After reviewing my photos, I realize how much we saw in such a short time. It was incredible. It was very interesting to see how Christianity "evolved" in Europe through the dark ages, to the reformation, and to modern times. Some of the older church buildings exhibited that in the combinations of art, relics, and artifacts present. I'm going to have to do some study on all of this to understand how the Italian (Roman) culture impacted and spread through Southern Germany. I'll also have to read about where all the money came from to build such huge churches and castles. We saw more castles in a two hour trip on the Rhine then I have in my life.
Finallty, here are some observations that are wholly my own. Other members of the group may have different opinions and should not take any blame if I am off-base.
Germany seems to be ahead of the U.S. in many ways. They seem to be further down the path to being "green." I heard comments about children being told early in school not to waste water. The parts of the country we visited, Westphalia and Bavaria, had many large wind turbines to generate electricity. There were acres of solar panels installed on the ground, and hundreds of panels on house and barn roofs. I'm talking about barns that were very old and leaning over like many Ohio barns, yet their roofs were covered with solar panels. Cars are small and mostly new, and I saw more people on bicycles in the cities than I've ever seen in the states.
Their infrastructure is in good shape. There weren't potholes and patches in the roads we traveled. You can drink the tap water, although most people seemed to prefer bottled water with different degrees of carbonation available. Mass transit in the form of trains and busses were abundant and efficient within the cities. Many were electrically powered from cables running overhead. They were fast and quiet, and didn't pour out diesel fumes. There were subways available in the larger cities, but we didn't ride on any of them.
Most people we talked to were interested in our political situation. One boy from a confirmation class we attended made it a point to ask each one of us individually if we support Donald Trump. They talked about how they are handling refugees, and compared their situation to that on our southern border, but I found it interesting that they asked questions about how we are taking care of Native Americans, who don't get much press coverage here.
I didn't see any obviously homeless people like you do in many large U.S. cities. Outside of the cities, there was farmland that looked very much like that in the rolling hills around Sugarcreek, Ohio. Much of the corn had already been harvested, but there were fields of root vegetables like turnips or beets that were still growing. There were some large herds of dairy cattle and a few horses throughout the area.
One surprise was the siding on the older houses. There are slate mines around the area that provided enough slate to entirely cover the sides and roofs of houses. There were many that were very ornate with the slate cut into different shapes and overlapping in attractive patterns.
Finally I must say that it seems that the Germans aren't as "casual" as many Americans. They seem to have protocols to follow and are quick to point out when someone steps out of line. The ones I saw dressed well, i.e. not in baggy pants or t-shirts. They seemed to be more fit and active than many of "us." If we want to make America greater, we should take a good look around and try to keep up with those countries that have a several hundred years head start on us. The world moves forward with or without us and it's never a good idea to get complacent.
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