Day Rhine River Cruises From Frankfurt

Rochester Revolution players experience Germany

It has been an exciting summer for seven players from the Rochester Revolution’s U-15 and U-16 girls AAU basketball teams, as they traveled to Rhondorf, Germany to complete a cultural/basketball exchange established with the Rhondorf Dragons Basketball Club in 2009.

The travel group, which included Revolution U-16 and Monroe High School girls varsity coach Dan Dunne, parents Kathy Doerner and Karl Bergeman, and players Julia Bennett, Elizabeth Doerner, Katie Schliff, all of Webster Thomas High School; Abby and Allie Bergeman from Greece Athena High School; Alyssa Dunne of Greece Odyssey Academy; and Montana Teal of Pittsford Mendon High School, enjoyed one week learning about and experiencing German culture first hand.

The Revolution girls stayed in the homes of several of the Rhondorf Dragon’s U-16 team’s players. Here they were exposed to the German language, food, customs, culture, and what everyday life was like for a typical German girl their age. Along with establishing friendships and spending time with their Rhondorf hostesses and their friends, the Revolution girls also attended one day of school with them, practiced and played in a basketball tournament, went on several site seeing outings, shopped, spent quality time with their German families, and attended barbeques/dinners hosted by the Rhondorf parents.

The Revolution girls even attended the Japan vs Mexico Women’s World Cup soccer game.

The Revolution’s trip to German was the completion of the cultural/basketball exchange established by Coach Dunne with the Rhondorf club in 2009, when he coached for another local girls AAU club. At that time girls from the German club traveled to Rochester for one week to learn about American culture, establish friendships, attend a couple days of school, and see some of the sites of the Rochester area.

A very excited group of girls, several of whom had never been on a plane before, or traveled to another country, left Rochester on June 29, and traveled to Toronto for their trans-Atlantic flight. After an eight-hour flight to Frankfurt, then an hour train ride, the tired Revolution group arrived in Rhondorf, met their home stay hostesses and started to get acquainted.

The first day in Germany featured the Revolution girls attending school, the Schloss Hagerhof Gymnasium. After school, the Revolution and Rhondorf Dragons teams had a mixed practice, with shooting and ball handling drills, scrimmaging, and fun skill games. The Rhondorf coaches coached the first half of the practice, then Revolution Coach Dunne took the second half. Afterwards, the Revolution girls and their host families met for a nice open air dinner at a biergarten along the Rhine River.

Eastern Europe in 12 Days: Wienerschnitzel, River Cruises, Castles ...

I returned earlier this month from an amazing, whirlwind 12-day trip to Europe — mostly Eastern Europe. I had traveled to Western Europe (England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican) back in 1999, so it was time to tour six more countries as part of a package deal with my husband and mom: Germany , Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Czech Republic. Over the coming weeks, I will write about each of them, starting with our first stop, Germany, famous for its wienerschnitzel.

We landed in Frankfurt , the capital of Germany — the only country on our tour other than Austria (where German also is spoken) where I actually knew a little bit of the language, which I remembered from one semester of German in sixth grade. Like in many parts of Europe, pigeons in search of food on brick paths were a common sight in the historic area that’s home to St. Paul’s Church . With the not-too-distant backdrop of the modern skyline, Germans gathered outside to celebrate a Roman Catholic holiday, St. John the Baptist Day, complete with a choir, ceremonial rituals, and prayer. Memorials and statues to remember the Holocaust were ever-present throughout the outdoor squares. It was expensive to make purchases in countries within the European Union because the American dollar is weak. 1 Euro = approx. $1.50.