G.E.R.M.A.N.Y at a Glance.

 

G.E.R.M.A.N.Y

• Expect to hear people communicating in German ONLY, adults and children alike. In public transport, the announcements are in german. The boards and hoardings are in german. German is everywhere. Why else would you call the country Germany, you may wonder.
• Well connected transport network with a variety of options like Metro, ubahn, sbahn, bus, etc
• Very organized cities. Separate tracks for bicycles, vehicles and walking .
• Disciplined and independent people.
• Beautiful countrysides. We were lucky to have lived in a few of them.
• Beer and local breweries. You can indulge in a life of beer-drinking everyday.
• Breakfast is normally bread, bread and a lot of bread.  Another common item is weisswurst (sausage). They make interesting currywurst. And oh boy, if you are a pork lover, then you have landed in the right country!
• Gluhwein (or Mulled wine as they call it in the UK) was a blessing for the chilled weather in Europe. You will find people selling it in many tourist spots. Heard its the most sought after thing in the X'mas markets.
• Haribo- A jelly candy that every single person in the country adores. I became a secret fan as well :)
• You find street performers in most places. They perform for money.
• The pharmacies refuse to give you any medicines, except if it is a normal paracetamol. You could die, but you will not be able to buy medicines without a doctor’s prescription. It does not end there. Doctor will not prescribe any medicine until he is super convinced that you are nearing death. Well, I admit I am exaggerating a little bit!

This is a travelogue about a few towns that we stayed, while in Germany.

Bad rappenau

The city we stayed in and explored the least.Found a lot of towns in Germany whose name starts with “Bad”, meaning bath in German. Like Bad Wimpfen, Bad Heilbrunn, etc. These little towns have a lot of small ponds where people can take a bath or go fishing and usually is a spa town.

Strasbourg

Border of France. It was quite different from the German places we visited. We visited a beautiful cathedral, known as the Cathedral of our lady of Strasbourg, where gappu got a chance to light candles. We explored a museum, which was a glimpse into the town s history. The best thing about the museum was the free audio commentary that you can wear onto your dress and walk around listening to the stories about the town. How it works is, it would kick off an informational story about the item or town, as and when we stand closer to it. Learnt a few interesting facts about Strasbourg that way. The European Parliament is apparently headquartered in this town. And yeah, we were lucky to see the ancient method of delivering posts by a postman, errr...post-woman rather, on a bicycle (see picture below)

Ilshofen

Just stayed overnight at a cousins place in Ilshofen. From the short half day stay there, it was a beautiful village with lovely residential areas and green farms all around. We were lucky to see a building which was put on sale for one euro! It was the government's way of letting the people maintain very expensive old architecture. Our cousins were coffee lovers and what amazed us was that they have a big book on coffee, describing the different types of coffee and how it is prepared in the traditional way using huge coffee machines. They are currently mastering how to make those lovely foam designs you see in the coffee you get from cafes. :-) And last but not the least, we made a new friend- Phoebe (see picture below).

Heidelberg

A fairy tale like town. It was just beautiful to stand on the Old bridge and watch all the cute houses. Found my favorite Lindt store and discovered many varieties of Lindt that I had never seen before.

Heidelberg has a beautiful castle, made of ruins and a huge garden. It is an interesting ride to the top of the mountain, where the castle is built. The ride is in a metro train that climbs a steep level of stairs up the hill. Another interesting fact about Heidelberg castle was that we saw the world’s largest wine barrel (named Heidelberg Tun) in the cellars and it has a capacity of 2.20,000 litres.

Ludwigsburg

The journey to Ludwigsburg was amusing indeed as this was where we made a mistake in the route by catching the wrong train from a connection station at Stuttgart. Struggled a bit to find a person, who understood English, to help us get back on the right track. We were lucky to have experienced the Pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg and the theme for the year was Circus. There were sculptures of clowns, tiger, elephant and everything you would find in a circus and the beauty was that they were made using pumpkins. We had delicious Kurbis soup with meat pasta and pumpkin seeds. Kurbis in German is pumpkin. This year, the biggest pumpkin that won the competition, weighed 478 kg.

Erlangen & Nuremberg

Spent two days at Erlangen at a cousins place, out of which one day was spent in visiting the doc and taking rest at home. Visited Nuremberg on the first day. There were some nice rides for the kids and the town had lot of space to walk and see around.  Climbed up the hill to see the Nuremberg castle and it was very beautiful. Heard about a special biscuit called Lebkuchen. Could not find the time to buy it though.

They say that we should leave out something to try the next time :)

Gluhwein

It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Xmas and Halloween. It is served warm and can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It is a beverage made with red wine and various spices and berries. We were introduced to it by one of our cousins. I used to have it occasionally, as it used to make me feel warm and relaxed in the chilled weather. Gluhwein is one discovery in Europe that I am happy about and I can come back to the country, again and again, just to have this delicious drink.

Prost.