Cars. Efficiency. Leather shorts. Germany is known around the globe for excelling at a variety of things. Germans themselves are known as friendly and welcoming people, even if everyone thinks we have a nonexistent sense of humor.
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The country also boasts two millennia of history that, for good and bad, shaped the world as we know it today. But there’s much more to this large country sitting in the middle of Europe than stereotypes and war jokes.
Germans drink, breathe, eat and sleep beer. OK, mainly we just drink the beer. There are more than 1,300 breweries and 5,000 different brew brands helping us drink more beer per person than any other European nation, apart from the Czech Republic. And, yes, we know the United States now has a ton of new craft breweries. We don’t care.
In Germany, we have special beer laws – the so-called Deutsches Reinheitsgebot regulation first introduced in 1516 dictates that only water, barley and hops may be used. AND we have a ton of new craft breweries.
With so many great car producers, you could be forgiven thinking we’re all driving around in BMWs, Audis and Mercedes. But while the rest of the world is drooling over our premium autos – or in the case of Volkswagen owners, scratching heads at emission levels – we’re usually taking the train.
Germany’s excellent rail network is mostly still state-owned, with Deutsche Bahn, or DB, operating the majority of trains on both passenger and freight routes.
About seven million relatively happy passengers and 1,138,000 tons of freight daily make 26,000 train trips on its 33,000-kilometer network.
Despite all that traffic, German trains are generally on time – or at least within five minutes of schedule. There are high-speed ICE trains linking major towns and cities at up to 300 kph. You can try doing that in a BMW – some of our autobahns have no official speed limit – but you’ll be taking the train home when the engine gives up.
When Germans aren’t obsessing about beer, they’re obsessing about water. Not to drink, but to get out on, sailing, surfing, waterskiing, swimming, kayaking and canoeing and windsurfing – in any weather. And no wonder.
The country has more than 12,200 scenic lakes, most of which are accessible for any activity throughout the year. Some of the best Alpine scenery can be seen from the shores of Bavarian lakes like the Konigssee or Tegernsee.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg are also crammed with lakes – there’s even a hiking trail connecting all 66 lakes in Brandenburg.
A European ranking published in 2013 showed that Germany has one of the highest numbers of “excellent” lakes and rivers for swimming. If all that exercise builds up a thirst for beer, better still.