Why Germany?

This is a legitimate question, of course. If we are going to spend our life savings on one big trip, why go to Germany? We have many reasons for going to Germany.

Language Learning

First, we have been trying to learn the German language, albeit with limited success. We'd like to improve our German and do not see any obvious way to do that otherwise, having exhausted the German courses offered at our local university. So, this trip includes several weeks at a language school.

Family History

Second, we both have German roots. Amelia's family roots in Germany are so far back they are only a glimmer in the far past. Baldwin is actually a surname that is derived from Old High German meaning 'bold friend.' Andy's family roots in Germany, however, are very recent. His paternal grandfather immigrated to the USA in 1920 or so. One of our goals for this trip is to visit the town Großvater (grandfather) Baldes came from. Most of Andy's other recent ancestors, as far as we know, were also German with last names like Schmidt.

German Culture

Third, we just generally are interested in German language and culture. Partly that might be because we have no apparent gifts at learning any other language (and precious little at German!). But, it is also because we admire many things about Germans and German culture (obviously, there is also much in German history that is not admirable, e.g. two world wars, etc., but let's not digress...). Some of the admirable things are general characteristics of the German people (hard work, punctuality, creativity, loyalty, etc.) and others are more about art and history and so forth.

Germany has provided a significant amount of knowledge and culture with regard to science, history, art, music, sport, religion, and business. Fahrenheit? Von Braun? Heisenberg? Einstein? German. Martin Luther? Bonhoeffer? German. Bach? Beethoven? Brahms? German. Holbein? Cranach? Dürer? German. Goethe? Mann? Schiller? German. Benz? Bosch? Diesel? German. Well, you get the idea.

German Holiday

Fourth, we both have wanted to go to Germany for quite some time, not least because we want to see the countryside and visit some old towns and castles and churches.  I think many Americans (and perhaps many Aussies and Kiwis) have this desire to see the trappings of civilization that are much older than our own country but to which we have some tenuous connections via ancestry or history. Our travel in Germany will mostly involve smaller cities and towns because that's what interests us most. Perhaps another trip, some day, will involve Berlin or Frankfurt, etc. We look forward to exploring Schwäbisch Hall (the town where we are going to study German at the Goethe Institut) and Bad Rodach (the town of Andy's Großvater, although its name has changed since he lived there) and other places.

Other Fun Facts

2015 is a major anniversary for Germany, marking 25 years since the reunification of East and West. That's probably not a specific reason for travel, really, but it is an important anniversary for Germany, no doubt. A smaller anniversary we just learned about is the 50th anniversary of the Goethe Institut in Schwäbisch Hall (where we will study German). That's probably completely insignificant, but it's still a fun fact. For about 65 years, the Goethe Institut (all over Germany and the world with 160 institutes in 94 countries) have provided German language training. The particular Goethe Institut in Schwäbish Hall has been running for 50 years. The Goethe Institut has about a dozen locations in Germany, many of which are open year round for all sorts of German language training.

Random Reasons

Other random reasons to visit Germany:

1. Meeting up with the Nilselids for fun travel (more on this a bit later)
2. Nice summer weather (i.e. not blistering hot!)
3. Beer (ok, so we really don't drink beer...)
4. Wurst (i.e. German sausage)
5. Cycling friendly
6. Baked goods
7. Chocolate
8. Cheese
9. Castles
10. Trains!