I am on the move this Sunday, and rather stay home most of the day. Taking you back to older posts and given them new life. I already passed you by the North so why not the East, Germany it is.
I rather bring about my previous posts on and about cities in the country. Why closer, well it started with my college roommate from Wiesbaden and then continue with business colleagues of many years from several cities, follow by my alma mater graduation class of 1982 buddy who was married to a lady of the country and moved to near Stuttgart where he is at for many many years already… and a family. Finally, it hit closer to home as my cousin-sister married a German from Hamburg so now the cycle is complete. Welcome to a very international family!!
This is the Federal Republic of Germany with 16 states. and the most populous country in the European Union. It’s major cities are Berlin, its capital as well as Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Bremen, Dresden, Hanover, and Nuremberg.
In 1871, Germany became a nation state when the German state was unified into a Prussian dominated German empire. After WWI, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic. The worse period was from 1933 to 1945 and WWII. After the end of WWII in Europe, passing by a period of allied occupation into four zones, two German states were formed, West Germany with American, British,and French zones and East Germany with Soviet occupation zone. Following the free revolution of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was united as of now in October 3rd 1990.
The Federal Republic of Germany (rather West Germany) was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the whole Germany of the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G7, G20, and OECD organizations.
Tourism wise, it has created several routes such as the Romantic Road, the Wine Route, the Castle Road, and the Avenue Road. Also, a quaint road call the German Timber-Frame Road. According to various sources online, the most visited places there are Neuschwanstein Castle, Cologne Cathedral, Berlin Bundestag, Hofräuhaus Munich, Heidelberg Castle, Dresden Zwinger, Fernsehturm Berlin, and Anchen Cathedral; with Europa Park near Freiburg been the second most visited theme park in Europe.
The official German tourist office in English is here: http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html
According to official sources such as the German tourist office , EU, and Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden 2016, the most visitors to Germany in order are the Netherlands, Switzerland, USA, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, France, Denmark, Belgium, and Spain. the same study shows that the prefer destination of Germans are in order, Spain ,Italy, Austria, Turkey, Croatia, Scandinavia, Greece, and France. It is mentioned ,Germany is the 7th country in the world as far as visitors with about 35,6M in 2016. Other than the tourist office, I think this is a good site for public transport in Germany. Of course, I only been there once by airplane to Düsseldorf, and then hire a taxi lol!! the rest has been by car from France. The site here: https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/public-transport-in-germany/
Enjoy the ride, and your Sunday. Cheers!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 