<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rafal posted a couple of beautiful photos that were held for moderation because of their size.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I approved it but I don’t see it coming thru. While we wait for that, I took the liberty to paste the text and forward that, since it is written by one who knows.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have half a mind to go do it, because the DNA genealogy I do traced me back to the castle in Germany where the old ones lived in the 1750s.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It will likely be most astonishing, as I grew up in Florida on the Space Coast where everything was new, then lived my adult life in California where our historic district consists of one building constructed in 1910. San Jose has a few buildings from the mission days of the 1700s, a piece of a wall, that sorta thing. I have never seen a building older than 300 yrs, but I am told all the European castles were already very old by 1700.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Rafal Smigrodzki via extropy-chat<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 9:58 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com" target="_blank">spike@rainier66.com</a> <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com" target="_blank">spike@rainier66.com</a>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>OK so now we can see that it isn’t a good idea to join a tourist stampede and won’t be again in the easily foreseeable<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>### Stampedes, ugh. Package tours must be the worst - speaking theoretically, I never joined one. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rent a car or motorbike, start touring German cities with castles in them. Cities with castles are generally more interesting than the ones without, in my experience. Don't hurry. Make sure to visit good restaurants on the way. In two weeks you can leisurely visit 6 - 7 castles, never bump into a crowd (well, Neuschwanstein can be busy sometimes) but still see amazing history and talk to actual Germans rather than just other American tourists.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That's my recipe for a good time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>