While Paul van Dyk (from Berlin) is not really producing any pure trance tracks anymore – his new releases could be seen as pop music in my view, his label Vandit Records improves by releasing more and more decent trance tracks. Newest example is “Who’s in charge” by Polish DJ Adam Kancerski.

Probably one of the best German trance releases in recent times is the Ferrin & Low Remix of “Deep Impact” by Discodyne.

Good examples that show that there might be coming much more good trance tracks from this country? I hope so.

Eisenach – Wartburg: In the hitlist of old castles in Germany, the Wartburg surely will take its place in the Top 3. Not only because this building is situated in a nice landscape but also because of its historical meaning. Martin Luther translated the new testament into German here, students demonstrated for a united german country at the Wartburgfest in the 19th century etc. etc.

Before arriving at the castle the visitor has some obstacles to overcome. When I came to the parking lot I first thought I am paying the entrance fee to the castle already since they demanded 4 euros just for my car to be parked here. What followed was a long and steep walk upstairs to the Wartburg. I would have thought, that, once we drove up on a narrow street including some serpentines the castle was in reach but that was wrong. The view of the building and the magnificent overview of the Thuringia landscape around it was worth all the climbing though.

Baumkronenpfad: Nationalpark Hainlich

My wife saw a documentary about this place a while ago. In a natural preserve, meaning a big forest not man made, a few hundred meter long walkway was created high up at the level of the treetops finishing at an observation deck in a tower. Again, we had to climb a lot of stairs. But the effort was worth it, this turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. If there was an ideal time to go to this place then it was the fall. Magnificent views of different colored leaves as far as the eye can see – spectacular.

Gotha: Originally not on our list of towns being visited in Thuringia money and gas was running out so on our way to Erfurt we stopped by here. Originally we were interested in the paintings section of a museum but the museum was already closed when we arrived. Gotha delivered a nice view of its historical center by, yes, climbing up again. The local castle was situated on a hill from where you were able to get this view.

Erfurt: The capitol of Thuringia presents some highlights. First of all it’s cathedral is one of the most impressive ones in Germany. It can be compared with other famous churches like the cathedral in Cologne or the one in Berlin. The bonus is that it is illuminated very nice at night and that you have a very good overview over downtown Erfurt once you, right, climbed up its big stairway nearby. Beside this the city has a lot of nicely restaurated old buildings.

Weimar: Once you come to this city you have the highest expectations. I think many tourists visiting Germany have a priority list of important german town, I bet Weimar is often mentioned there. Now, this might be justified because it is the city of Goethe and Schiller, it has the worldfamous library and so on and so on. But when we arrived there, the prior impression was that this city was pretty deserted – it wasn’t that late at night to be as empty as that – and that many of the important buildings where just not illuminated enough (almost the whole downtown area was extremly dark). A building like the Goethe house did not have a note saying that it actually is the Goethe house so we had to search around a long time until we found it. Overall it is certainly an interesting city but probably it is a good idea to visit it while it is still light outside.

Jena: Last stop on the Thuringia trip was Jena. Jena profits from its decision to have the big and important technical university right in the center of the city. Through this you get to see an architectural mix of modern and old historical buildings and even when it is late at night, there is a lot of young people walking around downtown. This fact created an interesting mixture of pubs and restaurants right in the center.

More pictures of the Thuringia trip can be looked at here.

So, what’s left? You can either watch tv entertainer Harald Schmidt who sometimes has very funny and sarcastic statements or watch one of the many repetitions of ancient Loriot tv shows. Truly of the best comedians Germany has. Sadly, he doesn’t produce new stuff anymore.

Almost the whole year through up to now we we freezing our lower backs off. The weather was constantly yucky and even late may or beginning of june there were some regions in Germany where it almost started to snow again. This was unacceptable for the World Cup so we ordered some good and warmer weather. And what can we say? It is being delivered punctually. You guys can leave your thick clothes at home. So, enjoy your stay here.

Since the election method was changed years ago and every citizen of the countries taking part can call up and vote the competition is basically about people voting for the neighbouring countries. So, every year the same thing happens: The baltic countries help each other, the scandinavian countries give each other the most points and so on.

Now, the problem is, hardly anybody likes Germany, not even it’s neigbouring countries. So, only a few or no points from Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands etc. Thats why it was not possible for Germany to get some good results during all the contests in the last years. So, in a way it does not matter, how good the german song is this time, it won’t win anyways.

Now, it might be correct that Germany’s powersystem is more advanced having the power lines underground in towns and cities and such power outages happen very seldom. But that they do happen shows a recent power outage caused by the onset of winter in the western parts of Germany. Hundred thousands of people were right away without power and not because of a hurricane but “just” because 50 centimers (about 19 inches) of snow that came down in a short amount of time. The weight of the snow caused big iron overland poles to crack.

And even worse – in this industrialized country it was not possible to repair things completely so far since the snow came down before the weekend. While many people have power again, others are waiting in this cold weather.

Halloween in the US:
Children, about 3 – 11 years old, are walking through the streets with their brothers and sisters, usually accompanied by their parents. They are dressed pretty inventive and ring at doors of neighbours whose houses are decorated in a nice “halloweeny” way. After saying their trick or treat slogan the neigbours give them lots of different sweets.

Halloween in Germany:
Already days before Halloween itself – preferably at the weekend before – teenagers hold big halloween parties where they drink a lot, as much as they anyways drink at any other party that they usually have at the weekends – the reasons do not really matter – just this time a few of them at least wear some halloween-makeup.
On halloween itself basically 14 – 20 year old people walk around carrying and drinking alcoholics, only a few of them are wearing the typical customs or makeup. The few younger children that are out too are intimidated by the older children or teenagers. The older ones ring at the doors, no slogan of course and if somebody does not open the door – which happens very often because many people don’t even know about Halloween or the traditions connected with that – a ballon filled with water lands in the mailbox or paintballs are thrown against the wall of the house.

Please, Germany, if you copy customs from different countries then copy them correctly.

Argument two: The sundays are days for the families to do things together – it’s less hectic then too when the shops are closed.
Well, if it is too hectic for you to go shopping then stay away from the malls and the shopping centers, it’s as simple as that.
And the big error about the family argument: Are we living in a two class society, where one part is allowed to have spare time and the other has to work? What about the nurses or bus drivers who have to work on sundays? They are not allowed to be together with their family?

So, if you really are for both of those arguments then be consequent, close all hospitals, public transportation has to be cancelled and close the shops in the gas stations and train stations because if people are not allowed to work, then all of use please.

Why is this post in the Berlin section?
Well, Berlin is special as we all know and special concerning opening times too. For instance whenever there is a festival, big trade fair or special event the shops are allowed to be open on Sunday afternoons. Sounds not logical to you guys from foreign countries? Well, what about this: Just a while ago the mall nearby had a sign up announcing that they will be open up on Sunday but because of that they needed to close earlier on the Saturday.

Anyways, it is stupid, but at least it helps open the shops a little bit. So, on these days the families that normally sit on their couch the whole day and watch TV are actually getting out and go shopping and the shops have record sales – something that actually helps our wrecked down economy.

I need to mention that there have been efforts of policitians to change this nonsense in this country but so far they were not successful.