Martin sends a card from Chemnitz. There is a starfish on the card with some words in German. Google Translate says, "Traces - Nothing leaves such wonderful traces in our hearts as a sincere friendship." Chemnitz - known as Karl-Marx-Stadt from 1953 - 1990 - is a city of almost 250 000 people. It is a part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. It is located in the Ore Mountain Basin. The economy is based on medium-sized companies, with the heavy industrial sectors of mechanical engineering, metal processing, and vehicle manufacturing.

Michelle and her husband live in Freiberg, a university town and former mining town in Saxony. Mining and smelting dominated the economy for 800 years until 1969. The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg  ( Freiberg University of Mining and Technology) is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. It was established by Prince Franz Xaver in 1765. The Ore Mountain Mining Region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, Freiberg's economy has focused on high technology in the fields of semiconductor manufacturing and solar technology.