Reflections on Germany

Rüdesheim am Rhein was our last tourist stop in Germany! The next day Esther dropped me off and I had to take the airplane home. Sad. Goodbye, Alps!



I had an awesome time in Germany and Luxembourg. Esther was a great host and did a lot of the planning, and all of the driving! In truth, it was a sort of crazy trip. I realized that I stayed in six different places in the eleven nights that I was there, and some of them I stayed at multiple times in disconnected periods, so there were actually more transitions than that. It was pretty busy!

Here are my thoughts on random Luxembourg and Germany things:

• Luxembourg is tiny, and pretty satisfying to visit. My favorite attraction was the National Mining Museum. It's easy even if you don't speak German. It's a little expensive on the whole, but not crazy. The weather was good while we were there, and it's scenic in the mountains and the little valleys. Being able to drive was a distinct advantage. A good weekend trip inside Europe.


• German food is pretty heavy. Occasionally I got some good salads and the like, but a lot of it was cheese or carbs. (If you are a meat eater, you will be getting lots of fatty meat.) The pretzels and pastries are delicious. Esther introduced me to the cola-flavored candies that are popular in Germany... Yummy, but not good on the waist-line.


• Wine. The Rhine valley is full of wine, and while the buildings look a little different, it does make me think of Italy. The taste in wines veered to the sweet side. Sure, I drank beer, but wine is a good choice there too. Also, Germans are not ashamed of making spritzers out of wine or beer. It's a summer thing, go with it.


• Women's lib is not quite it in Germany. Women with kids are expected to stay home. Usually, kids come home from school every day for lunch. My female friends who are working there say it's tough for them to connect with male co-workers and meet people outside of work.


• Company towns are a thing. Both of my friends live and work in towns that exist in their modern form because there is one large company that employs most people, with the rest in service or support jobs. The companies support the community. (Stacy works at Zeiss, in her town the little stadium is "Carl Zeiss Stadium".)


• Tourist towns are a thing. Winery inns were a frequent sight. I felt like I was in a more rustic Napa for a lot of my trip! As Esther pointed out to me and I mentioned in a previous post, Europeans have more vacation and thus need more places to visit.


• Public pools. Way more popular in Germany. I'm told that health spas with thermal baths can be "doctor prescribed" for all kinds of stuff. Taking a health holiday is common.


• Speaking of health stuff, I should just mention that Germans do in fact get pretty much infinite paid sick leave, and social support services are incredible for legal residents.


• Germany, especially these small towns we visited, can be pretty cheap to visit. Though for whatever reason, buying a soda is never cheap. Perhaps its those ridiculous bottle deposits.


• RyanAir makes EasyJet look luxurious. RyanAir flies out of really secondary airports. They don't even have seat back pockets and you have to ask for the promotional magazine!

I guess none of these are blinding insights, but if I have more of them I will let you know...