in extremely good condition.” Researchers believe Erdmann’s grandfather, Richard Platz, threw the bottle in the sea while on a hike with a nature appreciation group in 1913. He was 20 years old at the time. Much of the postcard was indecipherable, although the address in Berlin on the front of the card was legible, as was the author’s polite request that the note be sent by the finder to his home address. “He also included two stamps from that time that were also in the bottle, so the finder would not incur a cost,” Erdmann said. “But he did not think it would take 101 years.” She said she was moved by the arrival of the message, although she had not known her grandfather because he died, at the age of 54, six years before she was born. “I knew very little about my grandfather, but I found out that he was a writer who was very open-minded, and believed in freedom and that everyone should respect each other,” she said. “He did a lot for the young and later travelled with his wife and two daughters. It was wonderful because I could see where my roots came from.” Like her grandfather, Erdmann said, she also liked culture and travelling around the world. She described herself as open-minded, too. “What he taught his two daughters, my mother taught me and I have then given to my sons,” she said. Despite her joy at receiving the bottled message, she