Traveling into Germany, it’s so clear that the Germans know how to motor an economy. They seem disdainful of the tax cheating, the inefficient bureaucracy, and the corruption plaguing the Mediterranean countries they will be bailing out. Suddenly, all around Europe, German efficiency seems like a good idea. It’s amazing to think that Germany has built itself up (with US aid after WWII) from near-total destruction to become Europe’s economic powerhouse. For sixty years, they’ve simply worked hard and paid their taxes.
Germans I’ve talked to admit that they’ve benefitted most from the euro currency. And now they recognize that they need to prop up the euro and give a little back to the other European nations. One German’s thoughts on Greece: “Greeks have learned from their heads of state to be corrupt. Brussels believed in their false numbers when they applied for membership in the eurozone, and since they joined, there’s been no control — just wishful thinking. Today we have a big problem with Greece.”
You see lots of construction around Europe, but in the south, it’s often stalled. Traveling through Germany this last week, however, I’ve seen thriving construction projects everywhere. A beautiful thing about Europe (compared to the USA) is that there are no electrical wires overhead. They are nearly all buried. A local told me that much of the wiring is from the 1970s, and throughout Germany, it’s being dug up and modernized.
One night in Munich, I walked over a tidy sidewalk into my hotel. The next morning, I stepped out and had to walk the plank over a deep ditch with tractors, orange-vested workmen, and industrial-strength tubing and wires everywhere. That afternoon, I came home…and the sidewalk was tidy again. I wondered how long a job like that would take in Italy or Greece.
Germanic people even seem efficient about hedonism. Every country seems to have its own firewater. And, while I gingerly sip it, locals throw it down in a gulp. Finally a local friend gave me a tip: “My Granny taught me that you should first breathe deeply in, then take the shot, then breathe out.” It works. Ahhhh.
On the topic of languages, a German friend observed that the Spanish and Italians speak as if talking to God, the French speak as if talking to a lover, and the Germans speak as if talking to a dog. They seem to be barking, even when agreeing with you: Stimmt! Genau! Richtig! I said I like the sound of German, but it’s difficult for me. My friend said, “German’s an easy language. Even children speak it.”
Meeting a lot of Americans traveling — including families and people well into their adulthood who are out of the States for the first time — I’ve been thinking about how travel helps people blossom. If we are like seeds, the travel experience provides the dirt. The act of traveling plants us. And the people we meet in our travels are like watering the garden. Combine the dirt, seeds, and water properly, and you get the blossom. Happy travels.
Butterfly. French: pappion. German: schmetterling.
Welcome back to Germany, Rick. I’m interested to read your comments about northern Germany on this trip, particular my favorite city in the country, Hamburg.
I’m afraid, though, that your experience with the sidewalk may not be typical of the speed of German public works projects. If your travels take you along the A8 between Munich and Salzburg, or the A5 between Freiberg and Frankfurt, you see an un-godly amount of road construction that has been going on for more than two years, and a near permanent state of “Stau” in the traffic.
Tom, Hüttenfeld, Hessen
Oops, correction, make that the “A8 between Munich and Karlsruhe”. I’m not sure why Salzburg popped into my head…
The sidewalks are the same in Italy as Germany….and having lived in both Germany and Italy (and America) there are fast and slow construction projects in each.
Hi Rick, were you just in Salzburg within the last week or so? I could have sworn I saw you ride past on a bike. Your books are always such a huge help to us. Thanks!
I agree with Tony – last time we were in Florence, we came back to the hotel to find a giant hole in the sidewalk and emergency repairs progressing. Next morning – completely covered over and as if nothing had happened!
One thing that impairs Germans’ ability to get cooperation is that many of them are pedantic and lecture incessantly. In combined meetings with Germans, Spanish, Italians, French, U.S and British, the Germans openly disdained the other Europeans and other Europeans didn’t like Germans. Americans looked on in wonder and bemusement as they berated each other. I remember one meeting in which a German ostentatiously read a newspaper while other Europeans presented formal papers. (His newspaper mysteriously disappeared during a coffee break and I think he got the point). Many Germans are wonderful people. But there is a seeming cultural bias towards knowing it all.
Rick-continuing your garden analogy, perhaps your guidebooks are like fertilizer. Maybe your audioguides are compost :-)
Looking forward to more of your updates from The Road — hope all is well.
Greece is only a minor problem. The Euro itself is the problem. The one size only does not fit all the member economies. The Germans delude themselves with their Lutheran morality play talk about Greek corruption which is real but a minor problem. If the Greeks had been virtuous the Euro would still be in crisis. The break up of the Euro would be a mess but these countries would be better off in the long run with their own currencies which would allow them to develop while retaining some independence instead of being a German vassal state in the Euro.
I know this may be a controversial comment to make given Germany’s history, but I am convinced that German efficiency and love of order is genetic. I’m a full-blooded German and when I go there I feel like I have come home; I think, act, and feel like a German and love how they do things there. I can also usually identify an American of German descent pretty quickly after meeting them.
Rick’s comments reminded me of a quote attributed to Charles V, one of the most well-known of all the Holy Roman Emperors, originally from Spain but was the Emperor of many European countries in the early-to-mid 16th Century. (He was the leader that presided over the Diet of Worms which tried to get Martin Luther to recant). Anyway, the story goes that an envoy once asked Charles, “How do you keep the peace in the Empire? It’s so fragmented with so many different cultures and languages.” Charles replied: “Yes, you have to be adept at keeping the peace, which is why I chose to learn the important languages of my realm. When speaking to my friends, I speak Spanish. When speaking to diplomats, I speak French. When speaking to women, I speak Italian. And when speaking to my horse? I speak German.” LOL! :-)
And people wonder why I use German commands for my dogs…
Rick, was that you who gave me some tip on finding my train wagon on the platform in Munich in the morning of July 16th?
I couldn’t agree more with your final paragraph on the growth opportunities for travel. We took our 7-year-old son for his first over-seas trip this summer to France. We could see his growth over the course of the trip. We stayed in Paris and rural France, and it was all rich soil for growth. It did help that I had downloaded your podcasts onto my old iPhone he uses. While flying to Paris, and later while driving through the countryside, instead of playing Angry Birds, we would listen on his headphones to you walk through old Paris, or tour the Louvre. When we got there, he was so excited to see the things he had heard you talk about. You’ve got a solid fan now, and your work helped make his trip that much more fertile and rich.
Thanks a million.
Aug13Subas subba limbu Teita bhanya uta paitko unti laai kati raamro suhaa6 saarile tyo naaiti lai kasto nasuhaako hai saarile?