My love affair with Germany began when I was 17 years old.
Traveling through Europe for the first time with my high school German class, I stood amazed in the center of Munich. There was the Gothic New City Hall. Over there, the tower of St. Peter’s Church, where I knew I could see the Alps on a clear day. Down the street was the famous Hofbraeuhaus, where the crowds had sung “In Muenchen steht ein Hofbraeuhaus” the evening before. And shops were filled with newspapers and books and advertisements in my new second language, German, a language I had found easier to learn than any subject I had ever studied before.
But it wasn’t the New City Hall’s Glockenspiel or St. Peter’s sacred art that made me fall in love that summer morning. It was the sight of a little old lady eating sausage and drinking beer for breakfast. This was a place I could love!
It’s been nearly 30 years since I visited Germany for the first time, and my love for this place has only grown deeper. I’ve returned to my home-away-from-home more times than I can count, and I continue to love these unexpected surprises–from little old Bavarian ladies drinking beer at breakfast to modern city tours through Berlin via Trabant and the world’s first green skyscraper in Frankfurt, the 50-story Commerzbank Tower.
On the pages of this site I’ll do my best to share with you what makes Germany such a great place to visit. I’ll show you my favorite German people, places and things. And I’ll share some of my favorite travel tips through my current and soon-to-be launched iPhone travel apps to Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.
I wish you pleasant travels…or, as the Germans say, Gute Reise!
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.
Loved your article about Germany. I was in the Army and was, among other things, a German Linguist. I spent a year at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) at the Presidio of Monterey, California where I spent whole days and nearly a year learning the German language and culture. Like you, I too fell in love with Germany.
Looks like you have not written in a while. Hope you start to write again. I would like to invite you to visit us at our lodge near Hayward, Wisconsin (NW part of the State). Lots of good German heritage in this area. One of my favorite places that’s not far is an old (1927) German lodge/resort called Garmisch USA. If you ever decide to write on this area, look me up and I will take you there via snowmobile, ATV or car!
- Jim