Skip to main content

Trains, Castles and Beer

That sums up the vast landscape for tourist adventure that is Germany.  Below are some snapshots of what I experienced on our recent and first visit..

Each region is proud of their own heritage and you will hear the locals welcome you and ask to enjoy Dusseldorf or enjoy Baden Wuttemberg while only few might say 'have a good time in Germany'.  Ironically the only time in history Germany was really united was under Hitler's rule but otherwise in the past ages and again today a sense of regional identity is strong.

It is evident in their language, culture and their beers.  Every one has their local identity - north different from the south - even when it is not that big a country.

Here then are some vistas of the land that stretches from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps in the south.

Deutsche Bahn Express leaving Frankfurt

Along the Rhine heading north

Floor art inside Cologne Cathedral

 
Our journey took us north west from Frankfurt -

Doorway to Cologne Cathedral - this sculptor must have been busy


on the Main river to Cologne where we traipsed around the oldest cathedral in the country which to this day is being renovated and maintained (they all need a lot of TLC and donations) then caught the summer lights along the Rhine.

Then 'train'ed our sights on the capital and largest city Berlin in the far eastern corner.  A visit to the heart of it all is to see one of a handful of prominent Tors or Gates - the one below is called Brandenburg Gate where Reagan in Hollywood style told Gorbachev, then the figurehead of the eastern block to tear down the Berlin wall.


 
 
Berlin sits on the river Spree - the pic above is a film shown outdoor on government buildings that sit on cool real estate - river banks - about the journey of German people from the Reichstag (monarchy) to the Bundestag (of the people)



Reichstag Dome where the public can view the working of the Federal Government moving on a motorized walkway - Berlin Federal Government building or Reichstag.
Designer - Norman Foster.

 Leaving Berlin behind we further moved north on to the port city of Hamburg. This is the third largest port after NY and London and sits on the river Elbe.  More on that and further meanderings later...
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...
Post a Comment
Read more