Germany

Germany Returns Ancient Afghan Sculpture

And you think it’s bad when a friend forgets to return one of your books © Reuters.com A pre-Islamic sculpture traced back to the second century AD, was returned to its native Afghanistan this week. The sculpture was looted during the Afghan civil war in the late 1970s and eventually traced to Munich, Germany last [...]

German Prostitutes Taxed Via “Sex Meters”

Vintage parking meters © scottamus Last August, the city of Bonn started taxing the city’s prostitutes with street meters. Over the last six months, the city has reaped the benefits of the meters, collecting around $20,000 in taxes. A spokesman for the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, told The New York Times he expects other German [...]

Video of Planes Landing in Strong Crosswinds Goes Viral

Landing © ianmunroe Warning; if you are a nervous flyer, you probably shouldn’t click through on the link and watch this video. A video taken of airplanes landing (or attempting to land) at Dusseldorf International Airport with winds of 35 knots, and gusts of up to 55 knots is creating quite a stir online. The [...]

Village Builds Snow Church in Bavaria

Snow Church ©AFP/Getty Images Kids now-a-days… occupying Wall Street, toppling Middle Eastern governments. Back in the good-old-bavarian-days people in the village of Mitterfirmiansreut took a stand by building a church out of snow. That’s right, they constructed a church made entirely of snow to protest the fact that there was not a traditional church in [...]

Photo of the Moment: Autumn in Dresden, Germany

Berlin Restaurant Offers Caveman Food

Caveman © lord-jim Have a vegan friend who you really want to one-up in the food self-restriction game? Then head to Berlin and become part of the burgeoning “Paleolithic diet movement.” That’s right — you can only eat food that our cavemen ancestors had available. At first glance, Berlin’s Sauvage restaurant looks much like many [...]

8 Foreign Fast Food Chains You Should Know

Albaik ©toyohara When most people think of fast food the American chain McDonald’s is the first thing that comes to mind. And while McDonald’s chains seem to be popping up everywhere, there is a growing number of local homegrown fast food resturants that are challenging McDonald’s around the world. These local chains present travelers with [...]

Brit Falls Asleep Wedged Between High Speed Train Cars

Train © Kokonis A drunk British man had a lucky escape after he fell asleep wedged between two carriages of a 190 mph express train. He was only rescued when passengers at the station in Munich, Germany, spotted him five minutes before the train pulled out and alerted police. The British reveller had passed out [...]

Photo of the Moment: Open Coal Mine, Germany

Confessions of an Oktoberfest Waiter

Oktoberfest ©andrijbulba We are almost a week into Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany and MSNBC offers this interesting inside look at the festivities, from the perspective of the Oktoberfest waiter. Surprisingly, the author confesses that most servers actually really enjoy American tourists. Americans are easier to talk to. They’re not so complicated. If you tell them [...]

10 Things to Do in Munich Now (Besides Oktoberfest)

Munich has much more to offer than just a beer festival. Isabel Eva Bohrer shares 10 things to do in her hometown.

Wunderland Kalkar: Nuclear Power Plant Turned Amusement Park

Nuclear Plant © Paul J Everett Sorry kiddos this is no Disneyland. The Wunderland Kalkar Amusement Park and Convention Center in Kalkar, Germany is built on a former nuclear power plant site. Matador writes, “The SNR-300 site was sold in 1995 to a Dutch businessman after public outcry over Chernobyl and other high-profile nuclear catastrophes [...]

An Abandoned Cold War Listening Station Built on the Ruins of Nazi Berlin [Gallery]

Abandoned Spy Station, Germany © nate bolt Like massive golf balls, the tattered shells of radomes long since left to the ravages of nature litter the landscape. Once, men were stationed here whose duty it was to listen in on the conversations of those on the other side of the Iron Curtain, thereby gathering valuable [...]

Germany Introduces “Prostitute Meters”

Parking Meter © PeterJBellis Leave it to the Germans to make absolutely any endeavor, no matter how out of the ordinary, into a routine, organized, and bureaucratized task. Prostitutes in the German city of Bonn must carry a ticket purchased from a new parking meter-like machine while working the streets or face hefty fines from [...]

Lufthansa Flight Attendants Wear Traditional Bavarian Costumes for Oktoberfest

Lufthansa Jet © Andres Rueda In celebration of upcoming Oktoberfest, German air carrier Lufthansa will be dressing its air stewards and stewardesses in traditional Bavarian costume. The crew will don their garb on select international flights from September 13th until October 2nd. We’re betting the pre-flight safety demonstration is infinitely more interesting when performed by [...]

Merry-glow-round: German Theme Park Built in a Nuclear Reactor

© Caters News Agency [This] could be the world’s most bizarre theme park – built around an abandoned nuclear power station. Wunderland near Kalkar, Germany, cleverly combines a never-been-used multi-million-pound reactor with classic fair rides, including a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, carousel and log flume. A swing ride has even been fitted inside the old cooling [...]

German Man Spends Five Years Searching for Beer Bet Buddy

Pint of Beer © Tim Dobson Ever lost a bet to buy a round of beers and then never gotten around to actually seeing it through? Not this guy. A German has spent five years and thousands of pounds trying to pay a wager of a pint he owed a British man he met playing [...]

Check Out Berlin’s Currywurst Museum

Currywurst and Fries © toolmantim From drunk food to a city’s treasured dish, follow the rise of Berlin’s currywurst at a museum dedicated to the delicacy and its fans. The Deutsches Currywurst Museum explores the history and legend behind the unique German sausage. The museum has multiple interactive exhibits including spice sniffing stations and a [...]

Berlin Water Sommelier Helps Diners Pair H20

Water glass © blmurch In what is somehow not a practical joke to show just how far people will go to appear cultured, First Floor restaurant in Berlin now offers water sommelier Jerk Martin Riese (yes that’s his real aptonymous first name) to help patrons pair their wines with appropriate artisan water. From Der Spiegel: [...]

10 Cities with the Best Free Attractions

Pike Place Market Seattle, Washington © two gypsy hearts Broke ass budget backpackers can even afford these sites. From Seattle to Hong Kong, AOL Travel has a list of cities with attractions priced just right (free!).

Follow the Fairy Tale Road in Germany

Once Upon A Time Generations of children throughout Germany and the rest of Europe and America if not the world, will have read or heard the stories of Rapunzel, Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood to name a few. The landscapes and towns which provided the enchanting settings for these magical fables are real [...]

German Nudists Growing Fewer and Fatter

German Beer on a Beach © Richard Cawood Sure, Soviet communism had its downsides, but it was damn good at keeping Germans skinny, naked, and on the beach, which is something some nostalgic Germans are starting to miss. From MSNBC: The naked sunbathers who once crowded Germany’s Baltic beaches and city parks are becoming an [...]

Former Nazi Resort Rebuilt As Huge Youth Hostel

A gigantic Nazi seaside resort on Germany’s Baltic coast in the town of Prora has been turned — after decades of disuse and decay — into one of the country’s largest youth hostels. How’d ya like to be chief of public relations for this place? Full story via Reuters.

Photo of the Moment: The Quiet Barn Out Back, Bavaria

Witness ‘Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg’: World’s Largest Model Railway

The largest model railway in the world and one of the most successful permanent exhibitions in Northern Germany. Oh, Germany … you really do have it all! More via Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg.

Trabant Tourist “Tank” Ready to Roll Through Berlin

Cold war buffs will soon be able to roll through Berlin in a mini tank built from East Germany’s best known car — the Trabant. Painted camouflage green and decked out with a fake cannon on the roof, the Trabant tank is the latest attraction tapping into the German capital’s unique postwar history. Germany’s oddities [...]

Bizarre Culture: A Taste of Genuine German Entertainment

I love Germans. In particular, their unabashed fondness for strange entertainment. Case in point: What the bajeesus is going on here?

Bizarre Culture: Fun with Dog Poo in Germany

This bizarre, fifteen-second spot almost doesn’t even warrant comment: I can’t tell if the kid in the middle is having fun or scared out of his mind: And it is, unsurprisingly, from Germany. Odd, just odd.

Photo of the Moment: A Rather Curious Ass, Germany

Karma Introduces Itself to Pants-Dropping German Student

© Sbotig A twenty-something German student was removed from a train for riding without a ticket. He attempted to show his disdain for The Man by pulling down his trousers and sticking his bare cheeks against a window. And that’s when karma – to say nothing of natural selection – took its course. But for [...]

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