10 Things I Love About Germany
Germany will always be home to me. I was born here, lived here, have family that still resides here and have made friends for life here. I try and visit at least once every other year and always feel at home when visiting. I would be a little biased to say Germany is my favorite country, but I would like to think that people traveling to Germany from other countries would think the same. I mean Germany is a beautiful and diverse country with towering mountains in southern Bavaria to ocean coastlines in the North and East Sea. Throughout Germany, you can find castles, palaces, fairytale like cities and even modern cities, basically it offers something for everyone. I love Germany for many reasons and have listed some of my favorites that come to mind when traveling around Germany. This list includes 10 things I love about Germany!
I’ve never actually driven myself on the autobahn. But I’ve zipped around on the autobahn all throughout Germany with friends and family. For those that don’t know, the autobahn is a highway network throughout Germany, known for not mandating speed limits, basically you can drive as slow and as fast as you would like. You would think the autobahn would be full of sports cars racing 200 km an hour. Is that true? Eh, sometimes but most of the time it is full of huge semi trucks and vacationers driving at reasonable speeds. The autobahn is not as exciting as foreigners think but I still love it. I love it because it drives through the beautiful country of Germany. I love how easy and stress free the autobahn is, once you are on it, there are rarely stops or slow downs, obviously unless you hit traffic or need to exit. But you could get on the autobahn near Würzburg and be in München (Munich) in a few hours. Occasionally, you will see cars max out their speed limit and zip right by, that is exciting. One time near Frankfurt, I saw a Porsche and BMW racing in between cars and the whole time the BMW was right behind the Porsche.
Bier/Beer
I feel like Germany and beer just go together like salt and pepper. I believe one of the top things that pops into people’s minds when they think of Germany is the German beer, and for good reason. In Germany, you won’t find the variety or styles as you would in America, but what they do have the Germans have perfected. I mentioned this in my beer post, but many breweries around Germany still practice the Reinheitsgebote or “German Purity Law,” which basically states that only a few simple ingredients (grains, hops, water, and yeast) can be used to brew beer. The Beer flows like water in Germany, almost anywhere you go, one can find a real good solid beer. I generally like hefeweizen’s or wheat beer or some of the darker styles. During the hot summer months, I enjoying sipping on a radler which is a drink mixed with beer and lemondade, it is highly refreshing. Beer pairs well with the German diet as well. In München it is nice to enjoy a hefeweizen with a weisswürst before noon or drink a dark ale with a salty pretzel. The Germans love their beer, and I can’t think of a better evening then spending time with friends and family in a biergarten enjoying one’s company while enjoying a great German beer.
Castles
The castles scattered around Germany are probably what excites me more then anything. I love all types of castles from the beautiful ornate palaces to the ruins resting on a hillside. As a kid, my dad and myself used to hike hills throughout Germany trying to find ruins and would bring our metal detector along. I don’t think we ever found anything but it was a great way to get out and explore. A quick internet search shows that there are over 20,000 castles in Germany. Although most of them are small or ruins there are several castles in Germany that are very famous. Let’s look at the famous castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Everyone knows of or has seen photos of Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairytale castle perched on a hill. His other castles are Linderhof (my favorite), Herrenchiemsee, Nymphenburg Palace and Hohenschwangau Castle are also associated with King Ludwig II. These castles are all beautiful in their own way and well worth visiting. I am more interested in some of the medieval castles around Germany like the famous Burg Eltz or Wartburg (Martin Luther was here and translated the the New Testament into German). Some of my other favorite castles around Germany are the Marienburg (Würzburg), Nuremburg Castle (Nuremburg), Veste Coburg (Coburg), Mespelbrunn Castle (Mespelbrunn), and of course all the castles that rest along the Rhine River.
Fests
Germany does fests right. I’ve been to numerous fests throughout Germany. Oddly enough, I’ve yet to go to Oktoberfest in München. One thing I hate about the United States is their fairs and fests, it’s an excuse for them to sell cheap food at a ridiculous high cost. German fests are the exact opposite. Here you can find delicious food at very low costs, like a Euro or two for a bratwurst or a couple Euros for a fantastic beer. Germans know how to have a good time and it is reflected in their fests. My favorite fests in Germany have to be stadtfest or local town festivals. Basically the whole town gets together and celebrates. There are food and drink stalls everywhere with bier gardens throughout the ground and live bands. The stadtfest I usually attend in Bad Brückenau is always such a fun time. The food at these fests is always amazing, not only can you find bratwurst but you will also find steak sandwiches, schweinehaxe, kebabs, fish, and other local goods. I am always curious how many kegs these fests go through because all day long their are lines at the beer stalls and people are drinking and celebrating for hours and hours. For anyone going to Germany, I highly recommend finding fests as they are so much fun and quite a local experience.
Food
Germany is well known for their food. In my favorite food post, several of my favorites come from Germany to include the Döner Kebab and Schweinehaxe. If you like meat, then Germany is a great place for you because it’s everywhere and they do it well. Who doesn’t love a bratwurst on a hard brötchen or warm leberkase sandwich from the metzgerei. My opa (grandpa) was the best cook, growing up we always ate traditional meals around lunch time and I always remember how extensive our meals were with great meat, salads, side dishes, and desserts. In Germany, we used to eat a full meal around lunch time and have brotzeit in the evening. Brotzeit was just a small meal which usually consisted of a few cold cuts and bread, these food memories at my grandparents house will always stick with me. Some of my other favorites are Spaetzle which is basically an egg noodle. Spaetzle comes in a wide variety but I prefer kase spaetzle (cheese spaetzle). I love German potatoe salad, and every German has their own recipe. My mom’s is still my favorite! Beyond the basics, there are other German foods that I love to include cheese pretzels from street vendors, Weisswursts in München, fish sandwiches from the Nordsee restaurant chain, and of course all the delicious pastries that can be found in bakeries throughout Germany.
Ice Cream
Typically, people don’t really think of Germany as being an ice cream destination, but I can assure you it is. To this day, I believe Germany has some of the best ice cream out of all the other countries I’ve visited. You can find ice cream shops all throughout Germany. You can find your typical shop selling ice cream by the scoop but most notably, Germany has ice cream shops, where you can sit down and enjoy intricate and delicious ice cream creations. These sit down ice cream shops have menus where they have premade bowls of ice cream with various flavors and toppings. I’m talking rich gelato ice cream with whipped cream, fruits, chocolate, you name it. Some of my favorites are the After Eight, which usually consists of mint ice cream, mint chocolate, and alcohol. Oh yes, many of these ice cream creations do include a splash of alcohol for flavoring. The most notable and probably my favorite is the famous spaghettieis. It’s a dessert made to look like real spaghetti. The traditional one consists of vanilla ice cream on top of whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and coconut shavings made to look like grated parmesan. Every time I go to Germany, I have to at least get one spaghettieis.
Restaurants
There seems to be a common theme here and it’s food related. First food, then ice cream, and now restaurants? I guess, I really love the food scene in Germany and that includes the lovely cozy restaurants that can be found throughout the country. I especially love the small town local restaurants which seem to be everywhere. Generally, they are smaller in size with cute and traditional decorations, and the hosts are usually dressed very nicely or in traditional outfits especially in Bavaria. You won’t find televisions in these restaurants thank god and it takes time for the food to come out as it is usually cooked fresh and from scratch. Food wise, I won’t really say any specifics as this varies from region to region and I’ve had great food all around Germany in every restaurant I’ve been to. Usually portions are big and also super satisfying. One of my favorites about German restaurants is the check out process. The waiteress comes to your table with a large wallet and you pay right there usually in cash. For tipping, it’s not risiculuos like in the States, you generally round up a bit to make it easier on everyone. For example, if your meal comes out to 27 Euros, just tell the waitress to make it 30 and everyone will be happy!
Small Towns
A lot of the charm and culture that comes from Germany comes out of the small towns. Generally if you see photos of towns in Germany either in the Bavarian Alps or tucked away in a farming community it is of these small towns that get little tourists. There are towns like Rothenburg or Oberammergau that see their fair share of tourists but nothing like the crowds that München or Berlin see and I love it. I even love walking through German dorf’s or villages in the country side. Usually they don’t have any major attractions, but they will have a small church and beautiful old style homes and farms. You can see great examples of fachwerk or timber framing in the older homes in some of these smaller dorfs. I lived in a smaller town outside Würzburg named Giebelstadt. It had everything necessary, it had grocery stores, restaurants, a local bakery, metzgerei (butcher), and even had two castles. Many of the smaller towns even host their own festivals which are usually a blast. My recommendation is to visit all the major cities like München or Hamburg, but venture out into the country a bit and walk around some of Germany’s smaller towns.
Soccer
I don’t really pay to much attention to soccer outside of the Euro and World Cups. When the time comes, I always root for Germany, I am also a Bayern München fan when it comes to clubs. Soccer or Fussball as it is called in Germany and most parts of the world is almost a religion in Germany, the Germans love their fussball. But when the Euro or World Cup come around, it is a whole different ball game, believe me I’ve been in Germany during the summer months for the cups and it is fascinating. During the big games, most towns throughout Germany will have live viewings. Generally, they will set up a gigantic screen, have tables set up and of course a beer and food stand. Even my omas town, Bad Brückenau has a huge turnout for these games and it is always so much fun! When a German game is on the crowd goes wild and celebrates especially when they score. If Germany wins the match then fans will celebrate throughout the night, honking their horns, signing songs, and just flat out having fun. Unfortunately when Germany loses, it is a depressing site to see. The whole town will be silent and you won’t see a single person out unless its a fan from the opposite team of course. Watching soccer games in Germany is so much fun, it’s not just the game that makes it but the crowd and general atmosphere. Go Deutschland!
Traveling
Save the best for last, Traveling! Obviously, I love to travel and explore places. Living in or visiting Germany, allowed me to see some pretty cool destinations. If you think about it, lets say where I was born in Wiesbaden, Germany I could drive two to three hours and be in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands. in four to five hours, I could drive and be in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and many other countries. That is just driving, if I were to hop on an airplane I could be in Ireland or Spain in just a few hours. Even within Germany, travel is a rich experience. I mean Bavaria is completely different then a northern state like Lower Saxony. One thing I love about Germany, is that all the towns and cities are unique in their own way. They usually have a beautiful castle or palace, old town district, and local shops and restaurants which makes every destination a new and unique experience when traveling around Germany.
2 Comments
Karin Zimmerman
A travel log well written. I am a native of Germany and the Articles are absolutley true and entertaining. Well done!
zimminaround
Danke, and what are your favorite things about Germany?