#4 Mass Transit — Trains and mass transit in the country are fantastic. Maybe the nation’s elaborate network of buses, high speed rail, trams and streetcars exists because Germans are more enlightened and actually invest in important public transit infrastructure, or maybe it is related to the fact that getting a driver’s license costs thousands of euros, and fuel is more than double what it is in the United States. Perhaps both are true?
#5 Permeable Pavement — Water management systems overall seem to be much better integrated in German cities. Permeable pavement, which allows storm water to percolate into the water table instead of flooding the streets, was very common nearly everywhere we traveled. I also came across quite a bit of sustainable infrastructure, such as green roofs, swales, rain barrels, and other rainwater catchment methods.
#6 Public Art that is also functional — Most towns in Germany have open public squares and common spaces for everyone to share. These plazas are often decorated with art that is both fun and functional, like this curvilinear bench/sculpture, and the ornamental sewer cover we came across while walking around in Berlin’s Spandau neighborhood.
#7 Meat — For me, one dominant aspect of the culture that is not so exciting is the prevalence of meat throughout the cuisine. Their unrelenting love affair with every form of meat is only slightly less incomprehensible than the country’s obsession with over-dubbing every single foreign movie and television show with the voices of German actors. Fleischwurst, Blütwurst, Bockwurst, Leberwurst, Bratwurst, Mettwurst, Kurrywurst, Knoblauchwurst, mit ein bischen Schinken, and that is just the breakfast menu. Blef.
Pages: 1 2
About Rhonda Winter
[...] United States national soccer team’s dramatic come back in Germany last week against Brazil in the last seconds of the game is the stuff that legends are made of. The [...]