Roll out the barrel, it’s time to party! Germany’s biggest party, the Oktoberfest, began this weekend in the Bavarian capital of Munich. What a party! And, it’s just getting started. European Focus’ latest guests arrived this morning and within a couple of hours, one of the party was standing on Maximillianstrasse watching the huge and […]
Berchtesgaden – "The World Stops Here"
My current guest said this at breakfast this morning and I thought it was a statement that really sums up how all of our clients feel when they stay a few nights at the Zechmeisterlehen Hotel in beautiful Berchtesgadener Land. The photo shows Elizabeth Koenig from Minneapolis taking in the view from the private balcony […]
Orange Day in Eisenach
A scene captured during the weekly Saturday market in Eisenach, Germany.
Dresden's Frauenkirche Rises from the Ashes
Interior of the Frauenkirche, rededicated in October, 2005 The Frauenkirche is once again part of the magnificent skyline of Germany’s most impressive baroque city. Once known as the “Paris on the Elbe” because of its incredible array of mansions, churches and public buildings, the city was mercilessly bombed by American and English air forces in […]
Day of Discovery in Thuringia
Elizabeth Koenig outside a marvelous farm entrance in her ancestral village of Netra, Hessen, Germany Traveling from September 10 to 20 with my client Elizabeth Koenig from Minneapolis and today we had quite a day, starting with a visit to the Stadtarchiv in Eisenach, where a very helpful archivist helped with a mystery. On to […]
Postcard from the Austrian Alps
The Hastrich Family enjoys their scenic drive from Schwangau, Germany across the Austrian Alps to Berchtesgaden in August. Check out the low clouds. August was the month without a summer in Germany. Except for a few days, it was mostly in the 70s. Cool weather fans, head to Germany in August!
Postcard from Bacharach
One of our favorite spots to bring our guests is the high vantage point over the storybook village of Bacharach on the Rhein River of Germany. Here are two of our recent guests, Bob and Mary Tholkes from the Minneapolis area.
Who Really Invented the Telephone?
Bet you said “Alexander Graham Bell,” but you would be only partly correct. In the small provincial town of Gelnhausen, not far from Frankfurt am Main, Germany there is a statue in the market place dedicated to the “Founder of the Telephone,” and his name is not Bell. It is Johann Philipp Reis, and he […]