"More to it than you think" a Germany Travel Page by Sjalen

Germany. The name is bound to give associations to all of us. One of those big Europeans in all aspects - land area, population and politics. This is why there are so many different regions, each with their own specialities, climate and lifestyle. I will here try to tell you about my favourites but even though I have relatives in Germany and live close by so I can go there a lot, I have seen far from everything I want to see. Obvious tourist places like Bamberg, Neuschwanstein and Dresden are missing as are several others. This is why this page, perhaps more than any of my pages, will be constantly UNDER CONSTRUCTION. The picture above is of Hoffmann von Fallersleben's birthplace. Fallersleben is best known for writing the lyrics to "Deutschland, Deutschland" which you can see in gold letters on the house. A very typical half-timbered house, like in so many pretty and historic towns, such as Celle, Rüdesheim and Quedlinburg, that Germany is so full of. There are also big cities which have that German cosiness, such as Munich.

But Germany is so much more today. Suffering heavy damage in WWII, there is an explosion in modern architecture, not least in buzzing cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg. These are cities which do not boost any olde worlde ambiance but which are full of interesting designs and museums. In some cases, old and new blend in the rebuilding of cities such as Nürnberg and Mainz.

Germany to me is a country which is well organised, yet friendly and fun. A place where the trains take you places you want to see and the beer is supreme, varied and on top of that regarded as food stuff! :) A country which, apart from Bavaria, is very underrated on the tourist map of Europe. Perhaps the most underrated of all. In Sweden, people think of Germany as a place to whizz through along the Autobahn on their way further south. Therefore, they never see any of the pretty or interesting places along the route. Only pensioners on coach trips to the wine districts and intellectuals going to Berlin seem to be the exception.

For me, this is unbelievable, since Germany holds the keys to so many developments in Europe's history. The printing process, Dürer's philosophy, Luther and his influence on not least Scandinavia...Need I go on?