Back to Germany

Four bins later, my MoskoMoto 40 litre Backcountry carry on full of clothes and other kit, my Andy Strapz messenger bag with electronics and Ukulele and we are ready to leave.
Our driver to the airport is a very interesting guy. As we are chatting, Melanie asked him where he was from. He grew up in Latvia at the end of WW2 and his mother left Russia under the cover of darkness and defected to Germany, living on a bench in a stationary, non-running train car before they were sponsored to come to the US. He was 6 years old at the time and still vividly remembered the details of their struggling for survival. With tears in his eyes, he recalled for us how his father got him, his mother and his grandmother safely out of the country, but before his father left, he was captured and declared a Spy by the Russian government and sentenced to 25 years hard labor in Siberia. His mother did not know this and hence declared him dead, a casualty of the war before they could come to the US. After many years he found his father was still alive and had been looking for them since his release from Siberia. He met his father in Latvia, but then his father died within the year, content to have finally met his son again. A very sad and gripping story.
The rest of our day was great, ironically, flying Aeroflot airlines into Moscow and on to Frankfurt, about 16 hours of fly time. Aeroflot is inexpensive to fly and the treatment and meals are always great. This time we had lamb, salmon, chicken, great desserts and FREE wine.
After landing in Frankfurt, we were picked up by the shuttle and whisked away to Stefan Knopf’s place in Heidelberg, where our room was waiting and our bike was parked out front.