Germany

Oktoberfest with Vonnett (my friend since fourth grade) and her husband Kevin (my friend since college) is one of my favorite ways to travel to Germany while staying in California. We’ve danced the chicken dance, shopped the German souvenirs, and eaten sausages, sauerkraut, and strudel in Big Bear and in El Cajon. The Oktoberfest in El Cajon, at the German American Societies of San Diego clubhouse, even had vegan sausages available, although the server was horrified when I requested them.

In 2019, I counted eleven Oktoberfest options in various cities around California. I’m hoping to make it eventually to the one at Turn Verein in Sacramento, a German club established in 1854. Apparently, 22 percent of California’s population is of German descent. I know that includes Vonnett. I’m not sure if it includes me from my German great-great-grandparents (I think that makes me 1/8th German).

It’s not hard to find German restaurants, delis, bakeries, and beer gardens all over California. In my local area, I like Gazzolo's in San Bernardino and George’s Market in Calimesa. Gazzolo’s makes their popular sausages onsite, and the bread and strudel come from a German bakery in Orange County. After my sandwich and red cabbage, I took a whole gigantic strudel home to Allan. It was eaten by the next day; it was so good! George's Market is super cute and clean, with a good variety in the store and an outdoor patio for eating what you pick up in the deli. Here are some German recipes and I’m getting hungry just paging through them! https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/german-recipes/

My first introduction to a German heroine came when I learned to read in first grade and repeatedly read the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. Tib, with a big German family in Milwaukee, is introduced in the second book and continues through the rest of the series. These books stick with me to this day and inspired my trip to Milwaukee in 2019 with Kaitlin and Andrea. I don’t know a school library or public library that doesn’t have the series.

Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and Strauss are only a few of the composers of German music. Many of their works can be found on YouTube, but I searched awhile to find music uninterrupted with ads.

· Bach to the Future on Amazon Prime explains elements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Third Movement.

· Bach: Quodlibet, Canons, Songs, Chorales & Keyboard Pieces on Hoopla allows you to listen to quite a bit of music straight through. In fact, Hoopla has just about every German composer you can imagine, but you need to sign up to access it through your library: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12746044

· Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was played on NBC in 1948. Skip to the three minute mark if you want to get straight to the music and skip over an odd clip of Toscanini yelling at his musicians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNPzx-GLSKA

· Works by Robert Schumann are gathered in an Amazon Prime video named Piano concerto in A minor. The concert also includes Kinderszenen, Op. 15; Carnaval, Op. 9; and Symphony #4 in D minor, Op. 120.

· An NPR page titled “The Life And Music Of Robert Schumann” also has links to some of his pieces: https://www.npr.org/2011/07/18/127038609/the-life-and-music-of-robert-schumann

· You might recognize the first lines of Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 by Richard Strauss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4d88IgvhK4

Besides bright music, Germany has its share of great stories, some of them dark. They include:

· Grimm’s Fairy Tales: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2591

· Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14591/14591-h/14591-h.htm

· All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (this is available at just about every school library)

· The Reader, both the novel by Bernhard Schlink and the film for which Kate Winslet won an Oscar, faces perhaps the darkest German story and responds with humanity. I watched the film on DVD from the San Bernardino County Library.

· In contrast to the previous dark stories, Why We Took the Car by Wolfgang Herrndorf is current, funny, and illustrates the work Germany does to acknowledge their past and embrace their diversity. I borrowed it from the San Bernardino County Library.

Besides those great stories, and on the light and fun side of Germany, check out:

· The cute little towns, like in this Flying Guide to Bremen: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-16-states-bremen/a-45215210?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-rdf

· The good humor of the people. I love the hostess in Nailed it! Germany on Netflix and think it is even funnier than the American version.

It’s not a surprise that TheCrazyTourist has more than 250 galleries on Germany. I chose the gallery on the best castles at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-castles-in-germany/#more-61672

How much longer until we can plan travel to Germany using our local travel advisor? I don't know but I'll still give a shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive. May we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Germany and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Bharat Patil on Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/QICQFkZp0Aw