Friends…old and new…

…We’re just back from 10 days in Germany, guests of Kurt and Gisela Volkert.  Kurt was a combat cameraman for CBS News when we met in Viet Nam in 1967.  We’re joined here by our new friend, a well-known German still photographer, Gaby Sommer.

We met Gaby for lunch at an old castle overlooking the Rhine…not far from the Lorelei rock which is around the bend to the right.  We spent three hours telling tall tales when not devoting full attention to an assortment of beers, wines and food.

In fact, sight-seeing on the trip—in the Rhine valley up to Amsterdam—took a back seat to sampling more than a dozen sausages and at least twice that many wines and beers.  My favorite:  Krombacher.  Better over there than here.  I kept saying I was doing research for this blog.

Kurt eventually put down his camera to become a bureau chief and producer for CBS.  Today he paints and owns a studio and gallery in Konigswinter.  Gaby, whose credits include the AP, Reuters and just about every major paper in Germany, now devotes her talents to environmental subjects.