Germany Blog

Stories, tips, and reflections about life, travel, and culture in Germany.

  • Is There A German Halloween? Not In October!

    Filed in ,

    Many people who travel Germany in late October have remarked to me that German people don’t seem to be very into Halloween. This is no surprise. Despite the best efforts of the marketing people to turn Halloween into a global event, it isn’t one of the traditional German holidays.

    Instead, on October 31st, some parts of Germany will be celebrating Reformation Day, but otherwise it’s a day like any other. The bigger day in Germany isn’t “All Hallow’s Eve” but rather November 1st, All Saints Day, Allerheiligen. It’s a public holiday in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland.

    And yet . . . you do see Halloween things in the shops around the end of October. There are a few witches hats, monster masks, and orange and black products for sale. Some areas with a lot of expats will organize trick or treating door to door for children, but this isn’t a widespread custom.

    A better plan to get the “Halloween Spirit” would be to take your family to one of the Pumpkin Festivals. These are more about celebrating the harvest and having a party than real Halloween, but they do include pumpkin carving contests, fun rides, and costume competitions.

    Some of the biggest are in Dormagen, which has its own Pumpkin Island, and in amusement parks such as Belantis outside Leipzig, which incorporates a Halloween theme and offers discounts for children in costume, and the Europa-Park in Rust near Freiburg, which got an entire week of Halloween stuff going on.

    This is not to imply that Germany is completely without a Halloween-like tradition, though. The Celtic people who are responsible for most of the Halloween legends lived in many places in Germany, leaving behind their stories of witches and ghouls.

    The difference for us Germans is that we choose to acknowledge and celebrate those legends in April, not October. Known as Walpurgis Night, this “German Halloween” has bonfires, costume parties, and witch hats galore.

    Thus, if you don’t feel like you’ve gotten the Halloween you wanted in Germany in October, well, you will just have to come back and visit again in the spring! ;-)

    —Marcus

  • Visions Of Germany In Literature: John Le Carré

    Filed in

    For many visitors to Germany, their first pictures of the country come to them through books and stories.

    Even when you decide to live in Germany, you get influenced by the way the country looks in books. You may be moved to visit a new town, see a particular structure, or avoid a certain area all thanks to the words of a single writer.

    For Germany, one writer has had a very profound effect on how the international community has viewed the country not just physically, but mentally. John Le Carré, a British author specializing in espionage books and suspense thrillers, set a significant number of his books in Germany. As best sellers, his books were the first experience of “real” German life that many people had, and the later movie adaptions have furthered his influence on the popular mind.

    This makes it a pity that so many of his books were so very dark.

    Although he has been honored with many awards and is critically regarded as having created a philosophically significant alternative to the glamorized James Bond world of the spy genre, his themes are not uplifting. In most cases, everything is morally clouded, and an aura of sadness, gloom, and hypocrisy hangs over his characters.

    This gloom bleeds over into his descriptions of Germany. Its weather is cloudy, cold, and foggy, except for when it actively rains or snows. Buildings are drab when they are not ugly, and people are indifferent when they are not antagonistic.

    Nothing is easy, nothing is fun, and the best you can hope for is to be left alone and die quietly in the distant future.

    Although interesting, it’s quite depressing, really, and nothing like the real Germany. John Le Carré needed to create a certain mood for his books, and he didn’t need it to showcase all of the vibrancy and color of true German life. So he painted a very careful picture of the country, not realizing that later tour operators would put his checkpoints, government offices, and shoot-out sites into movies and tours.

    The best antidote for the image in his work is to actually come to Germany. Hike the green hills, enjoy the sunshine, and talk with the people. Experience for yourself the sharp difference between fiction and reality! ;-)

    —Marcus

  • Fall Wines In Germany — Step Up For The Spätlese

    Filed in

    Spätlese wines are yet another of German’s happy accidents.

    The vintage as a class was born in 1775 at the famous Schloss Johannisberg winery, when the harvest was unfortunately delayed by about two weeks — legend has it the field master had been kidnapped, and they couldn’t start until his release. The grapes were harvested reluctantly, and no one thought the wine would amount to much.

    With low expectations, the first wine was tasted… and now they deliberately pick the grapes late!

    Spätlese, which simply means “late harvest,” was such an instant hit that just three years later it was being handed out to visiting nobles and royalty as a gift. Thomas Jefferson raved so much about his 1778 bottles that the wine became the new American must-have vintage.

    Spätlese, my personal favorite of all German wines, has several specific characteristics that make it unique and pleasant to drink. Since the grapes are fully ripened when they are picked, they give a fuller body and more intense flavor than other German wines like Riesling or Kabinett. The wine is also known for its long finish and pleasant aroma.

    Available as semi-sweet, Spätlese wines are forbidden by law from being artificially sweetened. The quality of the vintage depends very much on the soil and the weather of each season. 2007 and 2008 were very good years, and the early tests on the 2009 grapes has vintners very excited about the potential of this year’s harvest.

    You should be excited, too. Spätlese wines are excellent food pairings, especially with seafood dishes and spicy dishes. The complexity of the flavors with the long finish of the wine really enriches a meal.

    Spätlese wines are meant to be enjoyed, rather than stored away for decades. You age a Spätlese for 3 -10 years, but they do peak at a relatively young age. Therefore, why wait to open a bottle? :-)

    If you’d like recommendations, Terry Theise, one of the wine worlds leading sommelier’s, gave the 2008 Müller-Catoir Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese (~$60 USD) a near perfect score. Other German wine houses making good quality Spätlese include Dönnhoff, Meulenhof Erdener, and Leitz Rüdesheimer.

    —Marcus

  • Have You Taken A Swim In Berlin’s Bathtub?

    Filed in ,

    With the summer heat still lingering, it’s the perfect time to go for a swim. And what better place to go than Berlin’s Bathtub?

    Of course, Berlin’s Bathtub isn’t actually in Berlin, so don’t go looking for it there. To see this wonder, you need to head north for the day. Preferably for the weekend, or even a week!

    Berlin’s Bathtub is the colloquial name for the island resort town of Usedom. It nestles on the border between Germany and Poland, with crisp white sands stretching out into the Baltic Sea.

    When you arrive, you will naturally notice the sands. There are 42 km (30 miles) of white sand beaches, so it’s a little hard not to see them. And yet… what’s that sound? When the wind comes in off the ocean, the fine white sand rubs together in its own symphony.

    People hearing these singing sands have likened the sound to an orchestra of tiny natural violins. It’s beautiful, but hard to describe. You’ll just have to go and see it for yourself, and the sands will be grateful to have you back.

    The sands have been getting a bit ignored over the last few decades. The area has been settled since Neolithic times, and the royal families of Poland, Russia, and Prussia used to come here for retreats. Yet Sylt Island nearby was the place turned into a recreational mecca.

    The end result for you is that Usedom’s villas, spas, and royal villages have become a special insider’s secret. Beautiful and relatively affordable, the sand and beach attractions are crowded but not to the extent one might think. In shoulder seasons, you can get especially good deals on hotels and beachfront apartment rentals.

    Listening to the sands and soaking up the sun is but one way to pass the time here. There are all kinds of water sports on offer, as well as a booming spa culture in Amber and Imperial flavors.

    However, if you just want to appreciate the view and relax, there is an 8 km (5 miles) promenade along the beach that is perfect for a morning or evening stroll to watch the sun over the ocean.

    —Marcus

  • Serve The Right Sausage At Your Own Oktoberfest Party

    Filed in ,

    All over the world, people are really getting into the German spirit this month. I mean, with Oktorberfest on, the real Germans, part Germans, and wish-they-were Germans are really getting into German culture. Yet you can tell those who know what they are doing from those who don’t just by looking at the food.

    You see, while Oktoberfest is a beer festival at heart, the soul of the event is the food. After all, you can’t very well enjoy fine German beers for hours without a little something to go along with it. So “traditional” food is brought out — sauerkraut, preztels, and sausage.

    The mistake is in thinking that any sausage will do for Oktoberfest. Currywurst, bratwurst, kielbasa…

    Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

    To be truly authentic, you have to serve weisswurst.

    Weißwurst is one of those delicious accidents. In 1857, Munich butcher Sepp Moser was out of his usual sausage making supplies. Forced to improvise, he invented the distinctive boiled veal sausage with the pig skin shell.

    Now, more than 75 million weisswursts are made each year, and Munich butchers take the quality of their product very seriously. A good weisswurst should be white, like snow (OK, almost…), and you should be able to see small flecks of green seasoning through the casing. Faded gray sausages are imitations, and usually poor quality.

    You can get good weisswurst from quality butchers all over the world, or in specialty import shops. Truly authentic sausages have a special seal indicating that they were made in Munich.

    To further impress your guests, be sure to serve them correctly. Weisswursts are served in pairs. They are traditionally accompanied by sweet (!) mustard with puffy pretzels.

    The taste combination is one that really invokes the spirit of true Oktoberfest. Once the weisswursts are ready, all that you need is some good beer to go with it. Purists will insist on weissbeer, but as long as you are serving the right food to go with it, I’ll toast you with any one of Germany’s excellent Oktoberfest brews! ;-)

    —Marcus