I took three semesters of German in college but was never sure I would ever get a chance to use it. I expected a trip to Switzerland to be more likely, but luckily we were able to stay in Henry's cousin's apartment in Wiesbaden and a hotel in Munich thanks to Bill. I would have to say the entire country borders on being as friendly as Canada and just as clean. We went all up and down the Rhine and saw a good variety of sites (unlike when I was in France and stuck to mostly museums).

It's hard to pick a favorite city. I loved the internationality of Frankfurt. Even just the busiest train station and airport in all of mainland Europe were interesting sights. Bonn was much smaller than I had imagined; I can't believe it was once the capital of West Germany. One of my few regrets is that we didn't get a chance to see the Beethovenhaus. Munich may have the best of everything, including the cutest girl we met.

In a strange recurrence from my trip to Thailand, the what-was-then hilarious Currywurst turned out to be an actual German dish! And to the surprise of no one, much better in Germany when enjoyed with real pommes and three bottle-sized mug we all took home from the Biergarten.