Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

we go to Vienna for the week before my coming home. We have a one-day trip this Friday to Tübingen to attend some classes at the university there, tour the town, and have a dinner dance as guests of one of the fraternities - 30 of us are going and it should be fun and interesting too.

I had a nice visit with the Krauters last night - hadn't been able to see thme for about 2 weeks, so it was nice to go back. Mom, I'm sort of cool on your sending anything over for them - not from my standpoint, but from theirs. Bridge and I gave them 1/2 lb of coffee when we stayed with then for the 2 days, and they were almost insulted. She is always giving me food to bring back to the Burg with me (as well as stuffing me while I'm there) and won't take no for an answer. It's part of their idea of hospitality, and its very different from our American idea of reciprocation, of social obligations. Maybe I can send them something for Christmas, but for now I think its better not to.

Just a couple more little requests - please send Annie a copy of the observations I wrote you on Berlin, since she missed out on them; hope you get those typed up and sent soon - I'll be home before you do if you're not on your toes! Second, could you set up an appointment with an oculist (isn't Dr. Weber the name of mine, next to the Warners Theater?), perhaps for the Monday - June 13, in the early afternoon? My frame has been held together with scotch tape since Rome (!! how's that for a shocking confession? - I don't want to be without my glasses here, and probably couldn't find my style of frames anyway) and I want the prescription checked too, since it's been some time since I've seen him. The only reason I suggest Monday is that I may want to spend a few days in Bakersfield that week before starting my summer job, if that's possible and I'll probably have other errands to run too - like getting a haircut! and clearing customs packages, etc. O.K.?? O.K.!!

Gotta write Annie now before lunchtime, so 'bye for now.

Lots of love, George

a couple of hours to catch up on the news, and relax. We bought the week's Time magazine in Amsterdam, but a good reading of one day's N.Y. Times added a lot. After this interlude we arrived at the peace Palace at 4:15 to find that the building closed at 4, so we had a tourist-style look at the outside. Then the half-hour ride back out to the hostel, and another relaxing evening of talk and reading. These easy evenings seem to be the best formula with a days walking or biking, and a 10 pm lights out in the hostels prevents concerts, etc. anyway, so we just stay in after dinner and take it easy (and write letters like right now).

This morning up as usual, and away about 9 to bike to Rotterdam (30 km). It was against the wind all the way, some up and down, but we're getting stronger by now, did te distance in 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Went first off to American Express and I found 6 letters waiting for me - 3 short ones from Anne (who was suffering from finals at the time), the copies of Tuck's fine letters (congratulate him also on his improved regularity, and tell him I enjoy them as much as you do), and two newsy ones from you Mom. So it's bright spirits tonight! Say did I tell you? - don't write to Köln because Amer. Express has no office there. Write to Heidelburg, Germany c/o Am. Ex. Co. (16 Friedrich Ebert Allee) until 3/26, then back to the Burg. After a very short ride through Rotterdam, we bought train tickets to Köln, got here about 6:30 this evening. On the way (Utrecht, Arnhem, Emmerich, Oberhausen, Düsseldorf) we came through the Ruhr of course, and saw endless huge smoke stacks and heavy factories. It is really industry saturared I guess. (Should learn more about that next quarter in economics, and in our trip to Luxembourg).

To answer a few questions: I'm travelling with Bridges Mitchell; he's a sophomore, and was a cellist in the Stanford orchestra with Anne. Former math major probably changing social science. We've traveled together before (mainly on the Rome trip) as I may have mentioned. As to my paper and interviews with the mayor, the only written material he gave me was a copy of the Gemeindeordnung (also in German of course); otherwise all my information came from him - he speaks no English, but very good German. And as I've said before, I can understand almost all of what people say (even when Germans are talking to each other) and fill in by context the words I don't know. And if something was unclear, I'd ask and Herr Plessing would explain it in other words. So I guess the paper is also evidence of my progress in speaking and listening to German.

Our itinerary for the rest of the trip (subject to daily revision of course): tomorrow 3/23 - in Köln (Cologne)

on the Rhine! 3/24 - through Bonn, probably stop at Bad Godesburg 3/25 - to Coblenz 3/26 - part way to Mainz 3/27 - to Mainz 3/28 - part way to Heidelberg 3/29 - to Heidelberg

on the Neckar! 3/30 - in Heidelberg 3/31 - to between Heidelberg, Heilbronn 4/1 - to Ludwigsburg 4/2 - to Beutelsbach

Should be lovely!! Another letter soon (and one to Pops too).

Love, George

Dear Folks,

I'm sorry I've been so long in writing, but nothing special has happened and besides I just finished midterms yesterday. I spent last weekend and have cancelled the trip to Vienna which was under consideration for this weekend, and I am again going to remain here. Probably go to Vienna next quarter on a 5 day weekend (maybe Easter even) and plan to go next weekend to Switzerland for 4 days. But last weekend and this one are saved for homework and for visiting in Beutelsbach.

So finally I have a chance to tell you about classes, etc. over here. One basic difference is that as far as time goes they are under much more pressure than at Stanford in California. We have four hours each day (Anthropology at 8, Music at 9, and German 10-12 or 2-4, which I now have) and besides this 2 hours of chorus each week (and Madrigal group and seminars for others). All of this between Monday and Thursday, and then the weekends free. But by the time you add student meetings, guest lectures, concerts, special programs, and especially holidays and long field trips like Rome and letter writing!, there is really a great demand for our time, and studies have to be done on a cram basis. The second main fact is that the courses are pretty well related to our situation here, so that the course is more meaningful, and also our other experiences are enriched by what we learn in class. This is especially true of Anthropology and of course of German, less so of music (except for the concerts).

Anthro is a fascinating course, and I wish I had more time to spend on it, especially to talk with Dr. Spindler. Unfortunately his wife has been very ill from the start of the quarter until just this week (pregnancy complications, then a miscarriage) so he has not been too available for conversation. But the class work is very interesting - some basic work in the concepts of Anthro., a great deal of special material on the culture of Beutelsbach, and some on Germany as a whole. We have already done one short term paper - describing and analyzing one of our families in Beutelsbach (some students compared two of their families; I did mine on the Krauters). We also have a longer one (10-20 pages) due by the end of the quarter, on a topic of our choice. I'm hoping to do mine on City Planning and Plans for Future Expansion in Beutelsbach, getting the material by interviewing the Mayor and other members of the town council, in German of course! I may get to work on it this weekend, if I find time.

Music here is fairly much like music appreciation back at Stanford, or anywhere else. There's not much that could be done to change it really, to relate it to Germany. We are required to attend 8 concerts or operas (no painful job, really!) and to write to short papers, one on a symphony, the other on an opera, besides our midterm and final exam (Anthro will have no final. We had its midterm last we and I was very lucky to get an A, since was not very well prepared!)

German class is going along quite well, even though I have let the work slide badly (that too is on this weekend's work list). We spend a little over an hour each day on grammar, reading, etc. and the rest on conversation in German. Herr Zimmerman, our German instructor is a terrific fellow - very interested in literature (knows Latin and French as well as German + English), arts, modern philosophy, and the problems of post-war Germany. You may remember that he was in our compartment on the trip to Rome, and also with us in Florence; he's very interesting to travel and talk with, generally a fine fellow. He's made many close friends in the previous groups, including particularly Dave [illegible?] and John Miller (both in El Campo.), and spends much time corresponding with them

20. 2. 60

Dear Folks,

Got both of your letters, right after mailing mine, so there won't be much news to include in my reply, since there's been no time for much to happen.

Went last night - after a day of studying German and music, writing Annie, and reading Time magazine - into Stuttgart with about 8 of us in the Stanford-in-Germany micro-bus. Some of the others went to a movie, some to an evening of Beethoven quartets, and 3 of us went to the opera house to see "Die Zauberflöte" - The Magic Flute by Mozart. We sat in the front row! right behind the orchestra, at a cost of about $1.50. The regular price was all of $3, but if you go an hour before performance time or less you get tickets at half-price with your student ausweiss (student identification card). When I recall that it costs $5 just to get in anywhere at the S.F. Opera, and a veritable fortune, plus a famous name to sit in the front row, I think we were fairly well off for our money. (The ausweiss arrangement is good for all sorts of of performances all over Europe, and often also for discounts at Museums, etc.). The performance was quite good - they did both the comic and the serious symbolic elements nicely. It was much more enjoyable than "La Forza del Destino" in Rome, largely because we could understand most of the German dialogue (my Italian still needs a little "brushing up"). I read up on the story before going, so with what German I could understand (about 80% of what was said) I followed it all quite easily.

Dad - it was great to get a letter from you! Keep up the good work. And thanks for the basket ball scores. I'm really overjoyed about us beating USC twice! Nobody I'd rather beat than them Trojans! And glad too that Cal is doing as well as expected; hope they take the NCAA again. When track comes along would you try to send me most of the Stanford meet rundowns; I know a few of the guys on the team and would enjoy watching our performance. Also how Cal does, and any really good times or distances that individual stars turn in around the country.

Mom - my clothes are doing fine. I haven't even worn my long underwear yet, though I should have in Nürnburg, and may well want to on the bike trip vacation. I bought a pair of cords for $4 and am wearing them constantly. I will probably have to mail a suitcase or box full of clothes, etc. (or maybe a suitcase and a box) home early next quarter which will just mean washing more often (it's free here! not like in Calif. where it's 40c a load). I think I have only 44 lbs coming home (economy class) so I'll have to get down to that; and I'm accumulating weight over here, of course. Could you check on that baggage limit - polar flight - London - SF?

Another letter soon I hope though probably not until we get to Switzerland, next Saturday. For now,

Love, George

P.S. The extra $100 will help a lot and I appreciate it. I'll try very hard to make it last until June. The 3 weeks will have a lot to say about how easy that will be. One warning though - as I remember it, the travel agency will want our money nearer April 15 than May 15. She is writing about April 1 to verify and then waits for our check to send the tickets to me registered mail. I hope this doesn't make a mess of your financial plans - but anyway Be Prepared! One consolation I've heard that the jet surcharge will be abolished about April 1, so the flight will cost $403 instead of $418. $15 is $15, after all!

9. 2. 60

Dear Folks,

Well, I hope you received and enjoyed the daily chronicles of our time in Rome. The rest of the week was a little less organized and thus harder to treat in such a fashion, but I will try to catch you up on it now.

Thursday was our last day in Rome, and we were free all day to do as we wished. Bridge Mitchell and I got going about 10:30 to wander around the town. It was raining continuously, and we were soon forced to buy an umbrella to keep the water from running down the back of our necks. We went around some of the route taken the day before on our tour of Renaissance and Baroque Rome, to set the impressions more firmly in our memories. Then we strolled on through the downtown area, and caught a bus to go out to see the area of the coming Olympic Games. We went first to a pair of stadia (one for track + field with not many seats and surrounded by huge white sculptures of athletic figures; the other a large but very plain soccer stadium) built under Mussolini. Then we walked (20 minutes away) to the central Olympic area on the north edge of Rome. There are many apartment buildings under construction for athlete housing, which will later be converted to low cost housing for Rome - a type of living facility already very prominent, and effective in eliminating slum conditions. Adjacent to these apartments are a pair of structures designed by the Italian architect Nervi, beautiful and imaginative creations. One is a small, dome shaped basketball pavilion, the other a medium sized (50,000) soccer stadium, which seems to barely touch the ground, it is so gracefully constructed. From the Olympic area we walked back to the middle of town, stopping off for a light lunch in a sort of automat, stand up cafeteria, then met the two girls purely by accident as they finished their shopping and went on back to the hotel for dinner. Thursday night we packed and went to bed early because Friday at 7:20 AM was departure time for Florence.

We arrived in Florence at 11:30, found a hotel near the railroad station, left our luggage and ate lunch in a nearby restaurant before setting out to see the town. We went first to the Cathedral, the second largest in the world (St Peters is larger). It is a sort of mixture of styles - outside it is quite decorative looking, with use of white black, red and green marbles, a fair amount of painting and sculpture over the doors, etc; inside it is basically gothic, with very bare walls (this is emphasized by the size of the structure too) broken only by some cornice work added during renaissance times (the church was built from 1296-1436). In the side transepts were some very lovely stained glass windows which, though inconsistent with the Gothic idea, added warmth to the atmosphere. Right next to the cathedral is its bell tower, a campanile built by Giotto (about 1350), done also in the striped marble style, a little gingerbread-like, but quite beautiful. Across the street is the Baptistry, a simple dome-like structure of the same appearance, whose greatest value is the 3 magnificent sculptured bronze doors of Ghiberti, showing scenes from the Bible, and called by Michelangelo "the Doors of Paradise". From the cathedral we strolled through the shopping area to Ponte Vecchio - an old bridge across the Arno which has a row of small (but expensive) jewelery shops clinging to each side of it. Very picturesque and famous spot in Florence. We walked on from here to the Pitti Palace, begun about 1440, a huge fortress like structure of large sandstone construction. Then back to the Arno, which to me is much prettier than the Tiber in Rome, and along it to the foot of Piazzale Michelangelo. From here we walked up the winding path and steps to the Piazzale itself, a lovely open plaza 380 feet above the river, with a copy of the Michelangelo statue "David" in the center and a splendid view of Florence and the Arno valley. We got there just at sundown and I ran around to each side for pictures. From here we walked down across the Arno to the church of Santa Ciorce, where the tombs of about 20 famous Italians line the walls inside: Machiavelli, Galileo, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Cillini, Al Capone (OOPS!), etc. Also a small chapel done by Giotto, but badly peeled.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny, warm day, ideal for sightseeing. We went (about 10 of us together with Herr Zimmerman, our German instructor) for about 3 hours to the Uffize Art Galleries, one of the finest in the world, particularly for Renaissance painting. They had some of the best of Boticelli, and some good Davinci, Durer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens, etc, etc. Hundreds of works of which we really looked at only a very few.