great chance to taste lots of good German food.

In the meantime, where the students sat in the middle, all those chairs were stowed away, and at approximately 8:45 p.m., almost 40 students started an hour and half choreographed variety song and dance show, which was impressive and a little risque.

Around 10 p.m., even more fun followed with a DJ dance where all the students, administrators, teachers, and family members danced with whoever they wanted. There were no politically correct "dancing police" at this graduation.

Around 11 p.m., trays and trays of fancy ice cream were set out while the dancing continued.

The bars stayed open all night and into the early morning. Students are allowed to drink wine and beer at 16 in Germany and everything else at 18. Germany has much stricter laws regarding DWI/DUI and the students, parents, and school staff, all adhere to the designated driver rule. We saws students drinking, but not once, did we see anyone super drunk, or any altercations, although the Germans enjoy their room temperature beer and Sekt (sparkling wine) and the Americans did too.

Sascha’s brother, Nico, took Norbert, Linda and I home at 2:30 a.m. Asa, Sascha and Monika came home at 5 a.m., after cleaning up and organizing after the big party.

The concept of 84 students celebrating graduation together with family and school staff was a great idea. Their theory was since they all went to school together for so many years. They should all celebrate together at the end.