Last night Christof and I poured over a map of Swizerland, trying to figure out the best places to go with my sister Mary and her family when they come to Europe this August. Switzerland is their choice, but are we more than happy to visit that lovely country once again. While discussing details of the trip, we also looked at the planning of our other upcoming travels, and I was amazed by how much we will be on the road and in the air this year.
Why I was surprised, I am not sure, as we enjoy traveling and do a fair amount annually, but even more relevant is the fact that here in Germany I swear it is a national pasttime to plan, book and take vacations. It seems like everybody -- and I mean everybody! -- wants to get away from it all, and as Germans have a very liberal amount of vacation time (especially as compared to Americans), the travel business is a booming one. My first years here I found it almost an obsession how people were always discussing where they were going on their next vacation. Germans not only travel tirelessly, they are also always talking about it: where they are thinking of going this year, how expensive certain areas have become, and how desperately they need to to get away among other topics. Slowly I realized that at least one of the contributing factors for the mass exodus (and the accompanying chatter) was the simple fact that people were hungry for the sun, as Germany is not known for its super weather. Even I found myself longing for sunshine in the summer. Having grown up in Virginia, I really missed those hot sunny days and warm summer nights, and my own thoughts turned to southern Europe. The weather in Germany gets a bad rap though, as sometimes we do have a beautiful spring, or summer or fall (or any combination thereof) -- you just can't count on it.
Plus admittedly countries are just smaller and closer together in Europe, so that we can go to all kinds of cool places without driving for days or taking super long flights. Last fall, Chris and I were in Paris for a long weekend, as it is less than 4 hours by train. In the summer we had hopped up to Holland with friends, a relatively spontaneous trip, but not a problem as it is within easy driving distance. The year before that, we stopped near Geneva, Switerland to visit a very dear friend of mine on our way down to the Provence area of France, arriving just in time to see the lavender in full bloom. Quite lovely Earlier years saw us in Tuscany (Italy), Athens and the Cyclades in Greece, and Lanzarote, where Christof's mother has taken up residence (OK, this is a 4 hour flight, but only one hour time difference). The super convenient thing about all these countries is that they share our currency. Well, almost all. Switzerland still holds onto its Swiss francs, but even there you can often use euros in a pinch.
Even school trips routinely have foreign destinations. Sam will be going by train with his tenth grade class to London in June. Last year the same group met up with French students in the Alps to have a cultural exchange while getting in some quality skiing. Lukas also traveled with his high school English class to London (by bus and boat -- they were on the go for quite a little while!), and in a separate school trip visited Holland. As far as I can remember, Tim's school excursions were all within Germany, but visiting Munich and Berlin with his class were also wonderful trips.
That's the thing -- Germany itself has a mulititude of super destinations to offer, ranging from world-class cities to North and Baltic Sea islands, beautiful lakes and majestic mountains to picturesque little towns, but I think many people miss out on what is practically in their own backyard in their quest for more exotic locations. Luckily we frequently have visitors from the States and we enjoy showing them the jewels of our region, which are many. Mary's family intends to stay at our house for several days before we head to Switzerland, so maybe we can take a cruise down the Rhine River and explore some of the castles in the area.
Time to stop blogging and start planning. So many places to go and so little time!
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