Leaving Europe now – poorer, but richer than when we arrived.
If luck prevails, we will walk these streets again. But we will probably never again meet Antonio, the loud, passionate young Italian waiter in Berlin who cannot wait to start his own wine-merchanting business.
Or Nezar, the Syrian lawyer who fled by refugee boat and is painfully starting a new, lonely, life in Europe – being a waiter in Amsterdam restaurants.
Or the gentle young man at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof who we gave our metro train tickets to.
And that special lady, Urte, who joined us for coffee in Karlsruhe.
Or Josh, the American from Washington who we had breakfast with and shared Small Talk.
And if course the Russian accordion player, Valery Alexeev, who plays classical masterpieces so breathtakingly beautifully under a bridge.
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Download File: https://shortwhitesocks.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WhatsApp-Video-2023-02-23-at-17.13.06.mp4?_=1And the Englishman from Oxford who gave such magnificent history talks to his students in the bitter cold in front of the Reichstag in Berlin.
Or the German lady who sold us warm roasted chestnuts in Switzerland (wonder what she did with the R20 note…)
And the young waitress at Zoupa in Zurich who studied in Cape Town.
Or the polite, very accommodating waiter on an ICE train dining coach.
Or the interesting Finnish couple from Zambia with son Axel.
And the Iraqi, Turkish, Indian, Albanian and Polish uber and taxi drivers with whom we could have a brief chat with while they carefully traversed us through busy city streets.
Or Klaus, the dignified German driver with the black A8 who was the first to meet us when we landed in Europe.
Such a privilege. Such memories to treasure.
