In Flanders Fields
John McCrae 1872-1918
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Today is EU Election Day in Germany. As we have cycled along, the light poles in each town we have gone through have been festooned with catchy posters for the various political parties competing in today’s elections. Germans have a much greater political range of choices than we do in the United States. From true socialists to the far right wing neo-nazi AFD. There is a Pirate party (direct, not representative democracy) a PARTY party of humanists and humorists (“We lie too, just better) of course the Greens (“For more ice vote Green”) as well as the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, the two largest parties.
The result across Europe is expected to be a slightly right of center coalition of 2-4 different political parties. As far as I can tell none of the parties are expecting or claiming any incidents of fraud. Voting is easy and there are no political parties trying to suppress voting. Only the Neo-Nazis AFD party is under investigation for illegal behavior.
I have had a few discussions with different Germans and Swiss as we have traveled along. To a person they have expressed amazement and concern that so many Americans support former president and now felon Donald Trump. The Germans in particular seem disappointed that the US seems to be so blind to his ignorance, prejudice and immorality. Germans expect their leaders to be well spoken, intelligent and focused on governing.
Anita and I have made it all the way to the city of Passau on the German-Austrian border. The past few days have been very nice riding weather, sunny skies and temps in the low 70’s. Danube water levels are going down and more of the bike path is reopening but we are still having to find alternate routes two or three times a day.
Our hotel room is in the walkout basement of a very old building. Tomorrow is a rest day, we plan to go hear an organ concert played on the world’s largest cathedral organ in St. Stephen’s Cathedral and then celebrate our anniversary with our traditional sushi dinner.
You must feel like fishes out of water, riding under clear skies!
looking good you guys. stay safe, have fun, and Happy Anniversary!