Fayetteville

resident Ursula Graves returned from a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic

last week with news of warm wishes from those two parts of Europe in the

wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

"People

were praying ... people were putting flowers down ... it was incredible,"

said Graves, a German-born American citizen.

Thousands of

residents in Berlin showered flowers on the U.S. Embassy there, she said.

And during a visit to Prague, in the Czech Republic, she witnessed still

more outpouring of sympathy, she added.

Graves found

out about the attacks in Washington, D.C., New York City and Pittsburgh,

Pa., from a friend, she said. "I came home from shopping and my friend

said, 'I have bad news,'" she said.

She turned

on the television. "This can't be real," she recalls thinking.

People in Europe

are rallying to America's support, said Graves. "Something like that

might wake people up a little bit to what a great country we do have,"

she said.

Graves didn't

encounter any delay in getting