Some Memories of Germany

I thought it might be of some interest to make note of a few things from the times I've been to Germany; the last unfortunately being in March 1995. So keep in mind, my experiences are dated, and they should not be taken for what is or what is not going on in Germany today. I traveled into the old East Germany well back in the mid 1980s (I went to Berlin by train), and on that occasion, I was in Germany for almost 5 weeks, which was the longest of my stays there.

I absolutely LOVE Frankfurt, Germany! It is really such a collection of people from all over the world, not just Germans. It is NOT what most Americans would think of as a typical German city. Something like 90% of Frankfurt was destroyed in World War II and essentially a new city has arisen since the end of the war. It has a very modern feel, especially in what we would call the downtown area, but there are still sections where you can experience the "old" city, where some neighborhoods survived the bombings, or where the Germans rebuilt homes and buildings with as many of the old blueprints as possible. From what I understand, my favorite restaurant, the "Dippegucker am Hauptbahnhof" (Hauptbahnhof=the main train station), located right across the street from the main train station, closed a few years ago. In Hessian dialect in the Frankfurt area, a "Dippe," is a pot, but a little further north of Frankfurt, it is called a "Dibbe."  "Gucker" is someone who "looks or peeks," so thus the "Dippegucker" is a "pot looker," or someone who peeks into a pot to see what's cooking. This restaurant served the best German draft beer that I've EVER had, "Hannen Alt," what Germans call an "Altbier;" that is, ale.* This is a kind of brown ale, not that thick, syrupy dark beer, akin to stout or porter, which many American think of as being typical of German beer (it is NOT really typical, by the way.) The foam clings to the glass clear to the bottom. Gee, I'm thirsty! I've found some American mircobrews that are close to this beer, but not really quite the same, and besides that, there are a couple of very good English brown ales.

The menu at the restaurant was a mixture of German, including Hessian, and international. To me, if you go to another country, you should want to sample the national and local foods, despite any "finickiness" you might have about food. That's all part of visiting another place. Germany is full of McDonalds, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts, etc. (by the way, they ALL serve beer and wine, as it is a way of life in Germany), but why go all that way to get a Big Mac, when you can get that just down the street from your house in America? When in Germany, you've got to try Sauerbraten, a marinated beef roast, and Schnitzel, typically a cutlet of pork or veal, often, but not always, breaded and fried, and served in a variety of ways, the most famous being Wiener Schnitzel, which is Viennese style. Vienna was the capital of the German Empire for centuries. Of course, you can't pass up the tremendous variety of sausages, including something dear to the hearts of many Americans, "Bratwurst!" Further, there is "Currywurst," which is a sausage smothered in ketchup, curry powder, and paprika, very common in Berlin, but in other parts of the country too (in some cases, Germans have now combined the topping ingredients into a sauce, which they just add to the sausage, instead of adding the ingredients separately). In the state of Hessen (Wiesbaden is the capital), apple wine is very popular, in fact, they are known for apple wine, or "Apfelwein," in standard German, but "Ebbelwei", or "Ebbelwoi," in Hessisch (Hessian), depending on where you are from. Americans would call this "hard cider."

Something very strange to Americans is common in German restaurants. On my first trip to Germany, and I believe on my first day there, I was in the "Dippegucker" restaurant at a small table. The place was packed. A guy came in and walked over to my table, where he proceeded to ask me (in German) if he could sit with me at my table. I was absolutely stunned, as that is just inconceivable for Americans. I really didn't know what to say, but I accepted. He sat down and of course found out that I was an American (I don't know about now, but back then all German school kids were required to take at least three years of English. This guy was not a school kid, but maybe in his early 20s). He was visiting Frankfurt from a town just a few miles from Hitler's old villa in Berchtesgarten, if you remember your history. This was in the 1980s, and for those of you old enough to remember, "homelessness" and "street people" were a common site in American cities, and news stories about the problem were also common. Well, it turned out that this guy had seen a story about Chicago on a German news segment. He said, "It is really a shame about Chicago." My first thoughts were, "Oh hell, what happened to Chicago?" The way he said it, so sad and concerned, I thought there must have been a major catastrophe. I asked him what he meant, and he said something like, "Oh, Chicago is really down and out now. Everybody has to live on the streets. It's really terrible!" Well, I chuckled a bit and explained to him that Chicago was a very wealthy city and that not everyone lived on the streets, by far. (I guess I could have said "except Chicago Cubs fans.") It just shows how powerful news is in our lives.

German cities and towns are full of small hotels, as well as the better known (and much more expensive) "brand name" hotels, like Sheraton, Hilton or Holiday Inn, or their own German "brand name" hotels, the names of which escape me at the moment. If you go in summer weather, air conditioning is NOT always common in the smaller hotels, or at least it wasn't, keeping in mind my dated experience, but when checking on a room, you should ask about air conditioning. You'll almost always find a small refrigerator stocked, with what else, BEER, Coke (back then, usually in small bottles!), maybe some apple juice, and some cold sausages. Again, I'm sure the fancier hotels have much more elaborate foods and beverages available in each room. Of course, these items are not free, and they can be quite expensive at times. Hotel rates almost always include breakfast, "Frühstück," which is what we usually refer to as "Continental breakfast," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Anyway, it varies from place to place, and again, I'm sure the big hotel chains offer much more, but the smaller hotels typically offer fresh baked rolls (often like what we call Kaiser rolls), some type of brown bread (rye), sliced cheeses, sliced cold cuts (Aufschnitt), maybe some cheese spread in small containers, jam, butter, and maybe honey. German breads are not usually like ours. They are substantial, that is, they are heavy, not the squishy sandwich loaves that we have, although Vienna bread is somewhat common, and most Americans are familiar with that. You'll also have pitchers of orange juice and apple juice, and milk, tea, and coffee on the table. It varies from place to place, but you might have soft-boiled eggs available, and I almost always saw breakfast cereal in the small boxes, although I never ate it. Some places serve you parts of the breakfast, while in others, you go to a large table or tables, where you select the items you want; that is, buffet style. And most places had fresh fruit available, typically apples, which is like one of the national staples.

If you think we have been paying high gasoline prices for the last few years, Germans have always had high fuel costs. Their cars tend to be small, and unlike many Americans, they are not tied to using them constantly. Public transportation in various forms is readily available, and Germans use it, pretty much no matter their social standing. Street cars, trains (both short distance and long distance), and buses are very common, efficient, and reasonably priced. Train stations are common for short distance trains, and you can buy a ticket without much hassle at all. There are like ATM-type machines (we have similar in Cleveland), where you can insert your money, and get a ticket for just about anywhere in a metro area. If I remember right, for long distance trains; that is, out of the immediate metro area, you do have to go to a ticket window. With "terrorism" a threat in Germany, too, some procedures may now have changed since my trips over there.

While this is a generalization, Germans in the south, including Austria, are much more similar to Americans in their demeanor. They are very friendly and gregarious, and what we would call "chummy." As you go above the middle of Germany, the further north you go, the people's characteristics do change. North Germans tend to be much more reserved and laid back. Sometimes, Americans have mistaken this as a dislike for Americans, but most times, it really isn't. They act this way with other Germans, too. If you go way up north, around Hamburg and Bremen, for instance, people seem to be downright cold, but again, it is just their nature in that part of the country. While Berlin is in the north, people there tend to be a whole different sort. They are more friendly, and even they think people in Hamburg are kind of "cold." I guess you could say, "a cold hamburger." (Okay, no nasty remarks!)

Well, I mentioned my trip from the old "West" Germany into "East" Germany in the mid 1980s. Actually, I was going to (West) Berlin. In case you were unaware of it, West Berlin was a city that was surrounded by the Communist East Germany. It was like an island, if you will. I went by train, leaving from Frankfurt and heading north, if I remember right, to Hamburg, where I spent a few days. The old border between east and west was not far from Hamburg. I got the train from Hamburg to the little town of Büchen, which was the crossing point into East Germany, and where East German armed guards (I'd call them soldiers) came on board and asked for passports and travel visas. (East Germany, in spite of belonging to the "Worker Paradise," desperately needed money, especially the then West German Mark, or even more so, American dollars, so they charged every passenger a special travel visa fee, just for the "right" to travel through East Germany. I don't remember the exchange rate, but it was only equivalent to a couple of dollars (I had West German Marks). Nothing about the "decadent West," when it came to western money. They could have taken lessons from some of our money grubbers, "Get the money! Get the money!") Anyway, the guards would ask you why you were traveling and how long you were going to stay. Guards in towers along the track had machine guns pointed at the train, and there were miles and miles of barbed wire strung along the track. The East Germans ran the barbed wire along the tracks like for a mile or so inside their territory, to prevent one of their own people from running and jumping on a train bound in the West German direction. Incredible!!! Americans who never experienced this kind of thing first hand can't even imagine. Watching it on the news just didn't do it.

Of course, Randy, never one to EVER pick a good time for ANYTHING, chose this time, when East-West tensions were heating up due to a scandal in the West German government, where some officials (called "moles") had passed on info to the East Germans. Both sides were showing extreme caution, and checking many things thoroughly, although with German travelers, more so than Americans. I was in Berlin for about a week, if I recall, and when I went back to Frankfurt, the route was different, going down near the Czech border, before heading west. There was an Ethiopian guy on the train in my compartment. Each compartment could hold 6 to 8 people, and there was a middle-aged German couple sitting opposite me, a German man sitting next to me (like maybe mid to late 20s, from near Stuttgart), and this Ethiopian man, probably in his 20s, sitting next to the German couple. When we got to the border, now to cross into West Germany, the West German armed guards came on board. They checked passports and whatever West German citizens carried back then (maybe they had passports, too.) Well, when they got to the Ethiopian, they asked him questions (he didn't speak German or English, but French). The young German guy next to me spoke pretty good French (from what I could tell), and they used him to communicate with the guy. Just a little history first, Ethiopia was in the Soviet orbit at that time. While he was Ethiopian by nationality, he had gone to school in Moscow, and had been issued a Soviet passport for his trip. As I mentioned earlier, there were heightened tensions between East and West Germany over espionage, and all of this combined to make life miserable for this young man. They made him open his luggage and they proceeded to examine EVERYTHING!!! I'm not joking here, they even examined his toothbrush! The poor man just felt humiliated, but that's what it was like back then. They were finally satisfied, and the train moved on, and I was glad to get back to Frankfurt, the "Dippegucker" restaurant, and a tall glass of Altbier. "PROST!" (Cheers!)

More in Part Two ...

* It is called "Alt," or "old," referring to the brewing style of old, which uses top-fermenting yeast.

 

I didn't have an actual photo of Altbier from my time in Germany, so I took this photo at home. Altbier and Wurst ... 

WORD HISTORY:
Dear-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it goes back to Old Germanic "diuraz," which "presumably" meant something like, "precious, valued, beloved." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "deore," which meant "precious, beloved, valuable, costly." This then became "dere" before the modern form. The noun form for a loved one developed from the adjective circa 1400. The adverbial form, "dearly," goes back to Old English "deorlice," and meant "preciously, worthily." The other Germanic languages have: German "teuer" (expensive, costly, but also beloved, dear, although this meaning is less common nowadays), Low German Saxon "düür" (expensive), West Frisian "djoer" (expensive, costly), Dutch "duur" (expensive, costly), Icelandic "dýr" (expensive), Danish "dyre" (expensive, costly), Norwegian "dyr(e)" (expensive) and Swedish "dyr(a)" (expensive). 

Germans and Apples

Because apples keep so well, fall and winter are good times to know about some dishes using apples. The Germans have a sort of love affair with the apple and I'd say their most popular fruit juice is apple juice. By German, I mean people of German background, not just the nationality German; so, people in Germany, Austria, about 2/3 of Switzerland, much of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, much of Alsace and a fair part of Lorraine, as well as a part of northern Italy.* Even if you're a "picky" eater, please don't turn your nose up at some of the combinations until you have at least tried them. I believe I've told this little story before, but it bears repeating. Back in the 1980s I was traveling on a train (common transportation in Germany, and Europe in general) between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, which are only about 20 miles apart. An American couple, likely in their 60s, was sitting across from me. Americans were frequently encountered in the area due to the large American military presence in what was then West Germany, but these folks were tourists. I started a conversation with them and found out they were from Seattle, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 5500 to 6000 miles from Germany. They were headed for Frankfurt and they wanted to know about places to eat, as this was their first trip to Germany. Since they would be getting off the train at the main train station in Frankfurt, I immediately recommended the "Dippegucker Restaurant am Hauptbahnhof," which simply means "the pot looker restaurant at the main train station." The lady then said she was afraid to try German food, as she might not like it, and that they would probably just go to McDonald's (McDonald's has many outlets in Germany, all of which sell beer and wine). So, she traveled about 6000 miles to eat a hamburger she could have gotten on any street corner in America? While it's been many years, I have to believe it took a great deal of self restraint on my part to keep from smacking her, kicking her in the shin, or calling her a "blöde Kuh," if not all three. ("Blöde Kuh" means stupid or silly cow, in German).
    
A pretty common German dish in many areas comes from Berlin and is simply "liver and onions," but the recipe includes sliced apples with the onions. For Germans, the liver is usually calves liver, but the substitution of beef or pork liver will not condemn you to prison, and while some Germans have told me the apples have to be green, like Granny Smiths, I've used Red Delicious for years and I have yet to turn into a pillar of salt, so use what you have and, by the way, I leave the skin on the apples. Here in America, you may see this dish on the menu of German restaurants as "Berlin Liver," or perhaps, "Berlin Style Liver."

Then there's "Himmel und Erde," or "Himmel un Ääd" in some Rhineland dialects, which means "Heaven and Earth." The dish is simply mashed potatoes and apples; that is, the (lightly cooked) apples are mashed in with the potatoes. The name idea is, the apples represent the "heaven or sky," as they come from a tree, and the "earth" is represented by the potatoes, which have to be dug out of the ground. There are variations on this dish, depending upon the area, and some Germans use pears instead of apples. In the south, in Bavaria and Austria, I've seen recipes simply calling it "Puree of Apples and Potatoes." Germans often serve it with blood sausage (Blutwurst), Bratwurst, or liverwurst (Leberwurst). To give it some texture, I often don't completely mash the apples up, or if I don't have fresh apples, I add the store bought chunky apple sauce from a jar after the potatoes are mashed. Now if you think potatoes and apples don't go together, see the next listing.

Speaking of potatoes, potato pancakes are common in German areas, and they are usually accompanied by apple sauce, which is pretty common in the U.S. too. See, you've probably had potatoes and apples before. The standard German word for potato pancakes is "Kartoffelpfannkuchen," but there are a number of dialect terms and recipe variations like,  "Reibekuchen," "Döbbekuchen," "Döbbekooche," "Dibbekoche," "Dippedotz," "Reiberdatschi," "Rievekooche,"  "Grumbeer Pannekuche," and others. Some Germans believe the potatoes should be freshly grated, while others use potatoes first boiled in their skins. Besides the potatoes, there is some onion added (either grated or finely chopped), as well as some flour and salt. To this base recipe some regions add chopped bacon, or even whole strips of bacon are placed on top and the dish is finished in the oven. In the past, lard was commonly used for frying, but nowadays oil is more common.

Swiss Germans make a fried apple dish (Apfel Bröisi), which is thin bread slices fried in butter and sugar, then apple slices are added and fried further until the apples are soft. The dish is topped with fresh dabs of butter, sugar and cinnamon. 

Germans add apples to sauerkraut or to red cabbage (called Rotkohl, Rotkraut, or Blaukraut, depending upon region). In some areas, especially in Austria and Bavaria, apples are cored, stuffed with raisins and walnuts or hazelnuts (sometimes cranberries and lemon zest are added too) and are baked in white wine, butter, and sugar, which combine in a syrupy sauce, to which apple brandy (Schnapps) can be added. The finished dish, called "Bratäpfel" (baked apples), or "Besoffene Bratäpfel" ('drunken' baked apples, because of the wine and schnapps) is often served with warm vanilla sauce, made with heated milk, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

If you're in the German state of Hessen (often Hesse, in English), you'll want to finish your meal with a nice glass, or ten, of apple wine, which is really like hard apple cider, and is a specialty of Hessen in general, but particularly of Frankfurt. The standard German word for this drink is "Apfelwein," but there are variations in Hessian dialect, including ""Ebbelwoi,"  "Äppelwei," or "Stöffche," and you can get it by the glass ("Rippenglas;" that is "ribbed glass," which has ridges for a good grip) or the "Bembel" (a stoneware jug), and after a few of either, you won't much care what name the Hessians call it ... ah ... at least that's what I've heard.  

* Alsace and Lorraine are parts of eastern France. 

 

WORD HISTORY:
Apple-This noun goes back to Indo European "abol," "abel," the exact meaning of which is unclear, but which had to do with "produce of trees and vines," and there are forms in other, non Germanic, languages too. Its Old Germanic offspring was "aplaz," which meant "fruit, nuts." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "aeppel," which meant "fruit," and later this became "appel," before the modern version. It wasn't until the 1500s and 1600s that the meaning narrowed to the specific type of fruit we now call an "apple." Translations of the Bible over time generally used "forbidden fruit" in the Garden of Eden, but some translations called this fruit "apple," from the general meaning of the word back then. Common in the other Germanic languages: standard German "Apfel," all sorts of German dialect forms like "Ebbel," "Appel," "Apel," "Äppel," "Äbbel," "Epfel," "Ebbfe," "Opfe," Low German Saxon and Dutch "Appel,"  West Frisian "apel," Danish "aeble," Icelandic "epli," Norwegian "eple," and Swedish "äpple." 

Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany

(September 12, 2016) Just a note: I published this in early 2010 and some of the information, especially regarding immigration, is now outdated, but I chose to leave it as is. Back then I made a note in this article (note *), that I would give explanation to who or what is a German, which, thereafter, I proceeded to do in a series I called, "The German Question." Originally I thought I would do about half a dozen articles on the subject, but, as I often do, I got carried away and I did a basic history of the Germans in their various "forms," and the series went from a half dozen articles, to more than 150!!! The series drew many, many thousands of views from all over the world, and it was so popular, I have re-run it a couple of times since. My first paragraph below quickly became outdated, when I began writing "The German Question."  

Much of what I intend to write here will be from firsthand experience or recollection, and I have no intention of writing a history of the Germans, nor a travel guide for those inclined to visit, as there are many great books and online sources available in great detail for these subjects. I will try to give some historical background on various subjects, if for no other reason than to provide a perspective for the topic at hand.

Frankfurt am Main (pronounced like "om mine") means Frankfurt on the Main (River). It is frequently called this extended name because there is another Frankfurt in Germany, just east of Berlin, and to differentiate, it is called "Frankfurt an der Oder;" that is, Frankfurt on the Oder (River). Frankfurt am Main (hereafter I'll use just "Frankfurt" in this article) is the city of the famous "Frankfurter," or what we commonly call hotdogs or franks (the abbreviated version of frankfurter) in the United States. German areas beyond Germany itself, including Austria, much of Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Alsace, and South Tirol,* all have sausages of different shapes, sizes, and flavors, and they are sold everywhere! To my knowledge, it was in the United States that putting a sausage inside a split bun became popular, as in German areas the various sausages are typically served separately on a small plate with a dab of mustard and a roll. My German relatives look on a bit perplexed when I get ketchup with mine. They seem to think I'm strange...ah...I'll leave that statement alone. Actually, Germans do eat ketchup with one sausage dish called "Currywurst," a recipe they picked up from Turkish and Middle Eastern foreign workers after World War Two. It is simply a bratwurst type sausage (usually cut into bite-sized pieces) with ketchup and curry powder on it, although after it gained more popularity, the ketchup and curry were often already pre-mixed and simply squirted on. While certainly not uncommon elsewhere, they are especially known in Berlin.

Frankfurt is located in the German state of Hessen, often referred to as Hessia or Hesse in English. It is THE financial hub of Germany. I've often thought, even many years ago, how much we could learn about public transportation from the Germans, and especially Frankfurt, which offers so many ways to travel around the area: light rail, street cars, buses. Germans use trains, including what we call "light rail," much more than most Americans do. The trains are efficient and well maintained, or at least they were in the many times I was there, although I haven't been back to Germany since 1995. If you want to take local light rail in Frankfurt, you don't necessarily have to stand in line to get a ticket. You just go to one of the many self-serve machines, check out the map to see your route number, insert the proper fare, and out comes your ticket.** Frankfurt is my favorite city of all. Why? Maybe because it reminds me of many American cities, with lots of tall skyscrapers ("Wolkenkratzer," or literally, "cloud scrapers" in German), but it also has something of "old Germany" still in existence, too. The city was absolutely devastated by Allied bombing during World War Two, but the Germans often found former architectural prints and rebuilt parts of the city based on these old records.*** Frankfurt was the city where many of the German emperors of the old German Empire were elected, and then a bit later, the emperors were even crowned there.****

Frankfurt also is a huge transportation hub, and the Frankfurt airport (Flughafen is the German word for airport, and, incidentally, all German nouns are capitalized, thus the capital "F") is one of the busiest airports in the world; perhaps even the busiest. On a couple of occasions I remember the plane I was on had to circle the city waiting for permission to land, as there were so many other planes ahead of mine. The airport is connected to other parts of the area, including downtown Frankfurt, by rail. The Frankfurt railway station (rail station in German is Bahnhof, and the Frankfurt station is called the "Hauptbahnhof," or "Main Train Station") is an absolute delight, with lots of little shops, and you can get a train to go just about anywhere in Europe from there. Of course, if you're traveling more local, like to Wiesbaden, which I'll guess is about 25 miles away, you can also depart from the Frankfurt rail station. I traveled between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden many times.

Downtown Frankfurt has a shopping district that is closed to motor vehicle traffic during certain hours (only late night and early morning can vehicles enter to clean up trash or make deliveries). This area, called the "Fussgängerzone," (more or less literally "foot goer zone," or "pedestrian zone") is lined with shops, large and small, and in good weather, it is not uncommon to see musicians playing various instruments or people with some acrobatic skills hopping and tumbling around, although always with a cup available for "donations." (Hey, they've got to make a living, and they aren't manipulating prices or trying to lure anyone into risky investments, and you don't have to give if you don't want to.) In Frankfurt this pedestrian zone has the name the "Zeil." The shopping area is very busy, even at times, well into the evening. Frankfurt is a major European convention city, and many convention attendees can be seen looking for souvenirs in this area. Not far away from the shopping area is the Frankfurt Zoo, and my love of animals has taken me there on numerous occasions. At various places around town you might also see open displays about sexual books, magazines, "devices," or "places." They aren't necessarily hidden on back streets or alleyways, and to my knowledge, no German has turned into a pillar of salt because they are there. It is also not uncommon to hear a guy out in front of some "establishments" calling "Peep show!!! Come in and peep!" For those unaware, they aren't selling recently hatched chickens.

My visits to Germany mainly took place when the United States had a major military presence there, although we still have some military facilities located in Germany, but far, far fewer than during the Cold War and the immediate years following its end. The Frankfurt/Wiesbaden area had lots of Americans (military personnel, their families, and tourists), and hearing (American) English was not at all uncommon, and all German shop clerks, waiters, waitresses, and hotel employees could speak English on a range of fair to excellent. I assume it is still the case, but Germans (then "West" Germans) were required to take either two or four years of English in school (I just forget).^ One German hotel manager I became friends with many years ago told me a funny little story. He was born near the end of World War Two in an area that became part of the Soviet-dominated part of the country, but his family escaped to the West and settled in the Frankfurt area. He is retired and lives in suburban Frankfurt. Anyway, he studied English in hospitality school. He got a job at a Frankfurt hotel. The hotel was frequented by many American servicemen and women, and many, many American tourists. He said, "I was young and cocky. On my first day, we had several Americans check in and out, and I had understood them very well, so I told my boss, 'I want to handle the check in for the next American who comes in.' The boss gave his approval. The next person through the door was an American...and he was from Texas." I started laughing as soon as he told me this. He said, "I didn't understand one damned word that man said!"

As Germany recovered from World War Two, especially by the late 1950s and the 1960s, they began to experience a labor shortage. Thousands of foreigners went to Germany looking to find work. Many of these people came from Turkey, but also from a variety of European countries (I once knew an Italian from Taranto who had worked for several years in Germany, and then came to the U.S., where his sister was already living). At first the Germans welcomed these folks who often took jobs at the lower end of the employment system. Gradually a problem arose, as the flow of foreigners continued, with many men having gone "home" and returned to (then West) Germany with their families. A culture clash was inevitable, and as mainly Turks moved into some neighborhoods, Germans moved out, eventually leaving whole parts of some cities, including Frankfurt, as basically Turkish neighborhoods, with Turkish shops and other businesses dominating those areas, and Turkish being spoken in place of German. This brought about a nasty reaction from many Germans (including some foreigners being beaten or killed), and I just don't recall everything that has happened over time, but there was an effort to put severe restrictions on immigration from certain countries, but eventually there was an attempt to get foreigners living in Germany to learn German. Where all of this stands at this point, I really don't know. I haven't heard lately, but if I remember right, by the late 1980s, something like 25% of Frankfurt's population was non-German.

Frankfurt and much of Hessen is noted for apple wine, or hard cider (called "Apfelwein" in standard German, but "Ebbelwei," "Ebbelwoi," or "Appelwoi" in Hessisch, the particular dialect of Hessen, and the dialect of my relatives there, but even it has sub-dialects, depending upon location, and thus the various renditions for "Apple Wine"). My hotel friend mentioned above, told me how he loved to go home in nice weather and sit outside with a bottle of this fine product and "get feeling pretty good!" It is available in some American import stores, or in wine sections of some supermarkets, although I'd guess the availability is often limited to large metro areas. Of course it is sold throughout Frankfurt and is standard fare in food establishments there. Further, traditional Hessian foods are hearty, with lots of pork used as a main course, or in recipe preparation. One of the better known Hessian specialities is "Kassler Rippchen," cured pork rib. Another specialty is "Zwiebelkuchen," or "onion cake," which is a flat cake topped with onions, eggs, sour cream and bacon. One of my favorites is "Backes Grumbeere," which is in Hessian dialect, not standard German, and is a potato dish cooked with lots of onions, bacon, pork shoulder, white wine, some seasonings and cream or sour cream.^^

Of course, when many folks think of Germans, they think of beer! And it is sold EVERYWHERE! Some shops even have little side windows for walk-up take out orders, including beer. Go to McDonalds or Burger King in Germany, beer is on the menu! (Please, please! If you go to Germany or any other country, don't go to the American food places there. You can patronize them on just about any street corner here in the U.S. Try the local foods and beverages. If you want coffee, okay, go to McDonalds or Burger King, although they'll have German coffee, which is much stronger tasting than most American coffee, and I'd say with more caffeine. Buzzzzz!!!) [A word history is after the notes]

* I'll get to explanations about "who or what is a German," somewhere along the way in this series, as it is highly relevant to history.

** How much of this may have changed since I was last there in March of 1995, I don't know. Since that time, however, Germany has switched to the "Euro," the form of money agreed upon and used by many European countries. Formerly Germany used the "Mark," its own money. Today, if you travel within the countries that use the Euro, you needn't go through currency exchange. When I was a kid, and I'd guess up until sometime in the early 1970s, the "Mark" had a fixed exchange rate of four to the dollar, thus making a Mark worth a quarter in American money. When many national currencies were allowed to "float;" that is, find their value versus other currencies by "free market" principles, the rate varied, as is now the case with the Euro.

*** This reconstruction using old records was not unique to Frankfurt, but was used extensively by many heavily damaged German cities and towns after World War Two.

**** Most people have heard of "the Third Reich," the Nazi term for Germany under their rule, but the old German Empire was the "First Reich," if you will. Most Germans tend to refer to the original empire as dating back to Charlemagne, although others date it a bit later. Charlemagne was the French rendering of his name, as his (Germanic) Frankish name was Karl, and he indeed spoke Frankish. He was crowned emperor in 800 A.D. and was such an honored and revered figure that his name was rendered in Latin as "Carolus Magnus." The French version was "Charlemagne," and the German "Karl der Grosse." All of these mean the same thing, "Karl (or Charles) the Great." There is a display of pictures of all of the German emperors in the restored building where many of the emperors were crowned in Frankfurt. If I remember correctly, his picture is displayed as the first German emperor, although he was not crowned in Frankfurt, but in Rome. So the "First Reich" dates from 800 until 1806, when it was dissolved by Emperor Franz II after Napoleon's successful invasion of Germany. The "Second Reich," was the German Empire created by Bismarck and lasted from 1871 until the end of World War One.

^ After World War Two, Germany was divided into occupation zones (American, British, French, Soviet). The British occupied the area up around Bremen/Hamburg and the North See (interesting coincidence that this is where the Anglo-Saxons left to sail to Britain and found England), and the Americans had a large swath of central/southern Germany. So much of western Germany was exposed to English on a daily basis. There was even a television station in English.

^^ The standard word for "potato" in German is "Kartoffel," but there are many regional dialect terms, including "Erdapfel," literally "earth apple," and the above "Grumbeer," which is used in some parts of Hessen. The "beer" part, pronounced somewhat like English "bear," means "berry," but I don't know what the "Grum" part means. Remember, this is not standard German, but dialect, and when I asked some German college students studying in Cleveland if they knew what "Grumbeer" meant, they both answered, "No." (One was from southwestern Germany and the other was from the Dortmund area, if I remember correctly.)

WORD HISTORY:
Tug-This word traces back to Indo European "deuk," which meant "to pull, to pull along (lead)." The Old Germanic offshoot was "teukh," which meant "pull." This gave Old English "teohan" also meaning "pull." By the 1200s, the modern spelling began to emerge. The noun seems to have developed in the 1500s, but it wasn't until the early 1800s that the more common modern usage of "a small boat used to pull larger vessels" came about. German has the related "ziehen," meaning "to pull, to tug" (the "z" is pronounced as if "ts," as in the end of "hits."). Interestingly, the English developed noun form came to be used for a boat that tows a larger vessel, but the German form, "Zug" (the "u" pronounced to rhyme with "food," and the "g" pronounced like "k") came to mean an engine for a train; that is, a vehicle that pulls a number of rail cars. So the idea of "pulling/towing" is still much alive in both languages. (Actually, "Zug" is also used just as the general German word for train.)