Cold Gin]Thanks, some interesting comments !
Looks like most (US) people first think about WW2 and everything related to that. Also the Berlin wall.
Beer, sausage and cars is not a surprise. But one comment. Our beer is not warm, it is just the right temperture to taste the flavour. If you drink beer ice cold you can not really identify the taste. So you Bud drinkers better keep on drinking your beer ice cold ....
The lighter colored beers are served chilled in Germany, and a few lagers especially draught are even served a little colder. More of the dark beers are served a little warmer, but ideal temperature for most beer is 50-55 deg C with porters etc. from between 55-60.
Believe it or not, some Americans do not drink crap like Budweiser (though I will for free, as it's not "bad" just rather boring.) I do enjoy German beer, though I more often buy American micro brews or Belgian ales.
Regarding art and architecture, I just learned myself that Berlin is becoming a world center for art. However, to me that was surprising that some of you mentioned art. Cool.
I am not very interested in art (as in paintings) but as far as architecture, Germany is certainly a wonderful country full of ancient castles and churches. The Cologne Cathedral is magnificant.
Von Braun, Bosch etc. Wyvern, you are an engineer, eh ? I guess this is a big part of what makes us pretty proud of ourselves.
Oktoberfest ! Yeah, who has ever been there is impressed. If you like it or not. You meet people from all over the world. I live in Munich, so I am there every year of course.
Cool !! I have never been to Germany during Oktoberfeast, though I was at "The Feast" in Ghent Belgium. Certainly that is much smaller. I would love to go to Oktoberfest though. SOunds great.
Kinder egg "Überraschungsei" - you won´t get it in the US I think. As far as I know, in the US it is not allowed to combine food and non-food, like the plastic toy in the choclate.
My experience with German food is mostly from German "style" restaurants in the US, but I love rham shnitzel. I would also love to know the secret on how to cook roast beef like The Germans (saurbraten) where it can be cut with a fork. As far as sausage, my favorite is smoked sausage with cheddar and jalapeno'. I think that is mostly an American creation.
I was surprised to get no comments about Iraq. So Germany not taking part activly is not such a big deal in the US, as they make us believe here.
Also I expected some comments about Germans having no humor, far to disziplined and so on.
I find Germans to have good humor, and also typically to be pretty good at English and understanding "American style humor." Disciplined..... yes, absolutely. I don't think it is only Americans that believe that. German machining is known to be the most precise in the world. German musicians believe in being very accurate and precision seems to be very important.
Anyway, Thanks.
As far as cars, a classic Karmann Ghia pops into my mind when I think about germany, though the Italians influenced that as well. I love classic VWs.
I do think about bands because two of my favorite bands in the world are German, namely, Accept and Vanden Plas. I was fortunate enough to meet the guys from Vanden Plas and they are very nice guys. Stephan Lill (guitarist) and Gunter Werno (keyboardist) were very nice guys.
I think the power of the internet allows people to get to know people from other countries and other cultures and that is a good thing. Certainly Germans and Americans are some different, but we are all human and we have more in common than we have differences and I think that is true for people of any culture and country.
Bryant
