What do people think of Germany?
Dec 18th, 2003, 12:06 PM
#61
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,989
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Miriam, I'm of German descent and my husband and I visited on our honeymoon four years ago. We've always joked that our the German side of our family is very reserved and hardworking while the other side of the family (Polish) was the wild, fun loving type. Our trip taught us that the Germans were really all of the above. We had a wonderful experience and found Germany to be the most efficient and business like of all the places we've visited (Italy, France, Belguim). The places we visited were beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Plus we got a kick out of seeing my maiden name (Walter) on a ton of the construction crews along the autobaun. It made us wonder what if our relatives had stuck it out in Germany!
Dec 18th, 2003, 12:10 PM
#62
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,989
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I should add that my grandparents came to the US when they were children in the 1910s so the missed the worst of recent history in Germany. As they put it, it was bad enough being a German here, they couldn't have imagined living in Germany at the time...
Oct 6th, 2005, 07:25 AM
#63
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi,
I absolutely love Germany! I am of German descent, and I suppose that is what caused me to study the German language in high school. I did a student exchange when I was a senior and fell in love with the country. We stayed in Hattingen for 2 weeks and visited Cologne, Essen, Dortmund, etc. From there we traveled to Munich. What I mostly remember from the trip is how clean everything was! So unlike America. And all of the churches, we saw so many! A couple of years ago my parents took my brother and I on a Bavarian tour through Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. I remember walking onto the Marianplatz and stopping for a moment, and then looking at my brother. At the same time we both said "It feels like home." That is how I feel in Munich. Like I am back home. I went back again last year, but only spent a day in Munich. I really got to test my German out then! I was the only one of the group who could speak the language. Most of the time I get a good reception when I try to speak, but, as another poster pointed out, more often then not, they will speak english back. Oh well! Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut!
In May I will return to visit some friends I made when I did my student exchange. The two sisters have already been here to visit me, and now I get to repay them. Of course I will go to Munich! How could I not? Then I will get to see Berlin, Leipzig and Halle. An area I have never seen. From there I get to return to Hattingen. Mmmmm, Blankenstein! And I'll be able to return to Cologne as well. We are also planning one day/night in Hamburg.
Needless to say, Germany is the one country I HAVE to see whenever I have the chance to get to Europe!
I absolutely love Germany! I am of German descent, and I suppose that is what caused me to study the German language in high school. I did a student exchange when I was a senior and fell in love with the country. We stayed in Hattingen for 2 weeks and visited Cologne, Essen, Dortmund, etc. From there we traveled to Munich. What I mostly remember from the trip is how clean everything was! So unlike America. And all of the churches, we saw so many! A couple of years ago my parents took my brother and I on a Bavarian tour through Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. I remember walking onto the Marianplatz and stopping for a moment, and then looking at my brother. At the same time we both said "It feels like home." That is how I feel in Munich. Like I am back home. I went back again last year, but only spent a day in Munich. I really got to test my German out then! I was the only one of the group who could speak the language. Most of the time I get a good reception when I try to speak, but, as another poster pointed out, more often then not, they will speak english back. Oh well! Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut!
In May I will return to visit some friends I made when I did my student exchange. The two sisters have already been here to visit me, and now I get to repay them. Of course I will go to Munich! How could I not? Then I will get to see Berlin, Leipzig and Halle. An area I have never seen. From there I get to return to Hattingen. Mmmmm, Blankenstein! And I'll be able to return to Cologne as well. We are also planning one day/night in Hamburg.
Needless to say, Germany is the one country I HAVE to see whenever I have the chance to get to Europe!
Oct 25th, 2005, 03:30 PM
#64
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Miriam and everyone else!
My husband is in the military and we are moving to Germany in a couple of months. We will be stationed in Ramstein for 4 years and I could not be any more exacited than i am already to go! I look forward to meeting the people and to seeing all that there is to see. I want to absorb the culture and show my three children all of the wonders and the history that Germany possesses. I also have faimly there whom I would love to find and meet. All I know is that their last name is Ennenbach and that some of them came over to the states when Hitler was in reign. It will be an exciting few years for our family while we are there! Anyone can feel free to e-mail me with suggestions of things to see and do while we're there! [email protected]
Sincerely,
Stephanie
My husband is in the military and we are moving to Germany in a couple of months. We will be stationed in Ramstein for 4 years and I could not be any more exacited than i am already to go! I look forward to meeting the people and to seeing all that there is to see. I want to absorb the culture and show my three children all of the wonders and the history that Germany possesses. I also have faimly there whom I would love to find and meet. All I know is that their last name is Ennenbach and that some of them came over to the states when Hitler was in reign. It will be an exciting few years for our family while we are there! Anyone can feel free to e-mail me with suggestions of things to see and do while we're there! [email protected]
Sincerely,
Stephanie
Oct 25th, 2005, 04:44 PM
#65
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 570
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How odd it is that the last two posts were the first since December, 2003. You each address "Miriam" as the one who started this thread. Obviously neither of you realizes that Miriam died last year in October, I think. Miriam gave Germany to all of us who frequent Fodors. She was always ready and willing to answer any and all questions. She loved people! Many Fodorites met with her either here in the USA when she would visit, or in Germany when we traveled there. The original thread asks, "What do people think of Germany?" My answer is "Miriam, I think of you." Rest in God's Peace.
Oct 26th, 2006, 02:52 PM
#66
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 1,431
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a fascinating discussion and poignant ending.
Being originally from Germany (came to the US in 1952 at the "tender" age of 26, after living through WWII and most of the immediate post-war period), this discussion has been very revealing to me: The praises of the beauty of the countryside, friendliness of the people, etc.
I don't know if this is the proper venue, but it would be interesting to continue the discussion, now almost 10 years after the original postings. Have perceptions changed since then?
Have people experienced some of the same "smugness" that I have encountered in my visits in the last few years - - - insistence to tell me all that is wrong with the US and - right or wrong -with the US government, without giving me an opportunity to state my (our?)side of the debate; the apparent lack of "Zivilcourage" in matters like the withdrawal of the Mozart opera in Berlin, and other similar incidences listed in a recent article in the Economist.
I don't want to open a can of worms of negative comments. Many of the positives mentioned in the earlier postings are still true, I am sure. Just, have travelers noted a shift in the German psyche and attitudes toward us here in the US?
PS: If the Fodors "power that be" keeping watch over the contenet of this board think this is an inappropriate posting, I can well understand if they pull the plug on my posting.
Being originally from Germany (came to the US in 1952 at the "tender" age of 26, after living through WWII and most of the immediate post-war period), this discussion has been very revealing to me: The praises of the beauty of the countryside, friendliness of the people, etc.
I don't know if this is the proper venue, but it would be interesting to continue the discussion, now almost 10 years after the original postings. Have perceptions changed since then?
Have people experienced some of the same "smugness" that I have encountered in my visits in the last few years - - - insistence to tell me all that is wrong with the US and - right or wrong -with the US government, without giving me an opportunity to state my (our?)side of the debate; the apparent lack of "Zivilcourage" in matters like the withdrawal of the Mozart opera in Berlin, and other similar incidences listed in a recent article in the Economist.
I don't want to open a can of worms of negative comments. Many of the positives mentioned in the earlier postings are still true, I am sure. Just, have travelers noted a shift in the German psyche and attitudes toward us here in the US?
PS: If the Fodors "power that be" keeping watch over the contenet of this board think this is an inappropriate posting, I can well understand if they pull the plug on my posting.
Oct 26th, 2006, 03:39 PM
#67
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,849
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just met my son in Paris. He lives just over the border in Belgium, but works in Germany.
Over dinner, the laments voiced by he and his German partner made the modern Germany seem a disaster zone. High prices, since the Euro; low wages; immigration pressures; unemployment; the impossibility of a young person to hope for a good job, much less home ownership, etc., etc. The doom and gloom went on and on.
Don't know if it is just his own situation, and that of his friends, but he did not make Germany seem a happy campsite.
Over dinner, the laments voiced by he and his German partner made the modern Germany seem a disaster zone. High prices, since the Euro; low wages; immigration pressures; unemployment; the impossibility of a young person to hope for a good job, much less home ownership, etc., etc. The doom and gloom went on and on.
Don't know if it is just his own situation, and that of his friends, but he did not make Germany seem a happy campsite.
Oct 26th, 2006, 04:01 PM
#68
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I believe it's a good old tradition to see the end of world coming soon as do most people here. 
There's a growing number of people who once got everything for free from the state and now are faced with the fact that there's no money left for everybody but still I feel today the country is moving towards socialism at a fast pace. Everything as unimportant as it may be, needs to be regulated. The reforms aren't real reforms, just some patches to get by for the next few months or years. But anyway Germany is here to stay ;-)
There's a growing number of people who once got everything for free from the state and now are faced with the fact that there's no money left for everybody but still I feel today the country is moving towards socialism at a fast pace. Everything as unimportant as it may be, needs to be regulated. The reforms aren't real reforms, just some patches to get by for the next few months or years. But anyway Germany is here to stay ;-)
Oct 26th, 2006, 05:48 PM
#69
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 6,003
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
When we visited in 2004, we found that the "try and speak German, get replies in English" still very much the norm, at least in the toured areas.
We spoke little of politics with our friends there but when they visited us in the US, a lively discussion ensued. It was in no way heated, but I found we have more of a similar attitude on current world events.
The ONLY time we received even the slightest hint at the difficult political situation in the US was while in Switzerland when a man asked very gently that we "change our President", he even said "please". I wonder if a North Carolina resident would be so polite in making a similar request of a French traveler.
I was born there, lived there as an teenage Army brat in the mid-60s and absolutely love the country and the people. I would love to spend the maximum tourist time in Germany but would love even more to spend an extended period of time there, traveling to the other areas that I have not experienced. The country is beautiful, rich with history and arts, and the people are polite, efficient, and friendly.
It is and will always be my number one destination when going to Europe.
MvK
We spoke little of politics with our friends there but when they visited us in the US, a lively discussion ensued. It was in no way heated, but I found we have more of a similar attitude on current world events.
The ONLY time we received even the slightest hint at the difficult political situation in the US was while in Switzerland when a man asked very gently that we "change our President", he even said "please". I wonder if a North Carolina resident would be so polite in making a similar request of a French traveler.
I was born there, lived there as an teenage Army brat in the mid-60s and absolutely love the country and the people. I would love to spend the maximum tourist time in Germany but would love even more to spend an extended period of time there, traveling to the other areas that I have not experienced. The country is beautiful, rich with history and arts, and the people are polite, efficient, and friendly.
It is and will always be my number one destination when going to Europe.
MvK
