Grüsse from Germany - Aloha from the Homeland

Guten Tag, zusammen! 

(Sorry, I can't come up with a better German translation for 'Aloha All')

We spent our first month in Germany as American citizens. I feel like coming home and visiting a foreign country at the same time. It also feels like we spent most of the past four weeks eating, drinking and talking; and I am sure I can prove it by stepping on a scale.

Food, family & Fun:
Guten Appetit und ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

Visiting our hometowns in German is not the same pace as our road trips: Less state capitols, historical sites, disc golf courses and festivals, more family meals, doctor offices, nursery homes and bakeries. But sometimes reconnecting with family and friends is all we want to do, so I am not making any judgements. 

Actually…screw the political correctness, let’s make some judgment calls:

• The pretzels are better in Germany. There is a simple explanation for that: The lye used to make German pretzels is considered a health hazard in America. We’re sometimes eating pretzels for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maybe the FDA will change the rules if we survive these three months.
• The beer selection is better in America. Don’t get me wrong, I like German beer, but they are basically serving the same three kinds of beers here as when we left 27 years ago. Actually, it’s pretty much the same beer they’ve been brewing for centuries. When we visit craft breweries in America, there always seems to be something new to explore. I don’t remember the last time I had less than three IPAs to choose from at a brewery in America. I have not yet found a single one on this trip in Germany.
• The salads are better in Germany. Obviously, the quality of ingredients can differ from one place to the next, but the dressing makes the difference: In most American restaurants, you can choose between at least half a dozen different dressings, but I don’t like any of them as much as the dressings German restaurants serve without ever asking.
• Driving a car is more relaxing in America. I swear some towns in Germany regulate traffic mostly based on their fiscal needs. I don’t mind driving slow, but the constantly changing speed limits combined with a silly number of speed traps seems to be the main revenue stream for some localities. I’m not sure whether this is a German thing or just a Weininger thing, but it’s almost impossible to carry on a conversation while driving in Germany, since there is always a changing speed limit or a speed trap to warn about. And don’t get me started on the Autobahn with no speed limit. It’s only a small fraction of the autobahn system that has no speed limit, but who thinks it’s a good idea that you have to worry about someone approaching with 200kmh when you pass a truck? But apparently for some Germans suggesting any speed limit is the equivalent of suggesting to some Americans that maybe we should not sell guns to mentally unstable people. 
• The weather is better in…Hawaii. I have a hard time dressing myself in Germany. One day it’s hot, then it’s cold, sometimes both in one day. Even in July we had days when we needed long pants, a sweater and a jacket. And you can’t even complain about it, because at the same time the Greek islands were on fire and Italy was dealing with an unprecedented heat wave. 
• The public transportation is better in…Switzerland. I’ll admit that public transportation in Germany is still better than in America. But the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is trying hard to level the playing field between Germany and the US by funneling the entire national infrastructure budget into a single pet project to ‘modernize’ the perfectly fine train station in Stuttgart. They are able to spend roughly as much money as the entire gross domestic product of Madagascar by moving the train station underground and turning it by 90 degrees. This project makes the planers of the Honolulu rail look like geniuses. The maintenance of the remaining tracks and trains is so underfunded that most of my train trips in Germany have been delayed. My trip from the airport in Zürich out of Switzerland was punctual to the minute, but also the most expensive one.

As mentioned before: It feels like we mostly ate, drank and talked for the past four weeks. But looking through our photos, it seems like my memory might be wrong. Here are just a few of the things we were able to squeeze in between meals so far:

First the most important news of all:
For the first time in 53 years, I am taller than my big brother!
You have to zoom in to see the bubble in the level ever so slightly off center,
but a win is a win! If you zoom in close enough,
you might also discover that my brother has more hair than me.

We got to see three theater plays already: 
This one is an open air theater in my hometown performing "Pride & Prejudice". We also saw a fun play at an old roman estate in Sandra's hometown and the fascinating American play called "Appropriate" set in rural Arkansas

Of course there were games!

I got a basketball lesson from my nephew. Turns out I didn't even know how to hold the ball. But I won anyway, because instead of playing against him, I played with him against two unsuspecting local kids.

My dad and I climbed up the cathedral in Freiburg.
I hope I can still climb up 200+ feet when I am 85!

Unfortunately, I lost an uncle.
But we found a long lost cousin!

Petra & Petra, my two sister-in-laws

The new wheelchair for Emma gave us a slightly larger radius
on Petra's birthday trip to Bad Säckingen

A quick stroll to Switzerland
over Europe's longest covered bridge!

Pedal boat on the Bergsee in Bad Säckingen

With the right conditions, the Lake of Constance
is just as colorful as Hawaii

At the Balingen Garden Show

Fun family round of golf in the Black Forrest

Our visit at Aunt Rose was perfectly timed,
just as she found out that she's a great-grandmother again!

And that’s the news from Lake Germany, where we eat, drink and are merry more than average, where the weather is anything but average and all the pretzels are above average. 

Chris & Sandra