The next time you’re at a party, ask the person sitting next to you to name three things he or she associates with Germany Better still, try it yourself, and in all probability you’ll think of beer, Hic!!!, busty barmaids the broken down Berlin wall(everything in B’s). Worse still if you’re a soccer fan, the World Cup Football will also figure in your list.( now u tink of all in F’s)
Industrialisation, hard work, precision, tough times in the past, war crimes… Somehow, very few people will tell you that it’s a beautiful country, rich in history and the fine arts, with a culture that goes back over a thousand years. Or that it has warm, fun loving people for whom a glass of beer isn’t just a drink, but a divine experience, to be savoured slowly.
Germany is all this and more. But if you’re not visiting the country on business or to attend one of the many international trade fairs hosted in the country, you’d be best off making tracks to one of the worlds most scenic but yet less talked about regions - Germany
The River Rhine begins in Switzerland and meanders across Germany, bestowing the bounty of natural beauty to every town and village on its banks. The Rhine has many towns, castles, forests and towers along it, but certain areas of the Western Region of the Rhine Valley are a little more blessed than the others are.
Cologne, for example has for many centuries been Germany’s seat of education, thanks to the world famous Cologne University. Cologne, with its landmark cathedral spires, unusual museums, theatres and concert halls and pubs, is a bohemian city that beckons people from far and wide. The Cologne University is almost like a medieval township that houses over 54, 000 students in its sprawling campus.
Cologne encourages the casual visitor to set a slow pace as he or she soaks in the ambience of this enchanting city. If you don’t feel like seeing anything in particular, take a walk along the Rhine River through the romantic old city. Or, if you’d rather see Cologne from a different angle. You can take a cruise on the Rhine, past the city.
The Museum that’s really worth seeing is The Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum or the Chocolate Museum. For all those with the ‘sweet tooth’, the first floor takes you through the history of chocolate making, explanations of various types of cocoa trees and even has a hothouse that transports you into a cocoa plantation!
The most fascinating part of the museum is the fact that a live production facility has been built especially for the museum, allowing visitors to see how chocolate bars, truffles, and hollow figures (e.g. Santa Claus figures, Easter Bunnies, footballs, to name a few) are produced. If your taste buds are about to burst after seeing all the mouth-watering chocolate, you can get a taste of your own at the fairytale fountain that flows with warm chocolate!
While you’re in fairy tale country, you may as well throw away your thinking cap and travel back in time to the days of courts and jesters. The Cologne carnival, is a bout of merrymaking that more than compensates for the 40 days of austerity that will follow during Lent. This is Europe’s biggest fool-ridden public festival, and it attracts a million people. The locals and visitors let their hair down with parties, parades, dancing and beer that flows as freely as the Rhine does. Now if that isn’t reason enough to visit the city, I don’t know what is!
The Rhineland region has many attractions, but few as enchanting as the Black Forest. The Black Forest covers an area of over 400 sq. miles of wooded areas and undulating hills peppered with attractive traditional villages and half-timbered houses. If you truly want to experience the beauty of the Black Forest and get a feel of rural life in Germany, take a walk along the Black Forest Panorama Route. The beauty of walking through the forest on this route is that you are one with nature every step of the way.
Along the route, you’ll come across fine panoramic views, sweeping landscapes of lakes, valleys, hills and forests, depending on where you stop. You’ll also come across fine old buildings, museums, old farms and fine footpaths of every conceivable length for tough or gentle walking. The route takes you straight through towns and villages with interesting traditions, original costumes, old crafts and trades typical of the area. You should take a short walk in the Black Forest, to experience what it’s like to be completely united with nature.
Now this is one helluva stop for all u clockwork people. If you happen to be walking through the town around noon every day, be prepared for the ’Cuckoo Chorus’, a million cuckoo clocks seemingly go berserk. Titisee is the cuckoo clock making capital of the world and is renowned for the quality and intricacy of the clocks made. Each clock is fine crafted by hand and sells for hundreds of dollars on an average. Of course, there are collector’s pieces that have fetched astronomical sums in auctions abroad. But then, those buyers aren’t exactly cuckoo!
Every town in the Titiseee-Neustadt region has its own special attractions. Neustadt has more of a village atmosphere, inviting one to stroll and shop and, due to both its central and yet charming scenic location, it is the starting point for many a hike and outing in the surrounding area. Waldau, is the place in which the first Black Forest clock was constructed, way back in 1664. It is a horizontal clock, which runs on three wooden wheels and only has one hand. Waldau is the perfect town to rest and relax. In fact, if you want a taste of the country life, you can live in any one of the towns that make up Titisee-Neustadt.
Germanyhas been blessed with beauty, history and a surfeit of the arts, making it a true tourist’s delight in every sense of the word.
Well I cud go on and on and rave and rant on Germany, but a) I don’t want the Mouthshut.com team obliterating me into oblivion for using more than the desired MB space for each review b) I do get petrified of the thought of Hitler rolling in his grave c) I need to go other places 2.
So ‘dankscheun’, Oppps…..it means thank you in german.(that’s the only word I learnt, but still can spell). Till my next destination……Hic!!