Untitled Page 86

26. 1. 60

Dear Folks,

Another epistle from Deutschland, though this time with not much dramatic news of exotic
weekend travels - for this time I stayed home. Went Friday into Stuttgart for a day of
shopping and walking - mostly just unexciting necessities - cords, Kleenex, shoe polish, etc,
and enough of this stationery to last until June I hope (I've used up the box I brought with me
already!). Stopped off in Beutelsbach on the way back to buy a few postcards and to get a
haircut (my first in 6 weeks!) and made it only 15 minutes late to dinner after losing the
path in the dark and climbing straight straight up the side of the muddy hill.

Saturday morning was wash-day, very unexciting. Then after lunch I went with
one of the girls from here down to Beutelsbach to visit a family which we met briefly one
Sunday morning (3 weeks ago) after church. We just sort of dropped in and they made us
warmly welcome, fed us cookies and berry juice, then later coffe and cakes, and gave
us more cake to take with us as we reluctantly departed about 5:40 to go to dinner. We
talked constantly, about mutual friends in earlier groups on the Burg, about the war, about
all sorts of little things. This family, the Krauters, has a girl about 14, and a boy about 8,
and is well acquainted and very hospitable toward Stanford students. I'm going back down
this week to photograph young Fritz in a Stanford T shirt which a girl from Group II sent
him for Christmas. And more visits will follow later, I imagine.

Sunday morning I went to church at the Evangelischekirche and then went with another
girl to spend the day with another family, the Fabriz family. He is an engineer (Herr
Krauter a book keeper) and they are fairly well off by Beutelsbach standards - a nice home, car,
piano lessons for the kids (2 girls, 1 boy ranginf from about 8 - 14), etc. He sings in the
church choir and the family is quite religious as are most German families I think, though
many less so than the Fabriz family. We had a marvelous day - ate lunch (the big
meal of the day here) and coffee together, sat around and talked and laughed a lot, watched the
girls put on an impromptu puppet show which was remarkably polished and imaginative.

Oh, I have left out one big event - the Ball of Nations Saturday night. This is one of the
big student dances of the year in Stuttgart and about 8 couples of us went from the Burg.
And it was a Ball in the old sense - a really big splash, gay, gaudy, marvelous. They held it in
the Liedenhalle - the main foor of the main concert hall had the seats removed and was mostly filled
with tables (1/4 of space a dance floor, and also a beautiful rock garden with 15' tree and a bubbling
water fountain, right in the middle of the concert hall!). Also the foyer was lined with tables,
both upstairs and down, and the smaller concert hall was also transformed - 1/3 dance
floor 2/3 tables. The attendance was huge - about 2000. There were 3 bands (all excellent music)
playing simultaneously all evening (8 pm-4 am!) - one in each concert hall, one in the foyer.
Also stage entertainment in the large hall each hour - mostly student talent. But even
more dramatic than the ball itself were the European girls and their clothes. They dressed
beautifully, dramatically, colorfully, with a real flare, and they all know how to carry them-
selves so that their clothes look good on them. There were dresses of every color, all gay and
beautiful - we spent half our time watching them wander about. It was a gay evening and we
surely hated to leave at 1 am to take a bus back to the Burg - the party was just half over
by then.

Well, we leave this Saturday for our big trip to Rome, so my next letters will be more crammed
with news. Stay in Rome until Thursday night, then back to Florence for Friday and Saturday (not
as a group but on our own) and to Milan Sunday. One big surprise to me is that will will very
probably have a 1/2 hour private audience with Pope John XXIII! And so much to see and do too.
Next big letter from Italy!

My mostest love to you all,
George

(Keep sending Tuck's letters - he isn't.)

26. 1. 60
Dear Folks,

Another epistle from Deutschland, though this time with not much dramatic news of [?] weekend travels - for this time I stayed home. Went Friday into Stuttgart for a day of shopping and walking - mostly just unexciting necessities - cords, Kleenex, shoe polish, etc, and enough of this stationery to last until June I hope (I've used up the box I brought with me already!). Stopped off in Beutelsbach on the way back to buy a few postcards and to get a haircut (my first in 6 weeks!) and made it only 15 minutes late to dinner after losing the path in the dark and climbing straight straight up the side of the muddy hill.

Saturday morning was wash-day, very unexciting. Then after lunch I went with one of the girls from here down to Beutelsbach to visit a family which we met briefly one Sunday morning (3 weeks ago) after church. We just sort of dropped in and they made us warmly welcome, fed us cookies and berry juice, then later coffe and cakes, and gave us more cake to take with us as we reluctantly departed about 5:40 to go to dinner. We talked constantly, about mutual friends in earlier groups on the Burg, about the war, about all sorts of little things. This family, the Krauters, has a girl about 14, and a boy about 8, and is well acquainted and very hospitable toward Stanford students. I'm going back down this week to photograph young Fritz in a Stanford T shirt which a girl from Group II sent him for Christmas. And more visits will follow later, I imagine.

Sunday morning I went to church at the Evangelischekirche and then went with another girl to spend the day with another family, the Fabriz family. He is an engineer (Herr Krauter a book keeper) and they are fairly well off by Beutelsbach standards - a nice home, car, piano lessons for the kids (2 girls, 1 boy ranginf from about 8 - 14), etc. He sings in the church choir and the family is quite religious as are most German families I think, though many less so than the Fabriz family. We had a marvelous day - ate lunch (the big meal of the day here) and coffee together, sat around and talked and laughed a lot, watched the girls put on an impromptu puppet show which was remarkably polished and imaginative.

Oh, I have left out one big event - the Ball of Nations Saturday night. This is one of the big student dances of the year in Stuttgart and about 8 couples of us went from the Burg. And it was a Ball in the old sense - a really big splash, gay, gaudy, marvelous. They held it in the Liedenhalle - the main foor of the concert hall had the seats removed and was mostly filled with tables (1/4 of space a dance floor, and also a beautiful rock garden with 15' tree and a bubbling water fountain, right in the middle of the concert hall!). Also the foyer was lined with tables, both upstairs and down, and the smaller concert hall was also transformed - 1/3 dnace floor 2/3 tables. The attendance was huge - about 2000. There were 3 bands (all excellent music) playing simultaneously all evening (8pm-4[a?]m!) - one in each concert hall, one in the foyer. Also stage entertainment in the large hall each hour - mostly student talent. But even more dramatic than the ball itself were the European girls and their clothes. They dressed beautifully, dramatically, colorfully, with a real [flair?], and they all know how to carry themselves so that their clothes look good on them. There were dresses of every color, all gay and beautiful - we spent half our time watching them wander about. It was a gay evening and we surely hated to leave at 1 am to take a bus back to the Burg - the party was just half over by then.

Well, we leave this Saturday for our big trip to Rome, so my next letters will be more crammed with news. Stay in Rome until Thursday night, then back to Florence for Friday and Saturday (not as a group but on our own) and to Milan Sunday. One big surprise to me is that [we?] will very probably have a 1/2 hour private audience with Pope John XXIII! And so much to see and do too.
Next big letter from Italy!

My mostest love to you all,
George

(Keep sending Tuck's letters - he isn't.)