After an extremely interesting but exhausting three weeks photographing at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, India and touring a wide swath of Bangladesh, we had to, alas, start returning home. We had two flight connections in Mumbai and Frankfurt and which gave us an opportunity yo visit those regions.

We spent a few days in Mumbai and enjoyably strolled on the Marine Drive Promenade by Back Bay, part of the Arabian Sea. We went before sunset when the light was magical and saw folks walking, jogging and sitting with friends, family and partners.

We then stopped in Frankfurt to see our friends Dirk and Sabine and explore western Germany which we had only driven through before.
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I have always been fascinated by the coal mines and steel factories in the Ruhr Valley, as they were the engine of Germany's industrialization in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The area is full of history including when the French and Belgians occupied it from 1923 to 1925, to force Germany to meet the post-WWI reparation payments stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles. We visited the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, a World Heritage Site, consisting of coal-mining pits, coking plants, railway lines, pit heaps (artificial hills made from waste materials), miners' housing and other facilities. I could picture this widespread industrial site humming with activity, reminiscent of scenes from Fritz Lange's "Metropolis". Many of the structures employ the vernacular of the Bauhaus school which elegantly combined form and function.

We finally made it to Cologne (Köln), a city I had long wanted to visit. There I indulged in Kölsch, a German beer style made only in Cologne and offered in many breweries throughout the town. It's a hybrid of ale and lager which is light-bodied and pale gold or straw in color, served in small glasses.

Our last stop was the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe. We were there over two decades ago, but I vaguely remember only driving through it. To make sure it’s legitimately counted as a visited country in my book, I was compelled to come back so I have a basic understanding of it. The capital city of the same name is full of very old buildings from different eras. It has long stretches of thick walls which helped protect it from invaders over the centuries. A highlight was the stunning views of the city's narrow valleys straddling the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers.

It was once four times larger than now but centuries of war, mainly between France and the Hapsburgs, reduced it to its current size. The country is 2/3 the size of Rhode Island with a population of 650,000. While small, it's wealthy, mainly from financial services. Most citizens speak three languages: German, French and Luxembourgish (a German dialect until World War II but as the country had created a standard form in vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, it's now considered an independent language). A fantastic discovery for me was that Luxembourg has free public transportation!

UPCOMING TRIPS:

When this newsletter is sent, I’ll be in South Sudan, the world's youngest country and newest UN member, traveling by rural roads and visiting tribal settlements. Khadija and I will later spend ten days in Oman, known for its tolerant culture and varied landscapes.

RECENT POST:

​Ukraine is back in the forefront of news these days. It has valiantly fought over three years against an invader from a much larger neighbor with vast natural resources and no political opposition. Khadija and I went there on an educational and fact-finding trip in October 2023 in a small tour organized by NomadMania. We had many reasons for going including showing support for Ukrainians, helping the economy albeit in a very modest way and seeing with our own eyes what had happened. Based on what we learned, we have a very good understanding of the very real threat Russia is to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

When we arrived in Kharkiv, we realized that the city was only 25 km from the war front in the south but fortunately beyond the range of artillery. However, the city is about the same distance from the Russia border in the north and is the target of daily missiles launched from there. A few days before our arrival, a missile had hit about fifteen meters from our hotel close to where Khadija is standing in the above picture.

PHOTOGRAPHY:

My beautifully printed black and white “Station to Station: Exploring the New York City Subway” coffee table book is still available. Click here or email me for a signed copy, not available anywhere else!

RECENT BOOK​:

I recently finished Der Untertan (388 pages, 1918) by Heinrich Mann, brother of Thomas Mann, the Nobel laureate in Literature. Another book of his was adapted into the movie “The Blue Angel”, which brought Marlene Dietrich international acclaim. The translation of the title is "the underling" and it’s the story of a German businessmen around the turn of the 20th century, who considers himself a patriot but instead is a buffoonish, vainglorious and politically unscrupulous man that sabotages the careers and reputations of his neighbors who don’t agree with him. His uncritical support for Kaiser Wilhelm II and the absolute authority of the state was prophetically a prototype of a supporter of Hitler and other ultra-nationalists. Today, unfortunately, there are many of these individuals in government positions with substantial authority. The effect of this book might be measured by the fact that Nazis burned it (with many others) and that Mann wisely left the country before the Reichstag fire of 1933.

SOCIALS:

My website www.ExploringEd.com with detailed posts on our trips.

FB: @Ed.Hotchkiss.3 and @Exploring Ed Travel | IG: @Exploring.Ed.Travel​

DONATE:

The United States has stopped funding billions of dollars of humanitarian aid through USAID. This is a tragedy for the millions of recipients depending on lifesaving drugs, improvements in public health and nutritional supplements for inadequate diets. This move will severely hurt the stability of the world’s least developed countries, which is an outcome that can only have dire consequences.

This is not in the interest of the U.S. either, as such aid helps promote a positive image for the country, an important element of soft power. This aid provides early detection of dangerous diseases around the world, an opportunity to slow or eradicate their progress and help prevent them from reaching the U.S. In addition, American companies and farmers will lose considerable income from this decision.

Hopefully, this is a momentary setback but, in the meantime, it’s helpful to support nonprofit organizations providing aid to developing countries, especially for healthcare. Below are three organizations I just contributed to and encourage others to do the same.

​MedShare partners with hospitals, distributors and manufacturers to collect and redistribute high-quality surplus medical products to qualified healthcare facilities in medically underserved communities around the world.

​Partners In Health delivers healthcare to the world’s poorest places, partnering with local governments to bring about global change. Last year, they provided three million outpatient visits in supported clinics, two million women’s health checkups and over two million home visits conducted by community health workers.

​International Medical Corps provides emergency relief to those struck by conflict, disaster and disease, working with them to recover. After an emergency has passed, the focus shifts to long-term medical support and training, addressing improvements in healthcare and public health.

Happy Traveling 🌏… Exploring Ed