I know it's over 61 years since World War II ended, but one still must exercize a certain degree of sensitivity to the fact that we are an American Army still inhabiting German soil. We occupy large parts of this country, even though we are no longer an Army of Occupation. Just between here and nearby Heidelburg are dozens of Army and Air Force Bases, Caserns, Barracks, Clinics, Depots, Commands and Headquarters, a pattern repeated all over ...

Salzburg, Austria, lies just over the border beyond Munich, only four trains and five hours from here. They speak German there, too, so it made great sense to head toward the southeast this last weekend -- no new foreign phrase book to carry around, just the same old dog-eared German one that I refer to increasingly less and less. It had snowed in Austria on Thursday, and the dirty remnants of that first Neuschnee were still forcing pedestrians ...