"Danke Schön" -- Thank you!

Atlantic News, Friday, June 24, 2005

Josefine ('Finni') Steiner

An open letter to Mr. and Mrs. John Holman (and an English lesson assigned to their friend from Germany, who recently visited them at their Hampton home).

Today I am writing a letter to you. I hope you can understand my English. I have an urge to say once more to you: Thank you for all!

It was a great time. I think every day about the wonderful days with you. The stones from the beach in Hampton and Maine are lying on my windowsill and remind me of this nice time. Connie, I have your basket at home as a souvenir.

For the past English lesson, I made this report:

We started with the plane from Munich to Boston, where we arrived in seven and a half hours. In Boston, we made a trolley tour and could see the best of Boston. The walking tour through Beacon Hill and the Freedom Trail was very nice. From the Prudential Skywalk, we had a wonderful look over the city.

The highlight of the America trip was the meeting with our friends, Connie and John Holman and their family in Hampton. The reunion after 52 years was great. We spent three wonderful days with many conversations and visits on the coast of Hampton and Maine. We said goodbye. It was a great time — dreams do come true!

Over the Winnipesaukee Lake through the White Mountains, Bretton Woods (we looked at the Mount Washington Hotel, surrounded with elegance and modern touches), we arrived over the Road to the Sky, the Mount Washington. Andy has got a certificate of "A Master of the Mountain." On the road there were danger signs for "moose crossing," but we have seen only one.

The next station was Quebec, a bit of history. The Citadel is a site that holds 300 years of military history. Notre-Dame-des Victories Church located in Place-Royale, the first place of French civilization in North America in 1608. We have seen many things.

Montreal is a very nice city, with all exceptional appeal. The largest French-speaking city in North America lives, works and plays in a multitude of languages and cultures.

I will end this until further report in the next week in the holiday in Greece. On Saturday, Artur and I will fly on the island Thomas and I hope I have a weary time for the continuation.

Connie, perhaps you can persuade John to make a journey to Germany? It would be wonderful. Please consider it.

For today, I will close the letter by saying "a dream come true." Thank you for the cutting of the Atlantic News. It came today.

With love from your friends,

Finni, Artur, Sissi and Andy, with family

Gersthofen, Germany

Rembering A Fantastic Journey

By Artur & Finni Steiner

Atlantic News, Friday, September 9, 2005

[The following article is courtesy of Atlantic News]

(Editor's Note: The following personal travelogue is a report written as an English assignment by Finni Steiner, upon returning to her home in Gersthofen, Germany.)

Finni & Artur Steiner

We started with the plane from Munich to Boston, where we arrived in seven and a half hours. In Boston we made a trolley-tour and could see the best of Boston. The walking tour through Beacon Hill and the Freedom Trail was very nice. From the Prudential Skywalk we had a wonderful look over the city.

The highlight of the America trip was the meeting with our friends Connie and John Holman and their family in Hampton. The reunion after 52 years was great. We spent three wonderful days with much conversation and visits on the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. After three days, we said goodbye. Dreams do come true!

Over Lake Winnipesaukee through the White Mountains and Bretton Woods, we arrived at the Road-to-the-Sky, the Mount Washington. On the road there were danger signs for "Moose Crossing", but we have seen only one.

The next station was Quebec, a bit of history. The Citadel has been a site that holds 300 years of military history. Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church has been the birth place of French civilization in North-America on 1608. We have seen many things. Montreal is a very nice city, with an exceptionally appeal. The largest French-speaking city in North America lives, works and plays in a multitude of languages and cultures. Montreal has a charming old town with many sights.

Ottawa is the capitol-city and the city of the government, but not really the metropolis of Canada. In Ottawa we discovered the unique place with the Parliament Hill — nearly the same as the Houses of Parliament with the Big Ben in London.

The next city was Toronto. Defining the Toronto skyline, the CN Tower is Canada's most recognizable and celebrated icon. At a height of 1815 feet, it is the world's tallest building, a wonder of the modern world.

The greatest nature-attraction of Canada and North America are the thunderous water — the Niagara Falls. The world famous Maid-of-the-Mist cruises right of the base of the American Falls, then to the basin of the magnificent Horseshoe Falls. It was a fantastic journey through crashing waters, surrounded by massive rock formations that have tamed the raging rapids for millions of years.

On the way through Pennsylvania you feel like driving in the Black Forest in our country. No matter how Intercourse, Pennsylvania got its interesting name, it is a town full of delightful treasures and friendly shopkeepers, nestled amongst the scenic Amish farmland.

The National Mall in Washington is the focus of many events, such as the US Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the US Botany-Garden and many more memorials. The Library of Congress was established in 1800 when John Adams was president. The library contains 54 million books and other printed materials. We have seen the White House, the home of every president except George Washington, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Union Station and much more. We had to go through security scanning stations as a visitor to the sights.

Our last stop was New York. With different tours we visited all of Manhattan from Uptown to Downtown — the new Times Square, the Empire State Building, and Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Centre, Central Park, Metropolitan Opera House, and Christie's Auction House, etc.

We were very impressed, as we stand on the World Trade Centre site. All the people were shocked. We shipped with the ferry passing Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the greatest symbol of Liberty, to Staten Island. New York is a busy and a pulsated city, a city that never sleeps — a wonderful impressing city, you will never forget.

Our tour went through the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, across Canada and back through the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey.