Day 11

From Rome to Home - via a German Police Station!

The Fosse Ardeatine remains a shrine to the worst massacre of civilians in Italy.

After a magnificent farewell dinner, I spent my last night in Italy here in the Hotel Euro House Suites next to Rome Airport. My flight home was truely the perfect ending to a World War II tour. After arriving in Munich Airport to change planes, I expected to breeze through Passport Control and be off to Newark. The German inspector noticed that, typical of easy, breezy Italy, nobody stamped my passport when I entered the country some 11 days earlier. I now had to accompany him to the Airport Police Station to obtain the proper stamp ("shtamp" as he pronounced it) to exit Germany. Here here I am - Jewish, scared to death and sitting in a German Police Station. Lesson learned: There is no such thing as a "minor paperwork problem" in Germany. Everybody was friendly and efficient and I was on my way shortly with one incredible memory of the experience.

I returned home to a table set Italian-style by Rachel and with a lifetime of memories of an incredible journey spanning from July, 1943 to May, 2013.

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	The Fosse Ardeatine remains a shrine to the worst massacre of civilians in Italy.
	After a magnificent farewell dinner, I spent my last night in Italy here in the Hotel Euro House Suites next to Rome Airport. My flight home was truely the perfect ending to a World War II tour. After arriving in Munich Airport to change planes, I expected to breeze through Passport Control and be off to Newark. The German inspector noticed that, typical of easy, breezy Italy, nobody stamped my passport when I entered the country some 11 days earlier. I now had to accompany him to the Airport Police Station to obtain the proper stamp ("shtamp" as he pronounced it) to exit Germany. Here here I am - Jewish, scared to death and sitting in a German Police Station. Lesson learned: There is no such thing as a "minor paperwork problem" in Germany. Everybody was friendly and efficient and I was on my way shortly with one incredible memory of the experience.
	I returned home to a table set Italian-style by Rachel and with a lifetime of memories of an incredible journey spanning from July, 1943 to May, 2013.