Week 6: Fables and Folklore in Germany!

The Germanic peoples don’t just live in Germany. Places like Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia all have culture based off of German influences. Like I talked about in the history post, German culture has been developing for over 2,000 years. Much of that still lives on today, even if in not so obvious ways. Today I’ll be talking about some of the fables and folklore that make up a huge part of Germanic culture.

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Germanic Folklore

Many stories from ancient German mythology live on as cultural folklore. Up until Germany’s transition to Christianity in the Middle Ages, many of these old stories were very much believed. I’ll go through a couple major myths and folklore that date back thousands of years.

Lorelei

Once upon a time, a beautiful woman named Lorelei waited on a great cliff on the Rhine river to watch her husband return from sailing, but only saw his boat sink and him drown. She then leaped from the rock, drowning herself too. The legend goes that she now haunts this rock as a ghost. She would sing to sailors while brushing her golden hair, luring them to crash against the cliff in the night. You can still sail to this rock today and climb to the top to see Lorelei’s wonderful view of Germany’s greatest river.

A view of the cliff on the Rhine river. Germans today simply call the rock “The Lorelei” after the legend.

The Wild Hunt

This legend tells that at night, you can sometimes see Odin and the other Germanic gods on a hunt through the sky. If the Hunt spots you, they will ask you to assist them. If you refuse to help them, the Hunt will often lay a curse upon you. However, if one agrees to help the Hunt, they will give great rewards in gold, salt, or meat. The only way to avoid the Wild Hunt is to stay on the road and not to look up into the sky.

A depiction of the Wild Hunt racing through the night sky.

Krampus

In the United States, Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) is supposed to reward you if you’re good and punish you if you’re bad. However, in Germany, they have a whole other person to punish you if you’re bad: Krampus. Krampus is a half-goat, half-demon who comes on the 5th of December. Like St. Nick, he carries a large sack. But instead of bringing coal, he’ll just take any misbehaving kids with him! He sometimes carries birch branches to whip bad kids. People still incorporate this legend into Christmas celebrations – all German kids know about Krampus.

A depiction of Krampus and St. Nicholas from the 1800s.

A German Christmas parade. St. Nikolaus leading a young girl through town, away from people dressed as Krampus behind them.

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Fables & Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales, Märchen (Mare-shen), are a huge part of German culture. Many of the most famous fairy tales, Disney stories, and fables are German in origin.

The Brothers Grimm

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German students from an extremely poor family. They had great passion for German culture, and as Napoleon was invading from the West, they feared much of this culture would be destroyed by the French (who were always rivals with Germany). They didn’t write the stories, but rather set out to collect and record as many folktales as possible. Much of this took place in the isolated Black Forest, where I was last weekend! Some of these stories collected are as ancient as 6,000 years old!! How crazy is that?

“Kinder und Hausmärchen” (Children and Home Tales), the first collection of stories published by the brothers in 1812.

An illustration from Hansel and Gretel from the original book.

Just to see how many of these stories you already know of, here are some of the stories they collected from townspeople hundreds of years ago:

• Cinderella (Aschenputtel)
• The Frog Prince (Der Froschkoenig)
• Hansel and Gretel (Haensel und Gretel)
• Rapunzel (Die Rapunzell)
• Rumpelstiltskin (Rumpelstilzchen)
• Sleeping Beauty (Dornroeschen)
• Snow White (Schneewittchen)

These are just ones I could think of off the top of my head, there are hundreds more you would all know of. Look up your favorite Disney movie or fairy tale and see if it comes from old German folklore… it just might!

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Max and Moritz

Max and Moritz is another classical German fable that everyone here knows about. It tells the story of two mischievous boys in the 1800s through seven of their pranks. Like most stories, there is a very clear “moral of the story” at the end…

 

The boys stealing chicken from an old widow.

The boys eventually “prank” everybody in town. Each chapter is named after their next victim (the Widow, the Teacher, the Tailor, the Uncle, the Baker, the Farmer). Their “pranks” range from stealing food to loading their uncle’s pipe full of gunpowder. Eventually, after making everyone in the town hate them, they try to steal some grain from the farmer. They accidentally fall into the mill and get baked into bread.

The boys covered in dough about to be baked

The fate of Max and Moritz…

 

The people of the town realized what they had done, but nobody cared because of how cruel the boys were to everyone in town. So many of these German tales have brutal endings!

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Die Sterntaler – The Star Coins

This is one of my favorites. It is a very short tale telling the story of a very poor orphan girl. She is wandering through the woods at night with nothing but a small piece of bread.

As the poor girl goes through the forest, she gives her shoes, bread, dress, and cap to people in need. She stops to rest by a tree, now naked and with nothing. As she looks up to the stars, they slowly turn to gold coins. A new fine dress appears out of nowhere, and the coins fall into it.

I think it is a great story of generosity and the rewards that come from it. Many German kid’s stories are gruesome reminders not to be bad, but I like this one’s reminders of the benefits of being good.

The girl collecting coins (“taler”) from the sky.

The girl from “Die Sterntaler” on a German postage stamp.

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Your turn!

• Do you have a favorite story from the Brothers Grimm?
• What are some of your favorite stories and fables from your childhood?
• What role do you think old stories and tales play in culture today?

Looking forward to hearing from you all! Talk soon.

Bis bald!
-GV

Photo of the Week: Intercontinental Edition!

I spent this last weekend in Morocco with some friends! We rented a hostel right on the ocean. Here is the view from our front door! Getting out of the German cold and into the sun was very nice 🙂

Week 5: Black Forest Photo Essay!

Liebe Jungen und Mädchen!
(Dear boys and girls!)

I’ve always love multi-day, long distance hiking! This last Friday, I went into the Schwarzwald (Shvartz-vald), or the Black Forest, in Germany to do three days of major hiking. It was about 30 miles a day of walking! I will tell you about the forest and the hike through a series of pictures from my journey. But first, a little intro on the forest itself.

Here’s the Black Forest in dark green, just an hour south of Mannheim. The region around the Black Forest is called “Swabia”, after a Germanic tribe that lived in the forest called the Swabians. It is a very distinct and isolated part of Germany, and a place I’ve been looking forward to visiting for months.

“Protect Your Forest”. This is German propaganda from World War Two. The Germans are very proud and protective of their forest to this day. It has been a huge part of German culture for millennia.

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Day One: Freudenstadt to Besenfeld (28mi)

I got up at 6:00AM to catch a train from Mannheim south to Freudenstadt, a town in the very center of the Schwarzwald. It took a couple of hours, but the German trains are very comfortable. I was able to get a little extra sleep on the way there.

After a short walk from the Freudenstadt train station, I found the trail I would take all the way up to my end destination of Pforzheim. The Schwarzwald has three major trails running through it: the Westweg, Mittelweg, and Ostweg (meaning west, middle, and east way). I took the Mittelweg, which would take my through the densest part of the forest. There are no cities in the Schwarzwald, only small farming villages like this.

There are many wooden huts along the paths of the forest for weary travelers. You can take a break on the benches inside or just get under a roof if it’s raining. A group called the “Schwarzwaldverein” (Black Forest Society) is a volunteer association that keep the forest clean, maintains these huts, and builds signs in some major places. They do this all without pay! This goes to show how important this ancient forest is to German culture.

The forest is massive, and it is easy to get very lost. There are no regular postings of directional signs, but you can sometimes find these. People have been hiking the Schwarzwald since the ancient Germanic tribes (some of the ones I discussed in my last post) lived here. They saw it as a kind of holy place. The ancient Germans even worshiped a god of the forest, named Nerthus.

Paved and marked paths like this are very rare in the forest. This was the beginning of the hike and I thought it was going to be like this the rest of the weekend. Boy I was wrong…

This was an awesome place for a break. This was a shrine built in 1209 by High Count Rudolf of Tübingen, the old ruler of this region. There is an inscription in old German on the side that reads: “RUDOLF I VON TUEBINGEN HAD THIS BUILT IN THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1209 SO THAT ALL WHO HUNT HERE WILL REMEMBER HIM. PRAY FOR THE SALVATION OF HIS SOUL. TO HIS MEMORY.”

After about 30 miles I arrived in the town of Besenfeld (population of only a couple hundred), where I would spend my first night. I was so tired and sore, and I was only finished with day one. I’ve always loved these little villages, I find that they have much more culture and spirit than some of the bigger cities.

The view from the room I rented. It was a farming town, so lots of chickens, horses, and mules walking around and making noise all night. As someone from San Francisco and Portland, this is something I’m not used to!

My host cooked me a traditional Schwarzwald meal called “Maultaschen” (Mall-tawshen). It is a type of dumpling stuffed with spinach and onion, with pork and cheese baked on top. I was incredibly hungry after 30 miles, and this was my first meal since the pretzel I had on my way to the train station.

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Day Two: Besenfeld to Bad Wildbad (34mi)

Traditional German country breakfast of bread, an egg, meat and cheese. Most important meal of the day, especially when this day was going to be the hardest of the three. Not only was it the longest, but it was super hilly.

Leaving the place I stayed. “Danke Aufwiedersehen” (Dawn-kuh owf-veeder-zane) means ‘thank you, goodbye’ in German. Everyone is so nice in the countryside here.

Befriended a cat on my way leaving the town. Hope you’re doing well, cat!

The hike would’ve been a lot easier if I took one of these guys. Many locals use horses to go between towns in the forest. It’s like this place is stuck in the 1800s…that’s why I like it so much.

The forest begins again! With my water bottles refilled and a piece of bread and cheese in my pack given to me by my host, I’m ready for day two.

The forest is so huge I only saw a couple of people each day. But you can see here that lumber is (obviously) a pretty big thing out here. Most people I met were either farmers, lumberjacks, or worked at the local bakery or butcher.

There are mushrooms everywhere in the forest. You gotta be careful though, these mario-looking ones are not safe to touch.

Hundred year old monument to a Johannes Mast, who died in 1915. There are many monuments and grave stones in the middle of nowhere here that I stumbled upon.

There was a stone tower from World War One I found while hiking. Here’s a picture from the top! You can see how dense the forest is. The Romans thought all of Germany was covered in this kind of thick forest. They thought the pale, blonde Germans were that way because they never saw sun in the Black Forest. In fact, that’s why the it’s called the Black Forest: because the sun rarely shines through it.

Another view from the stone tower. You can see that the forest just seems to go on forever. Despite how long I thought my journey was, I didn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

Sign indicating that there are wild boars in the area. These aren’t your average everyday pigs, they’re actually quite big and dangerous. Thankfully, I didn’t see any wildlife aside from deer, birds, and lizards.

I had to cross a swamp, but thankfully I eventually found a small bridge so I didn’t have to trek through much more mud and water. My boots were already soaked through by the time I found it though. The Schwarzwald is all trees, it’s criss-crossed by mountains, rivers, swamps, and all kinds of different flora.

I found a family-run hut that served food and drink that made a great place for a break! The sign says it has been here since 1739! 

This was the first fountain I found. The water seemed clean enough, so I filled up my bottles here. That was my biggest issue on the hike. I brought 2 liters worth of water, but went through it very quickly and rarely was able to fill them up.

The end is in sight! This is the town of Bad Wildbad. Any German town with “Bad” in front means it has natural springs in the town that you can bathe in. There are lots of these in the Schwarzwald (Bad Liebenzell, Bad Teinach, Bad Zavelstein, etc.)

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Day Three: Bad Wildbad to Pforzheim (30mi)

Leaving Bad Wildbad in the early morning. It is very cold here in the morning, but that’s actually a good thing because you get hot very quickly with such a big pack. I didn’t see any snow yet, but I imagine it would be gorgeous hiking through the snow-capped forest.

The path getting very narrow again. My least favorite things was the amount of spider webs stretching across the trails from tree to tree. I must’ve walked into about a hundred spider webs over the weekend. Despite all this, I never saw any spiders on me or on my bag. Phew.

Found a small shelter in the forest with a monument for local German men who died in World War One and Two. Many of these men were people around my age and often did not choose to fight. 

Ok, this was creepy. Miles and miles from any village or roads, I found this enormous mansion complex. Many windows were shattered, there was food and debris everywhere, but there was nobody in sight and it was dead silent. I wanted to go inside, but I was actually a little freaked out.

A view from the inside courtyard. The absolute silence was the weirdest part.

Looking towards the courtyard from the gate to the mansion. There was a sign that said “Charlottenhoehe. Built 1968”. I couldn’t find anything explaining what this place was or what happened. Anyone have an idea?

A tombstone for a husband and wife in a village I passed through later that day. The husband died at the beginning of World War Two, and the wife at the end of it. The title of the husband (“High Master of the Forest”) makes me think he was involved in the management of the Schwarzwald somehow.

 

This is what a “library” looks like in tiny country villages. You can borrow and leave books as you wish it seems. For some reason I don’t think this would work as well in Portland…

First village of over a couple hundred I passed through on that day. There weren’t many shops or anything, but there were a lot of people living there. Many people were riding horses in the fields around the town.

Despite being a little on the bigger side, this town still didn’t have anywhere I could buy a snack or refill some water. I didn’t feel like bothering people on a Sunday.

This could be the most comfortable animal I’ve ever seen. He made me jealous. I felt as tired as he looked.

Found another observation tower. The town in the distance is my final destination of Pforzheim. These towers serve as places to watch for fire that always endanger the forest.

Pforzheim is the very northern tip of the forest. This is the gate where the entire Schwarzwald officially begins. Each path (the West-, Mittel-, and Ostweg) starts here. The gate reads “Golden Gateway of Pforzheim”. Pforzheim is sometimes called “the gold city” because of its famous history of jewelry making.

Here’s a picture near the Pforzheim train station. Finally finished. It was very hard, I was limping by the end of the journey, but it was so worth it. I’m going to try to go again before I come back to Portland!

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You can see the culture of the Black Forest is very different from Mannheim. Being able to get out of the city and just be in nature was very soothing. The clean air, the rich history, and the beautiful scenery was a great change of pace. It may seem like just a pretty place, but I hope you can see just how important this place has been to German culture for a very long time.

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Your turn!

• Do you guys like hiking? Where are your favorite spots to hike?
• Could you live in a small village that isn’t near a big city?
• Can you think of any major natural locations that are a big part of US history or culture?

 

Photo of the Week: Cathedral of our Ladies

Here is one of my favorite cathedrals I’ve visited. It’s is in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is built in the classic Gothic style. I love how ornate and detailed it is!

Week 4: A Short History of Germany

Liebe Studenten!

Today I’m going to try to sum up the German people’s incredibly long (2,000+ years!) history in not too big a space. There will be some gaps and of course some information left out. Germany has a fascinating history that I have really come to love over the course of my studies.

When you read, look for similarities to modern society. What do you notice? Do you notice any bigger trends in Germany’s history that resemble other historical periods?

The Germanic Tribes (800 BC – 300 AD)

Before the Germans were the clean, orderly people we know them as today, they had much….rougher pasts. They lived in an area the Romans called Germania, where Germany gets its name from! Like many ancient peoples, the Germans were uncivilized and extremely warlike. Similar to native Americans, they lived in different tribes led by a chieftain. Their religion was largely based off of the worship of nature, though they did practice polytheism (worship of many gods) like the ancient Greeks or Romans. Many of these tribes give names to modern places across Europe (like the Franks and France, or the Angles and England)! They were frequently enemies of the wealthy Roman Empire, and often raided cities and trade routes just like the Vikings. Rome almost always defeated the ancient Germans, but as time went on the ancient Germans learned from the civilized Romans, eventually trying to live like they did.

A statue of Arminius. He was a chief of a wealthy German tribe that was allied with the Romans. It was all a trick though, and Arminius and his Germans destroyed multiple Roman armies. This stopped the Romans from ever invading German territory again, and he is seen as a great hero to the German people.

The look of the ancient Germanic peoples. For men, it was traditional to have a knot in your hair after your first battle. Most of the time, they fought without armor and sometimes even without clothing!

Early Germanic Kingdoms (300 – 900)

The Germanic tribes eventually became educated and more advanced. Two major tribes invaded the aging Roman empire: the Goths and the Vandals. This is why we use those words today to describe bad things! They swooped down from Germania, with the Goths conquering Spain and Italy, and the Vandals conquering North Africa from the defenseless Romans. Imagine that, a German kingdom in North Africa! Despite once being barbarians, these Germanic kingdoms were interested in maintaining Roman art, culture, and architecture. Many people call this period the “Dark Age”, but that term can be a little inaccurate. For most people, life did not change much. The Germans did not destroy the Roman Empire though: it continued to live on in the east until 1453!

A map of the German kingdoms in Europe and Africa.

A painting depicting the Goths invading and destroying the city of Rome in 410 AD.

The Holy Roman Empire (900 – 1800)

Now we’re seeing something like a Germany we can recognize today. In the medieval times, the German people in central Europe formed an empire called the “Holy Roman Empire”. They wanted to build a German country in Europe modeled after the Roman Empire. It had an emperor who was elected by the princes of the various states. This is the time period of knights in shining armor, feudalism, chivalry, and jousting. Like the Roman Empire, it lasted a super long time: almost 1,000 years! Where I live, the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, was two different countries within the Holy Roman Empire. Baden was a country the size of Rhode Island, and Wurttemberg was a country a quarter the size of Oregon!

A map of the very confusing Holy Roman Empire. Each one of those different colors is its own mini-country within the empire, with its own laws and prince. Most princes hated each other and were always feuding for power. It was not a single country like France or England was, and this led to many problems.

A map of Mannheim from the Holy Roman Empire! This is from the early 1600s, when Mannheim was a small fort-town.

A picture of the fashion from the 1500s of the Holy Roman Empire. Looks much better than the clothing of today, right?!

The German Empire and World War One (1800 – 1918)

Eventually, all of these tiny countries of the Holy Roman Empire realized they would be much stronger and safer together. A very famous German and one of my big idols, Otto von Bismarck, united all the regions of Germany together for the first time in history into a state called the German Empire. It did not last long, however. In 1914, World War One broke out because of a dispute between Austria and Serbia. This tiny little conflict snowballed into the second biggest conflict in history, dragging Germany, France, Russia, Italy, and the UK into the war. The war was horrible, and like nothing else ever seen. Though it looked like Germany and Austria were going to win in the beginning, they were eventually defeated. In 1918, Germany signed a peace, ending their empire and the war.

A map of the World War One powers. Notice how much bigger Germany used to be before the war.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor (“Kaiser” in German) of Germany during World War One. He had a very handsome mustache too… 

A statue of Otto von Bismarck in Mannheim! He was an incredibly cunning politician and leader.

The Weimar Republic and World War Two

After World War One ended in 1918, the new German country (called the “Weimar Republic”) had many issues. It was extremely poor, and people were angry about their loss in the war and all the land they had to give away. Hard times led to desperate people. In 1932, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (known as the Nazi party today), was elected in great number to German parliament and was Germany’s largest political party. Within just a year, Hitler was made Chancellor (similar to president in the US). In 1933, he passed a law granting him emergency powers, essentially giving him ultimate power. With this came enormous restrictions on the freedoms of the German people. The Germans, now stronger than they were after World War One, invaded many countries in Europe. They conquered France, Poland, Denmark, and Norway. They believed that Germany and Germans should be the ultimate power in Europe, and that most other countries should be made to bow before them. People who did not adhere to the National Socialist ideology were jailed or killed. It was only when they invaded the Soviet Union that they failed and were eventually destroyed in 1945. This war is extremely fascinating and important, I encourage you to all research it. It has created the world we live in today.

A map of Europe before WW2

The completely destroyed German city of Dresden. There was rubble in the streets until the 1950s.

Communism and a Divided Germany

The Soviet Union was the largest force in destroying Germany in World War Two. Because of this, they demanded control of the eastern part of Germany when it was occupied. France, Great Britain, and the United States (later just the United States) occupied the western part of Germany. From 1949 until 1990, Germany was occupied by these countries. East Germany (called the German Democratic Republic) was a communist dictatorship ruled by the Soviet Union. Like during World War Two, freedoms were almost non-existent. There was no freedom of speech, there were restrictions on traveling, and students were forced to learn Marxism and oftentimes the Russian language. The government built walls to keep the population from escaping to the wealthier and freer West Germany. The biggest of these was the Berlin Wall. Many East Germans were shot and killed trying to escape.

In 1990 as the Soviet Union was collapsing, Germany reunified into the country it is today. If you visit eastern Germany today, you will see that it has still not recovered from the horrors of communism, and like other ex-Soviet countries is still relatively poor.

A map of East and West Germany, with Berlin divided as well.

The west side of the Berlin wall. The crosses are for those who were killed trying to escape from East Germany.

 

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Germany’s recent history is extremely sad. However, Germany still has a wonderful and extremely successful history. What is your favorite period of Germany’s history? What would you like to learn more about? If you had to live in any other time period in German history, when would you go to?

Tchao!
-GV

 

Photo of the Week: Schlossberg!

I took this photo while on a hike in the Black Forest near the town of Oberau. When I got to the top of the Schlossberg (Castle-mountain), I had a beautiful view of Breisgau (Brize-gow). Your can see the medieval center in the lower-left as well as the beautiful Gothic cathedral. You’ll be hearing more about the Black Forest soon (hint hint….)

Week 3: A Trip To Oktoberfest!

Servus Kinder!
(Greetings kids!)

This last weekend I had the lovely opportunity to go to Oktoberfest in Munich with some friends. Let me take you through my trip!

Origins

Oktoberfest is a yearly 3 week-long festival in Munich, in the southeast German state of Bavaria. It dates back to 1810, with the King Ludwig  of Bavaria creating a great festival in honor of his wedding to Princess Theresa. The festival, called Wiesen (vee-zen), included horse races, food booths, carnival games, plays, and other traditional German events.

The Wiesen in 1823

In 1823, the festival became open to the public. Local breweries built enormous tents to sell their beer to people visiting the festival. As you can probably tell, beer is a major part of German culture. Germany has a law called the “Reinheitsgebot” (Purity Law) which had regulated beer brewing since 1516! Because of this law, only beer made in the city of Munich is allowed to be sold during Oktoberfest. There are the “big six” breweries which now essentially run the Oktoberfest celebration: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Paulaner, and Hofbrau.

Here is a map of this year’s Oktoberfest! Beer tents are noted in blue, carnival rides and games in red, and food in yellow.

Oktoberfest in the US

Because of the amount of people of German heritage in the US, there are tons of Oktoberfest celebrations across the country. They may not be as authentic as festivals in Germany, but you will still find the standard German food, drink, games & rides, and music! There are huge ones in Nashville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. We even have one not too far away in Oregon!

This could be Germany! But actually, it’s in Mt. Angel, Oregon. I had no idea this even existed and it’s not even an hour from Portland. I will definitely be in attendance next year. I hope to see some of you there!

Traditional Clothing

Tradition is very important in Germany, and attire is no exception. At Oktoberfest, and at any other festival of this type across Germany, there is standard dress for men and women. Men wear Lederhosen (Later-hoezen), which just means “leather pants”. This includes embroidered leather shorts, decorated leather overalls, and usually a button-up shirt. Older men wearing Peter Pan-style hats is very common too. Ladies, on the other hand, wear Dirndl (Dirn-dull). This is a checkered or flowered dress, a frilly blouse, and a wrap-around skirt/apron. Many women take this time to do elaborate braids in their hair or to wear jewelry with the Bavarian (blue/white) or German (red/black/white or black/red/gold) colors. The clothing can be expensive, though. I bought my Lederhosen from a leatherworker in a small town near Mannheim, and it was about $200!

The traditional Dirndl and Lederhosen

A picture of my friends and I in our Lederhosen before heading out to the festival one day. Traditional shirt colors are white, checkered red, or blue.

Our Journey in Oktoberfest

The stayed with a wonderful old German woman in a tiny town (300 people!) called Rohrmoos (Roar-moose). She was like our mom for the weekend! She cooked us breakfast every morning and and made sure our Lederhosen were on straight.

A wonderful German breakfast spread. Meat, cheese, bread, nutella, crepes, juice, yogurt, and cereal. I was in heaven.

Another traditional Bavarian breakfast of Weisswurst (vice-vurst: white sausage) and a homemade pretzel. In Germany, always served with mustard.

After a nice breakfast, we would take a short train ride into Munich for the festival.

“Welcome to Oktoberfest”. As you can see, the event is ALWAYS crowded.

It is estimated that almost seven million people visited Oktoberfest this year! Many of these people are tourists. The German people are okay with lots of tourists at their events, but they expect the tourists to be extremely respectful. If you are rude, disrespectful towards German customs, or do not follow the rules of the festival (Germans love their rules), you will be asked to leave. I think it is very important to observe the customs of places you visit. It was a honor for my friends and I to be able to take part in such a historical event as guests of the German people.

My friends and I all speak German, so it was easy to converse with the Germans celebrating there. That was my favorite part of the celebration: being able to talk with the locals and feel welcomed as if we were locals ourselves.

The Tents

The Paulaner tent

The Hofbrau tent

The Spaten tent

Here are some of the tents you can visit. There are no reservations, so if you aren’t first in line you can wait up to two or three hours to get in. And that isn’t even for a table! Once you’re inside, you have to keep a close eye on who is close to leaving their table and try to beat other people to it once they leave. My friends and I waited hours every day just to be able to sit down. It is still fun while waiting though!

In the center of every tent, there is always a band playing German music. While waiting for a table, you usually listen to the music, order food/drink, and talk with other people. It is very common for complete groups of strangers to come up to your group just to chat! People are all very nice, everyone is just trying to have fun! 

Remember “Schweinshaxe” from the food post? It is the main food of Oktoberfest, and you can find the crispy roasted pork dish in rolls in just about every tent. Mmmm…

These don’t even look like tents, they just look like buildings! Here is the inside of the Augustiner tent. Believe it or not, this is the smallest tent at Oktoberfest: it seats 7,500.

The inside of the Hacker-Pschorr tent. I love the beautiful blue and white decoration of the roof here, it also doubles as Bavaria’s colors.

The inside of the Lowenbrau tent. The slogan reads “Lowenbrau. A beer like Bavaria”. This was definitely my favorite tent as it wasn’t as crowded as the others. 

Beer may be a big part of Oktoberfest, but Oktoberfest isn’t all about beer. Families come everyday with their children to take part in the food, the rides, the games, the culture, and a piece of German history. Never before have I met so many nice people in one place. I will definitely go again and I hope you will all be able to visit one day.

What do you all think? Would you want to visit a cultural festival, or is it a bit too crowded for your liking? Have you been to anything like this in the US?

“Prost” (cheers) from Oktoberfest! Until next time!

-GV

Photo of the Week: Amsterdam, Netherlands!

This last week I went to the beautiful city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, northwest of Germany. The city is full of tiny little streets, narrow canals, and thousands and thousands of people biking daily. I hope you all get a chance to come here, it is definitely the cutest city I have been to.

Week Two: German Cuisine!

Sehr geehrte Studenten!
(My dear students)

What comes to mind when you think of German food? I’m serious, stop and think about it for a second before you keep reading.

If you’re like me, when it comes to European countries famous for their food culture, I usually think of Italy, France, or even Britain! French breads and pastries, Italian pastas and seafood, and British roasts all come to mind before German foods. However, since moving here I’ve learned just how amazing and diverse the foods of Germany can be. I’ll take you through some of the most important ones, as well as some of my personal favorites.

Let’s look at the map of Europe again to understand some reasons for Germany’s food styles. Because Germany is in such a central location, much of its cuisine is influenced by its neighbors. In the west, the cuisine shares many elements with France, especially when it comes to breads and wine. Eastern Germany has many elements of Slavic (eastern European) foods, like hearty soups and dumplings. Northern Germany (the only part of the country on the ocean) uses tons of fish and seafood, as well as fruits with meat as is very common in places like Denmark and Norway. Lastly, the south. The south is very different, as its southern neighbors (Switzerland and Austria) are Germanic countries. The south of Germany is the heart of Germany’s most uniquely authentic and famous foods.

With that in mind, I’ll take you through some of the most important aspects of German cuisine.

Frühstück – Breakfast
(Froo-stook)

The most important meal of the day! Well, not in Germany. In Germany, breakfast is a very light meal. Nowadays with our fast-paced lives during the week, many people will have granola bars, cereal, and stuff like that on their way to work/school. However, families will typically have a traditional breakfast together on the weekends.

A traditional German breakfast includes bread, butter/jam, cheese, and cold meats. Usually coffee and juice are the drinks of choice.

Mittagessen – Lunch
(Mit-tog-essen)

Germans are very health conscious, and lunch is also light. It is usually just a snack from a bakery or cafe with coffee.

Abendessen – Dinner
(Ah-bend-essen)

Now for the fun stuff. Dinner is the main meal of the day, and usually the only warm meal of the day. I’ll take you through some of my favorite traditional dishes from my region.

Schnitzel is probably the most famous German dish. It is a cut of pork pounded very thin and fried. It is always served with a lemon and usually with french fries (Pommes in German). Thursdays at a local restaurant is Schnitzeltag (Schnitzel day) where it is half price. My friends and I have made Schnitzeltag a weekly trip!

Käsespätzle (Kay-zuh-spet-sluh) is like a German mac & cheese. It’s egg dumplings mixed with cheese, completed with crispy onions on top.

Wurst (vurst) is sausage in German. The Germans love their sausages. I cannot state this enough. There are hundreds of types, with each city often having their own special variety. Mannheim’s type is called Feuerwurst (foyer-vurst, meaning fire sausage) and is very spicy. German sausages are often eaten with potatoes and sauerkraut, which is fermented cabbage.

Schweinshaxe (shvines-hacksuh) is roasted pork knuckle, which is very common in the south of Germany. Germans can’t get enough pork, and will always find new ways to eat it, it seems!

Bäckereien – Bakeries
(Baker-eye-in)

Germans love their bakeries and baked goods. There are bakeries on every block in Germany, and walking by in the mornings you can smell all of the fresh-baked treats. Here are some things you will see in every German bakery!

Brezeln (Bretz-uln). Germany’s greatest gift to the world. Germans don’t do the small, hard snack pretzels like we have in the US. Here, pretzels are very soft and usually about the size of your head. They’re often split in half and buttered like a piece of bread too. In fact, and I’m writing this I am in the process of eating a pretzel with coffee!

Nusskringel (Noose-kring-gul). These are like round croissants stuffed with almonds and marzipan (a sweet nut butter). Sometimes there’s powdered sugar on top. I don’t have a big sweet tooth, but there’s are too good.

Bienenstich (Bee-nen-stick). It means “bee sting” in German because of all the honey it takes to make it. Sweet bread, cream, and honey almonds on top. I actually haven’t had this one yet, but it does look tasty.

Zwiebelkuchen (Zveye-bell-kooshen). This is a German pie baked with cheese, speck (German bacon), onions, and cream. Many cafes will sell slices of these to be eaten for lunch. 

What do you think of German foods and baked goods? Which of these would you like to try the most? What common themes do you notice in German cuisine? How is German cuisine different from American? A lot of these things can be easily made at home, so if anyone is brave I would love to see someone attempt one of these!

I have good news regarding our final celebration in January! My girlfriend is a wonderful cook and baker, and she loves German cooking. Please tell me what kind of dishes you guys would like to try, and I can ask her very nicely to make us some German goodies for our party. We’ll definitely have pretzels, but if you guys are interested in others things, let me know!

Tschüss! Bis Freitag!
(Bye! ‘Til Friday!)

-GV

 

 

Photos of the Week: Strasbourg, France!

Hello students! Or should I say….bonjour!

This last week I took a short trip over to Strasbourg, France. A large city right next to the German border. The region the city is located in is called “Alsace”, which is an area that has gone back and forth between French and German control over the centuries. Because of this, it has a beautiful mixture of both cultures. However, very few people speak German there anymore. When I was your age, I spent middle school learning French…but unfortunately forgot all of it due to having nobody to speak it with. I tried to get by with my tiny bit of French knowledge, but some people spoke English too. Here are my top five pictures from my trip to Strasbourg!

What do you guys think? Would you want to live in an old city like Strasbourg, or would you prefer something a lot more modern like Portland?

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, or in English, Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg. It is built in the Gothic style of architecture, and is just as beautiful inside as it is to look at. Just look at the detail of the carvings on the sides! For such an enormous and beautiful cathedral, it wasn’t too crowded either, which was nice. The inside is pitch black, except for any light coming in through the stained glass windows or from candles. They make you be completely silent when walking around the inside of the church. Yes – they will actually go over to you and hush you if you’re talking!

A beautiful and very typical street in Strasbourg. One of my favorite things about all these old cities in Europe are these narrow streets lined with signs and greenery. The two flags hanging (Steinseltz and Gambsheim) are villages outside of Strasbourg. In German, Steinseltz roughly means “Stone Town” and Gambsheim means “Home of Gamb”. This shows just how recently this region was ruled by Germany!

Strasbourg is built on many canals. These canals provided access to water in Medieval times as well as a good defense for the city. If an enemy army was marching on the city, they could open the water-gates and flood the area around the city, making it impossible to be attacked. I was standing on the outer walls of the city here. You can see the guard tower front and center in the picture. Imagine all of the thousands people who spent hours in that tower looking out for incoming armies over the centuries!

This is the Rhine river, which has historically been the border between France and Germany. One night, I walked across a bridge from French side of the river to the German side for dinner one night. It’s so cool being able to literally walk to another country in a matter of minutes!

Place de la République – Place of the Republic. A beautiful public garden in front of a palace dedicated to the French republic. Though some rain was coming in, I was able to enjoy a baguette and some French cheese here while waiting for my train back home. As much as I love all the things one can do in the cities, getting out to these more quiet and less crowded areas are my favorite parts of travelling.