Germany
My husband and I went to Germany for two weeks in September. It was lovely. Our vacations tend to be very low-key. We wander around, visit parks, take a lot of photographs, and in this case, eat at a lot of bakeries. The bakeries in Germany were wonderful. There was one on practically every corner and we did our best to try them all. I highly recommend starting every day with tea and pastry at a German bakery.
We flew into Frankfurt and stayed in Wiesbaden. We did visit Frankfurt but were not wildly impressed. The botanical gardens there were lovely but the city itself, or at least the parts we saw, were dirty and crowded. The old town section was lovely though and we ate in a lovely restaurant right off the path by the river. Wiesbaden, however, was very nice and was a good base for our explorations. We found a few parks and bakeries we liked and the central section was very walkable. The train station was very close to our hotel and we took quite a few day trips.
There were castles everywhere. It felt like every town, small or large, had a castle. It was lovely. Some were ruins and some were still in good condition but they all were fun to visit.
I spent quite a while before we went on vacation trying to learn a bit of German with Duolingo. According to Duolingo, I was doing very well. According to real life, I was pretty hopeless. It is quite different when everyone speaks quickly and they don’t format their response in the way you expect. Many people spoke a little English and were very helpful but frequently we had to resort to gestures and guessing at the menu. I found an English book in a secondhand shop and when I bought it I was lectured (kindly) by the sales clerk about the best ways to learn German. She recommended using Babbel and I am trying that now. We would love to go back and visit the Bavarian region so maybe I can improve my German (that makes it sound like I have some German now!) by then.
I have five million photos and I could write approximately that many posts about our trip but I don’t think anyone wants that! I hope this gives a bit of a taste of our time in Germany. We loved it and would love to go back. After all, there are more castles to visit and more pastries to eat.
9 Comments
Peggy
I wouldn’t recommend Bavaria if you want to improve your German. The local accent/dialect will make it difficult. But then, Bavaria would be better than Austria or Switzerland!
jllee656
Well, at this point all of it is difficult! I keep plugging away but it is hard.
jllee656
Well, I don’t have a lot of confidence that I will be able to understand German no matter where we go! But I’ll keep trying.
Katrina
I’m not a big fan of Germany although your photos look lovely. I only know Bavaria and agree with the previous comment, the rest of Germany poke fun at the Bavarians for their outlandish way of speaking, but you can get away with just saying ‘gross gott’ – like crowsscoat.
jllee656
Hmm, that is interesting. I didn’t know the Bavarian accent was so different.
Claire (The Captive Reader)
I’m so glad you had such a wonderful time! I love Germany and visit fairly regularly, though the area around Frankfurt is one I don’t know well so I loved getting a taste of it through your photos. As for learning German, I hope you stick with it! My German isn’t amazing (I took some courses at university for fun, long before I ever visited Austria or Germany) but it’s so helpful to be able to get around on your own outside of the cities. I’ve found it especially useful in the east, where English is less common but there are so many wonderful places to see!
jllee656
What areas in Germany do you particularly like? I would love to go back but keep changing my mind about where I would like to go. I am plugging away at German but it is hard!
Lucinda
I working backwards through your blog in my perennial playing of blog reading catchup. I love Germany. France is more interesting and beautiful but I feel comfortable in Germany. I have only been twice to Germany – long haul flights from Australia, family raising, work etc – but I will go again. The first time was in my 20s and I stayed 3 months, the second time was just before Covid and we stayed about 5 weeks. I have been taking German lessons now for two years. So if actually love to read more of your travels.
I can understand quite a bit of simple German, ie not politics or deep topics but domestic and tourist language. My mum is German so I grew up getting orders to clean, prepare dinner, etc in German.
jllee656
I remember reading about your Germany trip on your blog. I really enjoyed Germany. As you said, I am sure there are more interesting and beautiful countries but Germany was just…nice. Homey. Comfortable. I am trying to learn German but it is an uphill battle.