Safely Arrived

I keep telling myself: "Direct Flight next year! Direct Flight next year!" and I keep ignoring my own advice based on cost, which after all was said and done, was a nominal savings. Going through security at Terminal 5 in Heathrow just so you could stay in Terminal 5 before getting on your connecting flight is miserable, especially with kid in backpack and babe in arms. The students did great, no one got lost, confused, misplaced a passport, or anything. But I'm not getting any younger, and it has me muttering the same thing I did this time last year; "Direct flight next year!" Still and all, it was nice to have a proper English breakfast at Huxley's while waiting for our flight to Frankfurt.

British Airways gave us good flights twice in a row and we also discovered upon landing -- surprise of surprises -- good weather in Germany! An auspicious beginning. (Last year almost two out of three days were rainy, by comparison.) Plus our travel agent put us smack across the street from the Evangelische Christuskirche in Mainz, so we're definitely feeling our Protestant roots while staying literally in the shadow of this church:

We're sleeping in late tomorrow morning, the only time we're doing so until the end of the trip. And tomorrow I'll get a cheap Euro-cell-phone kit to put together, and then post the number. Meanwhile, if you need to find us, here are the dates and hotels we'll be staying in:

4 nights in Mainz at Hotel Mainzerhof ~ May 16-20
Hotel Mainzerhof
Kaiserstraße 98
55116 Mainz, Germany
Tel. (011 49) 6131 28899-0

2 nights in Erfurt ~ May 20 – 22
Radisson Blu Hotel Erfurt
Juri-Gagarin-Ring 127
99084 Erfurt
Tel: (011 49) 361/ 5510 0

2 nights at Hostel in Berlin ~ May 22 – 24
Comebackpackers
Adalbertstrasse 97
10999 Berlin
Tel: (011 49) 30 600 57 52

2 nights in Nuremberg at Lette’m Sleep Hostel ~ May 24-26
Lette’m Sleep Hostel
Frauentormauer 42
90402 Nuremberg, Germany
Tel. (011 49)911 9928128

2 nights in Stuttgart at Stuttgart Inter-Hostel ~ May 26 – May 28
Inter-Hostel Stuttgart
Paulinenstraße 16
70178 Stuttgart
Tel. (011 49) 711 / 66 48 27 97
E-Mail: info@inter-hostel.com

3 overnights Munich Youth Hostel ~ May 28 -31
CVJM-YMCA Jugendgaestehaus
Landwehrstr. 13, D-80336 Muenchen
Tel.: (011 49) (89) 5521410
hotel@cvjm-muenchen.org & mailto:hotel@cvjm-muenchen.org

2 overnights Bellinzona at Youth Hostel ~ May 31- June 2
SJH Ostello "Montebello"
Hostelling International
Via Nocca 4
CH - 6500 BELLINZONA
Tel.: (011 41) 91 825 15 22
E-mail: bellinzona@youthhostel.ch & mailto:bellinzona@youthhostel.ch

2 nights Zermatt at Youth Hostel Zermatt ~ June 2-4
Jugendherberge Zermatt "Winkelmatten"
Staldenweg 5
3920 Zermatt (VS)
Tel: (011 41) 27 967 23 20
zermatt@youthhostel.ch

1 night Ballenberg at Abplanalp Brienzwiler ~ June 4
Christian & Irene ABPLANALP
BnB Bifing
Eichhof
CH-3856 Brienzwiler (BE)
Tel. (011 41) 33 951 14 51 or (011 41) 33 951 72 51
Cell (011 41) 79 434 43 70

2 nights Geneva at Hotel Central ~ June 5-7
Hôtel Central
2, rue de la Rôtisserie
CH-1204 Genève
Tél.(011 41) 22 818 81 00
info@hotelcentral.ch & mailto:info@hotelcentral.ch

1 night Huemoz – lodging at L'Abri ~ June 7
Chalet Bellevue, 1814 Huemoz, CH

Tel. (011 41) 24 495 2139

http://www.labri.org/swiss/index.html & swiss@labri.org

2 nights Bern at Bern Youth Hostel ~ June 8-10
Jugendherberge Bern
Weihergasse 4
3005 Bern (BE)
Tel. (011 41) 31 326 11 11
bern@youthhostel.ch

2 nights Basel at Basel Youth Hostel St. Albans ~ June 10-12
Jugendherberge Basel St. Alban
St. Alban-Kirchrain 10
4052 Basel (BS)
Tel: (011) 41 61 272 05 72
basel@youthhostel.ch <mailto:basel@youthhostel.ch>

3 nights Zurich ~ June 12-15
Zürich Youth Hostel
Mutschellenstrasse 114
8038 Zürich (ZH)
Tel: (011 41) 43 399 78 00
zuerich@youthhostel.ch


Please note that all phone numbers are listed when dialing from the USA.

Stop the presses, we're coming over to see them...

It Starts In Mainz

How did the printing press, the clock, and their subsequent effects alter medieval life, impact society and religion, and ultimately lead to modernity? This tour will take us, in Dr. Matt Lundin's memorable phrase, "from Gutenberg to Google" via a 30-day tour of Luther's Germany and Calvin's Switzerland, with several stops along the way from the medieval to the modern (and postmodern) moment.

Especially central to this year's trip will be the legacy of "the machine" and its evolution, and especially as its unintended consequences (or side-effects) march into nation-state and economic growth, political machines of propaganda, and what Charlie Chaplin called the "machine men" of the 20th century.

In other words, how did we go from what Neil Postman calls a "technocracy" to a "technopoly" in just 500 years, from local town to global village, and back again, sort of, to "glocal" mindset, and why do so many of the answers to those questions lie in the heart of Germany and Franco-German Switzerland? Along the way we'll see everything from the medieval village to the modern automobile manufacturing plant, from the interchangeable part to the concentration camp, and from the sites of the dictators to those of the loving resistance fighters.

But today's agenda is very very simple:

Boeing 777, the latest in technological progress

1. Departure at 8pm from Chicago O'Hare on British Airways

2. Transfer in London/Heathrow

3. Arrive Frankfurt, Germany on May 16th, 2011 at 16:35 local time.

4. Get to Mainz by train.

5. Sleep.

Thanks for joining us virtually.

We'll try to post daily.