FINAL DAY IN MUNICH

Germany and Denmark are two of 27 member countries in the European Union.

The EU was formed in 1993.
The population of the EU is 448 million, 5.8% of the world population, and higher than the 335 million for the USA.
Has one-sixth of the world GDP.
With GDP of $19.3 trillion, the EU is #2 to the U.S. with $28 trillion, and ahead of China with $18.6 trillion. Where will the EU be in 2028?

They share boundaries, have a common economy and a unified political leadership. I remember a long time ago picking up a car in Sweden and driving to Italy. Crossing into a new country was painful. Not anymore.

Noteworthy for not being a member are Norway (something to do with fishing resources) and Switzerland (it's complicated, but has to do with historical independence).
Also not a member are Turkey, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
Of course, the United Kingdom experienced Brexit in 2020.
Potential new members are: Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

A complication is who belongs to NATO. There are 32 members, including the U.S., Canada, the UK and Turkey. Sweden just became a partner this year. Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta are not. Bosnia/Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine have aspirations.

The EU in 2012 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The political leaders today (left to right) are President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

To close out our stay in Germany, a few photos. Some flowers, and a lunch in our room of German beer, chili con carne and Subway salami sandwich.

On to the Club Lounge for drinks and evening appetizers. The choice here is modest: red wine, white wine, sparkling wine and range of Munich beers. The selected Quiche Lorraine, hamburger and salad.

A Munich sunset.

So this morning off we will go from Munich to Copenhagen.

Comments

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

Search This Blog