Wow, what an awesome trip we had this year. Let me tell you all about it.
On May 18 several Sister City members and friends embarked on the inaugural Condor non stop flight from Phoenix to Frankfurt.Carol Carroll, President FH Sister Cities
Christine Colley, FHSC Treasurer and Dierdorf chair
Bogumil Horchem, Honorary Consul to Poland, Emeritus
Elizabeth Matej-Horchem
Ruby Moreno
Siglinde Mueller
Suzanne Nann
Bev Tall
Some participants had never visited either country and some had been to one or the other country before. All together we were all interested to learn more about our sister cities, the sights, foods, people and the culture of Germany and Poland. We accomplished that and much more and we all reached one common agreement: “The journey far exceeded our expectations”.
Dierdorf is a small town of about 6,000 people, Zamosc far larger with a population of 65,000 and in Fountain Hills live about 20,000 residents. The people we met throughout our journey welcomed us everywhere with open arms.
We loved the warm reception in Dierdorf by Mayor Vis and his team upon our arrival, the touring with our Dierdorf friends of the region and the farewell dinner with Mayor Vis and team before the departure after our short stay. The gifts with local mementos will be treasured for a long time to come, except the delicious German and Polish wines that were already enjoyed by all.
The journey took us from Dierdorf via Cologne and Ruedesheim to Wartburg castle, Dresden, Festung Koenigstein, to Krakow, Wieliczka, Zamosc and finally departure from Warsaw. Our official travel partner was Halej’s travel of Zamosc. The professional and experienced staff accompanied us for the entire tour and made sure we arrived safely and on time to all of our destinations during our almost 2,000 km tour.
The warm welcome by Zamosc Mayor Mayor Andrzej Wnuk. We enjoyed the historical performance and dinner at the Swedish table as well as and the personal dinner with Mayor Andrzej Wnuk and team at Town Hall. We learned so much about our Polish sister city during the guided walking tour and the journey to the countryside with a wonderful lunch of Polish specialties.
Meeting and getting to know our sister city partners in both countries during the personal visits was exceptional. We arrived strangers and left as friends. It was a most memorable experience that will last for a lifetime.
A group of Fountain Hills students spent time in Dierdorf in June and we welcome students from Zamosc to Fountain Hills in the fall. We hope to continue these favorable exchanges with students and adults a long time into the future. We would like to invite residents of Dierdorf and Zamosc to visit Fountain Hills during their next trip to the United States.
