Indiana: The Hoosier State The US state whose name means "land of the Indians" also has a lot of German connections. In fact the largest ancestry reported in Indiana is "German" – with 22.7 percent of the population claiming that ancestry in the 2020 census. In the...
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Why Nefertiti Is in Berlin, Not Cairo
Egyptian Artifacts and a Wealthy Berlin Patron of the Arts If you want to see the famous bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BCE), the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, you have to visit Berlin's Neues Museum (New Museum) to experience it in person. The...
Coburg, Germany, Black History and St. Mauritius
Coburg, Germany Before, During, and After the War As Black History Month has recently passed its halfway mark, I'm returning to a theme I've written about before: Black Americans and Germany. Which, believe it or not, brings us to the northern Bavarian city of Coburg,...
The Nebra Sky Disc: An Introduction
The World's Oldest Known Representation of the Night Sky I'm not exactly sure when I first became aware of the Nebra Sky Disc, but I do recall being reminded of its existence in late 2021 when the German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer named his mission to the...
How the German Advent Calendar Emerged from the Ashes of War and Conquered America
How a Stuttgart Publisher and US President Eisenhower Saved the Advent Calendar The Advent calendar tradition is a relatively recent Christmas custom, far more recent than the Christmas tree. Although homemade calendars date from around 1850, the first printed...
How Germans Helped Shape the World: Historic Globes
No, The World Is Not Flat! Bad news for flat-earth believers: Ancient Greek astronomers proved that the earth was a sphere – which later gave us the Latin (and German) word globus. Although references to globes representing the planet earth date from about 150 BCE, no...
The Rising Costs for Tourists in Germany
Room Taxes, Spa Taxes, and ETIAS Traveling in Europe or anywhere else has always involved spending a certain amount of money. But over the past decade or so a new kind of travel expense has arisen in Europe, including the German-speaking countries. And yet another, if...
Beyond Munich: Germany’s Other Beer and Wine Festivals
As I write this, Oktoberfest in Munich is about to end on October 3rd. Oktoberfest, which begins in September, is by far Germany's largest and most famous folk festival (Volksfest), but there are many other attractive options all across Germany. These other events...
A Brief (Germanic) History of Mexican Beer
The German, Austrian, and Swiss Heritage of Cerveza Today both the Mexican and US beer brewing scenes are quite similar, reflecting the global phenomenon of Big Beer. In both countries it is difficult to know the true company behind a particular beer brand, even if...
Yes, There’s Uber in Germany, but…
Uber and Its Competitors in Germany Ride-hailing and ride-sharing services in Germany and most of Europe have had a far more difficult time than in North America. While Uber plays a limited role in Germany, Lyft can't be found anywhere in Europe. And Uber had to wage...
Barbie’s German Ancestor
Like many other Americans, the "all-American" Barbie doll has German origins. Barbara "Barbie" Millicent Roberts was born – as a fully grown adult plastic doll – in New York City at the American International Toy Fair on 9 March 1959. Her accessory boyfriend, Ken,...
Adventures on a First Class ICE to Munich
My last post was about revisiting Berlin after a five-year pandemic-related pause. In that post I promised to later write about Munich, our next destination, and I will. But today my subject is Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the "adventure" of rail travel in Germany these...
Berlin: Then and Now
Germany: Before and After the Covid Pandemic Before this year (2023), my last trip to Germany and Berlin was in March/April 2018. It was a true European journey that ranged from Budapest, Hungary to Rotterdam, Netherlands (a river cruise), and also passed through...
German Filming Locations: The Hunger Games Prequel
Die Tribute von Panem: The German Title for The Hunger Games The upcoming 2023 Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, is neither the first Hunger Games film nor the first major Hollywood picture to be filmed in Germany in recent decades. One of...
Berlin’s Quirky and Unusual Museums
Germany's capital city is famous for its museums – and with good reason. Berlin's museum offerings are both wide and deep, covering just about any topic or field you can imagine. And some you can't. Updated for 2024! Unfortunately, not all museums stick around...
Count Zeppelin Visits America and Goes for a Balloon Ride
I never knew that the German inventor of the rigid-frame airship named for him, Count (Graf) Ferdinand von Zeppelin, had spent time in the United States during the American Civil War. But it turns out there are a lot of things I didn't know about the illustrious count...
Ten Ways That Germany is Different
Germans have their own way of doing things. True, not all Germans are alike, but... The German way of life is not the same as the American way of life, nor should it be. But US Americans (that's a German influence I've adopted as a US American) and other foreigners...
Texas: German Names and Connections
Texas Germans and the German Belt in Texas At various times in the past Texas was French (1684–1689), Spanish (1690–1821), and Mexican (1821-1836). From 1836 to 1845 it was the Republic of Texas – before becoming the 28th US state on December 29, 1845. But Texas...
Mark Twain in Berlin and Vienna
Mark Twain, whose passport bore the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens, crossed the Atlantic Ocean 49 times. In Europe the American writer visited many German-speaking cities, from Berlin to Vienna, and many points in-between. The future globetrotter's first foreign trip...
From Afri-Cola to Almdudler, Rivella and Beyond
The World of Germanic Soft Drinks Germany is famous for its beer. But it also has its own non-alcoholic drink brands. There's an entire world of carbonated fruit and cola drinks in German-speaking Europe that few outsiders have ever tasted. Yes, Coca-Cola and Pepsi...
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