History on Grand Duchy

When you mess around with German history (the stuff before WW II).....you end up with this topic of Grand Duchy.  If you sit and try to get a normal German to explain this....they just look at you and note that they got rid of the Kaiser in 1919, and it's all been thrilling ever since.  More or less....few know or understand the Grand Duchy term or what it involves.

So, a simplified explanation.

Going back into the 1500s, the Grand Duchy status was invented.  A guy, his army and local people of importance....designed the Grand Duchy as a 'kingdom'.  The neat thing about a Grand Duchy is that it's not run by emperors or kings.  Yeah, that's attractive to most regions because you avoid all that royal stuff, along with the taxation it usually involves.

A Grand Duchy was run by a Grand Duke....or a prince.

It was a status that was dissolving by the end of the 1700s....then Napoleon's era helped to bring it back.  Areas taken over by Napoleon's army....would turn various regions into Grand Duchy operations....to benefit those who were cooperative and helpful.  Here in Germany....after 1815 and the defeat of Napoleon, the status grew more popular.

All total, in this period of the 1800s....there were sixteen authentic Grand Duchy regions (note: some are German or Prussian related, and some fall into French, Italian or Poland related):

1.  The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1569–1860)
2.  The Grand Duchy of Berg (1806–1813)
3.  The Grand Duchy of Würzburg (1806–1814)
4.  The Grand Duchy of Baden (1806–1918)
5.  The Grand Duchy of Hesse (1806–1918)
6.  The Grand Duchy of Fulda (1816–1866)
7.  The Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)
8.  The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt (1810–1813)
9.  The Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine (1815–1822)
10.  The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (since 1815 and still a Grand Duchy today)
11.  The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1815–1918)
12.  The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1815–1918)
13  The Grand Duchy of Posen (1815–1848)
14. The Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1815–1918)
15. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (1829–1918)
16.  The Grand Duchy of Cracow (1846–1918)

Hessen or Nassau?  Well....after 1871, the area was forced into Prussia.  The Duke was nullified and zero'ed out.  On the paperwork, they can claim some status of existence as a Grand Duchy until the end of WW I, but there was no Grand Duke running the show.

What all this tends to show.....is a significant number of small communities what is Germany or part of Europe today.....which were smaller in scale and controlling their own destiny.  People were proud of the status of belonging to a Grand Duchy, and they tended to stay out of wars.

If the Grand Duchy design had survived on?  Without the Napoleonic wars and the growth of Prussian dominance....these sixteen Grand Duchy situations would likely all have survived on.  The Grand Duchy of Hesse, without WW I or WW II....would likely be one of the richest communities in Europe today.

The Frankfurt Gutenberg Statue

Down in the center of Frankfurt, about twenty minutes walking from the train station along Kaiser Strasse (heading east)....you will come to a large stoned 'park', with a huge statue on one side of it.  It's the Gutenberg Statue.

Course, you will notice that there are three guys on top....and only one being Gutenberg himself.  The other two?  Peter Schoeffer (considered Germany's first publisher), and Johannes Fust (the German who turned publishing into a business operation).

The statue was put up around 1845, and is supposed to represent four key elements of German culture: natural science, religion, poetry and industry.  The four below them?  Well....they are to represent the four key cities where printing became a lucrative business: Venice, Frankfurt, Mainz, and Strasbourg (France).

Generally, I'd rate the statue as one of the twenty-odd things in Frankfurt which you ought to see if you had a weekend.

The Gutenberg Museum

 Down in the old part of Mainz, is the Gutenberg Museum.  It's right across from the Mainz Cathedral. For a trip?  It'll cost five Euro to enter, and is an interesting collection of printing history.

I wouldn't suggest dragging some six-year old kids to it.....but maybe kids in the fourteen and over group might get something out of it.

On the history of Gutenberg?  Well.....he was a Mainz resident who was born in 1495, and around 1539....the combination blacksmith/goldsmith and eventual printer came to this idea of pressing metal against paper to 'print' something.

What he opens up.....is a pandoras box.  Up until this idea was commercialized.....was that all books (in particular the Bible).....were hand-written.  At this point, a guy could put the press work up and print copies of the Bible, and sell them outside of the Catholic Church monopoly system.

At the time.....few today realize that....all Bibles were heavily controlled and were all in Latin.  Since only the trained or educated Catholic Church 'players' had use of Latin.....they were controlling the verbiage and sermon content.

What Gutenberg then offers.....is a translated capability....with Bibles in German, French and English.  A merchant, with a fair amount of money.....simply buys it and can read it in his own language.  At that point, it opens up an entire new way of interpreting the Bible and it's values.  You can look around from 1550 to 1650, and note various wars and conflicts underway....strictly over the religious views of people, and the light that Gutenberg's printing press allowed.

One of the things you will notice from the contents of the museum are the church hymn books.  From this period on.....people could write various verses for songs, and it could be bulk-produced and created a totally new environment for the musical side of life.

The Age of Enlightenment?  It only comes....because of Gutenberg's printing press.  Once you can create knowledge, publish it, mass distribute it......you have not just hundreds who get the 'message'.....but literally tens of thousands.

You can look back today, and truthfully say that Gutenberg's simple idea....radically changed society and took the Catholic Church down several notches.  The Mayflower's occupants?  They would never have been so radicalized....if they hadn't had the Bibles in English or been able to debate standard religious doctrine.

So, if you happen to be in Mainz....the museum is worth visiting.  Note, you are better off using the train and bus system to get over to the area (parking just isn't that plentiful).  There's also a dozen-odd things to see in the old city of Mainz and you might as well plan for an entire day (with plenty of good food).  The museum itself?  Figure you need 2.5 hours max.  Note, it's closed on Mondays.  

A Little Freedom Rarely Noted

There's an odd freedom, that Americans have enjoyed for several hundred years....never thinking much about it or the implications of denial.....or wondering if it was just luck.  The freedom?  Movement.

Germany has a history lesson related to freedom, which few ever think about or discuss.

While the Constitution of the German Reich (1871) covered all citizens of the newly formed German state, and said that all participants enjoyed the same rights....from state to state, it kinda left the act of moving from one state to another (within Germany) as a question mark.  If you were caring for the poor or serving the Prussian Army....there was no question to you walking over the state line of one German state....to another.  Beyond that....it was a question mark.

You can stand there and imagine your place in life.  You were born in a village....say of the state of Nassau, and you were pretty much limited to that region.

Prior to the Germanification or Prussian attachment to Nassau (our Hessen state of today)....some hostile feelings had arisen in the early 1800s.  The private secretary of the Duke of Nassau....Carl Friedrich Emil....came to the conclusion that citizens of Nassau....ought to be able to move around the state itself.  So in 1810, the freedom of movement became reality....over fifty years ahead of Germany's 1871 Constitution which barely inferred that.  It wasn't until 1919, with the Weimar Constitution....that it was clear that citizens of Germany could move to any part of the land they desired, for any reason.

It's a freedom that Americans have enjoyed for a fairly long period....no limits...no exceptions.  For Germans, you find that people accepted this for the most part.  They grew up in their village.....they built their own house in that village....things stayed fairly stable.  With the exception of the Germans who got on the boat to leave Germany....that was the only group of the 1800s who found the freedom of movement.

It's hard to say what happened after 1810 in Nassau (the Hessen or Wiesbaden of today).  Did people suddenly start to pack up and move?  Did merchants start opening up new business operations in other towns?  Did craftsmen pack a bag and venture forty miles north to better economic conditions?  You don't know.

The population of Wiesbaden in 1800 was noted at 2,239 (Wiki numbers)....about half the size of my current village (Naurod).  By 1840....it'd grown to 11,648.  A significant jump.....which you might attribute to the 1810 change allowing freedom of movement.

If you asked Germans about this little freedom....I doubt if one out of a thousand would comment on the previous mentality and the various limits that most Germans endured until the last hundred years.  It's a rather new freedom....just not noticed like you'd think.

The Mainz Church

Built around 1240, Saint Christophers Church in Mainz is one of the few examples around of Gothic design. It's about ten minutes walking from the Theodor Heuss Bridge.

The church was hit early on in WW II....August of 1942, and mostly burned down.  The walls came down in Feb 1945 after another bombing raid.

The city of Mainz made the decision to rebuild the church.....to the feature of walls only (no roof or interior).  The church is still in some stage of project.

The Iron Tower

Near the old city area of Mainz, is the Iron Tower.  It is one of the last three towers left to the walled city area.  What the locals say is that it dates back to around 260AD, during the Roman period.  For roughly a hundred years, the Romans utilized the walled city and the various towers....then vacated.

The original Iron Tower?  Well....to be honest, it's been renovated several times, and got bombed during WW II. So, this is a more updated version of the tower.

If you make a trip to Mainz....it's worth seeing.  Location?  Down on Rhein Strasse along the river....maybe five minutes walking from the Theodor Heuss Bridge.  Parking?  No.  So it's best to take the tram or bus to the general location.

What exists of the old walled area?  Not much except the three towers.  Unlike some cities that retained the walled look for tourism or merchant activities....Mainz tore their wall down.

Business Observations

I tend to point out odd businesses when I walk around urban Germany.  This is a Catholic priest shop....about one minute walking from the Frankfurt Cathedral in the old part of town.

Basically, all the garments, the crosses, and statues that would accompany the Catholic religion.  Cost?  Not sure....because I chose not to walk in and browse.  Yeah, it'd look odd....they'd figure quickly that I wasn't a Catholic probably.

Business booming?  It's hard to say.  They have a good location, and there's probably plenty of visiting Catholic priests and bishops to the local establishment.  Spending cash on a new robe or cross?  Well....maybe it helps with appearances.

A Frankfurt Memorial

It's not a piece of German history that gets discussed much today.  Maybe one or two Germans out of a hundred might know one or two parts to the story....which is a different story from a century ago.

In 1813.....after the French Revolution had simmered and all the reactionaries had been dissolved....Napoleon arrived on the scene, and waged war, against just about everyone in Europe.  What was to be referred to....as the Battle of Leipzig.....was this big campaign where Prussians, Russians, Swedes, and Hapsburg empire troops fought off France.

For four brief days in October of 1813....this battle carried on, and then France retreated.  The battle, the losses, the epic stories....were all woven into legendary feats.  Most German communities over the next hundred years ended up putting up various memorials to the battle.

This memorial was put up in Frankfurt, near the Romerberg (old part of town) in 1903.  Yeah, I know....it's ninety years after the battle.  Things probably finally caught up with the locals....since all the vets from the war had passed on....so it was a way of honoring the epic battle.

The lady on top of the statue?  Well, there's discussion over this.  No one is really sure.  Most think it's supposed to represent "Germania", which is this invented symbol of German nationality.  Mostly, it's always a Amazon-built gal, with the crown in one hand and some sword touching the other hand (if it's on the belt, then it's a friendly Germany, and if it's a sword raised, then it's a Germany defending itself against invaders).  Usually, the Germania statue gal has a puffy face, is a bit chunky, and has an abundance in terms of boobs.

As for this Frankfurt statue?  If you aim toward Saint Paul's Church and find the square (with ample cafes and coffee houses), then you are there.

It's a good place to discover and spend an hour, and only ten minutes walking to the river.  As for the war history stuff?  Well....it's better than some easily misunderstood modern art statue with two ladies tangling with a skeleton dude and a septic tank overflowing in the background.  Just skip asking your German associate about the Battle of Leipzig or the Prussian connection.....it'll just invite a puzzled look.

Oh, and for reference....this battle in 1813?  It's only thirty-odd years after the American Revolution.

The Rock Trip

 About thirty minutes south of Frankfurt is this mountainside called Felsenmeer.  It's about eight kilometers northeast of Bensheim (for planning purposes).

What you have is this giant boulder area leftover from the glacial period. Between the ice, melting water, and the climate.....it created this cascading rock area.

So you arrive and park in their pay-as-you-go parking lot (3 Euro).  You will notice a small pub restaurant.  My advice is to skip it while going up and use it as you come down....tired as you might be, and settle on some coffee and cake.

The park itself is free.  There's three basic ways to handle the climb.  You can do it the hard way and actually climb the boulders all the way to the top.  You can figure this will take at least three hours.  To the left, and right....are separate trails which are fifty percent easier, but still require a good bit of stamina.    

I wouldn't go in the winter period....mostly because of wetness or chill involved.  And in the middle of a summer heat period....you'd best take more than one bottle of water with you.

There are a couple of formations like this in Switzerland and Austria.  It is a bit rare.....more likely to be seen in Sweden or Norway or Iceland.

As you stand at the bottom and think you can see the entire length of the formation....it's deceptive.  You are only seeing a third of the whole distance involved.  So, anticipate this climb....especially on the rocks....to burn up a bunch of calories, if you were doing this the hard way.

Along the Banks of Frankfurt

Frankfurt is one of those places where you could start out one morning and walk for six hours and just feel amazed over the landscape.

One of the better places to take a walk is the riverside....along the Rhein.  Both sides are fully developed with paved trails and open park space.  Toss in benches and shade trees, and you've got a five-star attraction to the city.

Two of the bigger things to check out along the river are the walking bridges (there are two of these).

The older bridge is Eiserener Steg.  It's usually referred to as the "love bridge"....mostly because its a romantic walk and in the evenings....it's where younger couples cross the Rhein....getting back home from the Sachsenhausen district (the pub and party district).   It's been around since 1868.

The Holbeinsteg is the secondary bridge....about ten minutes walking to the west of the first bridge.  It came about in 1990.  A modern suspension design....it probably gets about half as much notice as the original bridge.

Drinking and dining along the river?  There's around a dozen boats and riverside pubs to pick from.  Most run from early spring to late fall.

The Holbeinsteg is closer to the Bahnhof area.  Probably around a ten-minute walk from the end to the station itself.

The landscape from the river of the city of Frankfurt?  It's probably one of the better locations to get a full up view of the city and it's skyscrapers.

As for crime or issues to avoid?  Generally, the riverfront is clear of hooligans or crime.  I probably wouldn't venture off the two bridge areas to the walking path below after midnight....but generally, the bridges are safe to cross twenty-four hours a day.

Restrooms?  Well....there's only one or two on each side of the river, and that might be the only negative to speak over.  If you had an entire afternoon and you were fairly stressed out....I'd strongly recommend the river area, and have a beer or apple wine at one of the smaller vessels parked there.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange

 One of the twenty-odd things worth seeing in Frankfurt...is the Bose, or the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

To get there....walk up Kaiser Strassee (eastward) from the Train Station (Bahnhof).  It's about a fifteen minute walk and you end up at the open area of the Goethe Platz.  It's best described as a cobblestone area, with a couple of statues and the size of two football fields.  If you face it....the Bose is slightly to your left, about eight minutes walking.

The building itself is impressive, and dates back to 1874.  Prior to WW II, it was just one of several stock exchanges in Germany.  By 1949....it basically was the one and only (at least they'd like to think that).  Today, it's one of the ten biggest stock exchanges in the world.

The bull and bear at the end of the open area near the entrance?  They represent the growth or the decline of financial fortunes.  It's a symbol thing.

There are some tours of the facility, but most of the day-to-day hectic stuff is long gone....since the internet's arrival.

One of the most interesting things to see are the seven statues at the entrance way...to represent the various continents of the world.

If you take the adjacent area.....the shopping district, and the fifty-odd pubs or restaurants available....it's a great place to walk around and check out sights.  And the city park is less than ten minutes away.

A Historical Day

This past weekend in Germany....an historic event of sorts briefly happened.  Somewhere around mid-day on Sunday....German renewable energy actually hit the seventy-five percent point.  The wind was sustaining itself enough, and there was minimal cloud cover over a fair amount of Germany.....which led to this brief period.

Environmentalists will say that it's been a long time in the funnel, and it's nice to hit some peak....even if it were just for an hour or two.

Numbers-wise....there's around 22,000-odd windmills and each week a few more are added to the number.  No one really sits down and does projections, but it's safe to say that there ought to be twenty-five thousand windmills within Germany....by 2016.

The current trend?  Well....it's not so much to chat about growth....as it is the stumbling blocks now being seen in Germany.  Most towns and village ask questions and plan halting procedures to any windmill farms near their residences.  Even if you suggest that the windmill farm will be several miles away on some ridge of a hillside....that just gets folks more charged up to fight the project.

Dead birds?  Same deal.  It's now brought up a fair bit over how birds seem to 'whack' themselves with the blades.

Ending the evil side of power production?  Well...NO.  You see....to hit seventy-five percent this past Sunday....they needed a front to come through and provide sufficient wind.  Without that front....you had to have evil electrical plants (coal-powered or nuke-powered) to be in abundance and make up what the wind could not produce.  The solar energy side of this deal?  Same case....you had to have moderate to no clouds....to get some peak power.

Somewhere in this entire mix.....you have no choice.....but to build and sustain a coal or nuke power situation to meet what windmills or solar can't provide.  It's like buying a car with really nifty brakes, but having a mandated requirement for an entire second set of brakes....thus adding cost to the car, and required maintenance for brake requirement one, and brake requirement two.

I suspect in six years.....we will hit some particular day with plenty of sunshine and a storm front coming through Germany.....and suddenly realize one-hundred-percent of the power for the day...came from renewable energy.  The question would be.....how much stand-by power did you have to maintain.....via nuke or coal energy.....to reach this remarkable day?  It might be curious to know that answer.

The Big 'Foot' Statue of Mainz

Germans get into copying things, for artful purposes.

So, in Mainz, behind the Landtag building near the river....there's a parking lot, and in the middle....there's this big foot.

It's a copy of the Colossus of Constantine....built in Rome back around 315AD.  It was supposed to be a fairly big statue, and some acts of violence (pillage would be a better word) occurred, and the statue cut tossed a bit.

So, this was made as a art project in Mainz.  Now, a guy with no art background....would look over this and just say it's a lot of work....just for a foot.  You see....there's these open spots between the toes, and a stone-cutter would have to be ever so careful in not breaking anything.  And the toes have to look real.....not too big....not too small.  Personally, you'd have to have a lot of patience to show up daily....for months and months....working on some foot project like this.

So, if you happen to be in the middle of Mainz and know of the Landtag building.....just pull in and gaze at the 'foot'.  It's worth a five-minute trip.

Movie Review: The Sum of My Individual Parts

German translation: Die Summe meiner einzelnen Telle (2011)

I sat and watched the German movie last night, and I'll rate it into my top twenty German movies of all time.  That said....I'll also note that it's a fairly depressing end, and I felt somewhat betrayed by the conclusion.

To sum it up.....this brilliant and smart guy....Martin....has this breakdown.  He goes off and spends six months in a clinic.....cleaning up his act and they think he's ready for the outside.  That gets you through the first fifteen minutes of the movie and it's a fairly dramatic start of a tragic story.

Then, Martin comes back into the real world.....and starts to fall apart again.  The rest of the movie (roughly 100 minutes) really goes off into a psychological spiral.

I won't give away the ending, but it's safe to say that no one dies, and nothing good comes from the entire episode.  I will warn you on this.....something in this spiral is totally bogus, and you never notice that until the last fifteen minutes of the movie.

So, if you have some time and The Sum of My Individual Parts comes on.....it's worth watching, but don't get shocked when it really ends in a strange way.  

The Hitler '88' Story

This is one of those blogs that takes a minute or two....to explain something that is a bit 'winded'....because of German logic.

You see....after WW II.....German authorities got busy into the anti-Nazi thing.  You weren't supposed to have any flags around....no recognized references.....no copies of Mein Kampf....etc.  Among all of these.....there was the issue of the raised right hand and the 'heil Hitler' reference that would accompany it.

It's an odd thing....you can't find too many German habits or traditions that start up before the 1930-era, where greetings are invented out of thin air.  Somewhere with the Brownshirts, this raised hand episode starts, and becomes a quick trend.  Women do it.  Kids do it.  Old guys do it.  As the war ends, the raised right hand gimmick comes to an end.  Well....it was supposed to come to an end.

What you see today is the neo-Nazi crowd who picked up on this raised right hand deal, and tried to keep it going.  Course, it'll get you into trouble.

Germans are always inventive, so they took 'heil Hitler' and came to this new gimmick of '88'.  H is the eight letter, and it represents 'heil', and the second eight represents 'Hitler'.  So you meet and greet each other with '88'.  Yeah, I know....it's a pretty contrived game of getting around the German authorities.

So, why does this matter?  Well....if you walked up to ninety-percent of the German public and asked what '88' means.....they'd have practically no idea.  The authorities?  Oh, they know.

In comes this US company with a detergent deal.....which had a big '88' on the front of the package.  P&G, our own US company.....had this packaging gimmick.  Basically, you were going to get the old 83 washes out of the container, AND then FIVE more extra washes for free.  So '88' got spelled out in big letters on the front of this wash powder container.

Yeah, really.  I know it sounds pretty goofy, but it's the truth.

And almost immediately upon arrival....the '88' got noticed and got into the news....inviting the German authorities all over P&G.  You can imagine some graphic arts designer....getting this call and being told he put up a Nazi salute on the package.

There's an apology coming from P&G, and this will apparently end the episode.  The '88' crowd?  Well....not much of anything said.....I even doubt that they noticed the detergent package.  How did Hitler and detergent get into one discussion?   Only in Germany is it possible.

My Local Bus

Although I live only three miles outside of the city limits of Wiesbaden.....there's only two city bus routes that run through my village.  I'm kind of familiar with both....knowing the limitations of getting into town, and catching the right bus back to my village.

From Monday of this week....one of these bus lines had a bus making the trip out of the city, and was almost at the city limits (leaving town), when an strange event happened.  Somewhere around 5PM.....this bus that I would normally take.....oddly enough....smoke is filling the back of the bus.  Yeah....I'm guessing that some folks yelled at the driver, and he gazes back.  He's probably looking back and forth, and then some burning smell reaches his noise.

The driver then makes this decision....getting it to a safe point, throwing all the doors opening and yelling 'evacuation' to everyone.  The later buses in the day are usually packed, and there's probably at least sixty people on the double-bus.

They all get out, and the bus is engulfed in flames shortly after that.  The fire department arrives and puts some foam over it but the bus has mostly burned up on the interior, and it's not ever going to return to service.  Couple of folks end up at the hospital with smoke issues, but overall.....they were pretty lucky at the reaction by the driver.

So by Thursday afternoon.....the Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden and the Chief of the bus company met up with the driver, and presented him with 'thanks' and some flowers.

Yeah.....'thanks' and some flowers.  That's it.

No gold watch.  No fancy French pen.  No week of extra leave.  Just some 'thanks' and flowers.

Maybe I'm thinking more of the old days and how you'd normally try to honor some guy.....and maybe in this case.....the guy just did his duty, and this hearty handshake is sufficient.  Plus it means there's one less bus in the depot, and the guy might be worried on downsizing.  It's hard to say.

On the positive side?  At least the guy pulled over.  In a number of countries....which I won't name.....it would have taken another three minutes before the smoke was bad enough and driver would finally stop.

Buses, the 6500 Zone, and Wiesbaden

If you end up in Wiesbaden, and want to start using the local bus, trolley and light-rail system....there's some curious things that you might want to grasp early on.

Generally.....everything within the urban limit of Wiesbaden....to include Bierstadt, Mainz and a dozen other towns.....all fall within the 6500 zone. That's important to remember, because it simplifies everything.  Going to Darmstadt or Eltville or Frankfurt....it's beyond the 6500 zone and you pay more.

At every major bus stop, there's a machine there to sell you tickets.  There's the one-way type, the all-day type, the 9-uhr (hour) type, the weekly type, the monthly type, etc.

Most folks walk up....punch the one-way type....pay the 2.60 Euro and it provides you with a ticket to get to your destination.  Doesn't matter if you change buses two or three or four times to get there....it's covered with that ticket.  It's usually the first option that you see.

I should note this with all the machines....they all offer English language options (at the bottom).

The bus drivers?  They will sell you the same 2.60 Euro ticket as well.  All fine and dandy.

Is that the cheaper deal?  NO.

If you think this is an all-day deal....buy the all-ticket ticket for 6.40 Euro.  Going to Frankfurt all day...it's roughly 12.40 Euro for all day.

But here's this interesting deal.  Somewhere in your village or at RMV stations around Wiesbaden.....there's an option to bulk tickets in bulk (say five or more), and you pay only 10.40 Euro for five tickets, which they would usually be 2.60 EACH.  You can figure the math, but you save a fair chunk of money by buying bulk.  NO, the bus driver won't sell you this bulk package....if you were wondering.

The 9-uhr (hour) ticket.  It's an interesting choice too.  If you agree to only travel after 9AM, then you can buy the 9-uhr all-day ticket....for roughly twenty-five percent less than the regular all-day ticket.  Note, you have to pick that option and know the implications.  Don't travel at 0848 AM with this ticket, because there's a fine if you screw up like this.

An 9-uhr ticket for an entire month?  Yes....roughly 54 Euro for the entire month.  You can figure out, but it's basically saving you a minimum of fifty Euro if you were an active person traveling every single day.  You buy the 9-uhr pass and keep it on you.

Traveling into Mainz?  Yes, the 6500 zone includes all of the city of Mainz.

So you start to think about this.  Say you were a dependent wife of a Army guy, living in base housing, and just wanted to get out of the house daily, but no car (because of various costs).  Then you figure up that you do have some cash for this 9-uhr ticket.....maybe once or twice a week.  You buy the ticket....plan some outings, and do on a fairly cheap scale.

For an entire year, this 9-uhr ticket averages around 600 Euro.  You can do the math....it's roughly $740.  Not bad for a full-year traveling situation, although it limits you to the 6500 area only.

The better place to get info or tickets?  Down in front of the Wiesbaden train station....is a RMV booth (the glass building).  These guys generally speak good English and will sell you the cards that you desire.  Plus they have maps, and know the various discounts that you can use.

The Burger Wars, Day Ten

If you live in Germany.....it's a better than fifty percent chance that you've heard about the Burger King episode of the past ten days.  RTL's news team got within a Burger King franchise group...working at a couple of the franchise operations, and revealed a pretty lousy employee attitude, bad sanitary practices, and questionable sanitation standards.

Presently, clean-up is going on.  What Burger King will admit in public within Germany...is that they've been hit hard on lack of customers for the past week or so.  Revenues are down, and some Burger King operations are suffering a bit.

Burger King also generally says that the mass of Burger King franchises were up to standard....and they are being punished for the few who weren't.  Unfair.....would be a good quote to make.

What's going on now?  More coupons going out in mailings, which really hit hard on individual franchise operations....lessening profit.  But the management guys think it's the only way to get customers to come back in.....in droves.  There's an advertising campaign to start up.....talking about professional operations, and sanitary standards.  This might help in some ways....but I suspect that BK has lost ten percent of their customer base on a permanent basis.

The odd piece that I found from yesterday's news (the Hamburg Abendblatt)....is that present and former BK employees have around 320 labor practices violations....residing in the court system (unsettled presently), with the one company who got into the whole BK mess (they own roughly eighty franchise operations).  There's talk of 'bullying', extreme management practices, and violation of standard German labor rules.

Frankly, if I were BK Germany (the mother company).....I'd be in a fit presently because the court is going to look over at the RTL program, and start point a finger at incompetence or greed.....then fine the company.  Thousands of Euro per episode?  Yes.  German courts rarely go to the extremes that you see in US courts.  I doubt if any German employee would get more than 100,000 Euro for whatever they accused the franchise of doing.  But you add up 320 employees, and let's say that eighty percent can prove their case....the franchise owner would be in dire consequences.

Considering the damage done, and damage left on the table with labor practices violations....it might be wise for BK to buy the eighty-odd franchises, and clean up the mess with some strong ethics-minded neutral guy looking at what was done.  Maybe even admit that this is not the normal way that BK does business and insist on better way ahead.

A Bedtime Story

Once upon a time.....in a faraway land....there was this legend of the wind.  If you could harness it....capture it....channel it.....and then rid the nation of the evil coal and nuke-power generators....then all would be well.

So mortal men came and established a company called Prokon.  It would operate as a syndicate and sell the chance for other mortal men to invest and make money off the wind.

In the beginning, all was well.  Then came the business analysts and the speculation men.  Prokon was not big enough or profitable enough.  They talked and talked, and finally decided....they'd market Prokon in a mythical sort of way, and insist that they could pay six-percent dividends.

Yeah, I know....no bank in Germany....for well over twenty-five years....has offered a CD in the range of six-percent dividends.

This offer, along with ad's on subway platforms, and in various newspapers....caught the eye of the public.  People flocked in droves to Prokon.  They tossed money into the pit, and left the safety and comfort of the lousy 1.5 interest from five-year CD's at local banks.

Well.....someone reached a point where they asked, how is this possible?  Then....in the twinkling of an eye....the 1.4 billion Euro Prokon bucket of investment money dropped.

In the matter of days....Prokon was bankrupt (at least on paper).  They stalled around, and had government audit guys ask what the heck was going on, but it was mostly gone at that point.  What journalists will say now is that Prokon as around twenty million Euro in liquid funds.  Their debt picture is close to three-hundred-ninety million Euro.

The administrator in charge of this bankruptcy effort?  He's saying that folks will get some money back....certainly not what they are owed.  Most of the folks owed money....I suspect....are just hoping for a fifty-percent return and anything beyond that is really a gift in some ways.

There's roughly 22k windmills in operation in Germany today....growing each month.  Here in the area I live....there's a minimum of six-hundred windmills.  You can't drive more than ten kilometers in any direction without seeing one on some hill or ridge.

I think Prokon probably had a good business model started in the beginning.  I also suspect that they hired one or two people to pump up enthusiasm, and they dreamed up this six-percent pay-off.  It's funny....you never hear about criminal investigations over conduct like this, or audit guys showing up at a guy's house with a search warrant.

Most bedtime stories end up with some fairy appearing, or some prince fitting the right shoe on the poor beggar wrench.  In this case, the story ends with bankruptcy, lost capital, and a bunch of court guys talking over a failed scheme.  Without a dragon or knight....it's a pretty lousy story and would put anyone to sleep.

Ten Rules on German Bus Travel

I'm a frequent rider of German 'local' buses....so I kind know the general expectations.  This is my list of ten rules or expectations on the system.

1.  German buses run on a schedule, and it's always on-line and available.  Other than in snow or ice conditions....the buses RUN almost always on-time.

2.  You can buy tickets from the driver, but it's generally ten-percent higher.  Either buy them from the machine (daily ticket or a one-way ticket), or buy them via a nearby business front (your local post office or grocery).

3.  That first real row on the bus (eight seats) is usually reserved in some fashion for older retirees.  So, avoid them at all cost.

4.  You aren't supposed to drink or eat on a bus....so when you do....and you see dirty looks from the passengers, thats why they seem to be frustrated with you.

5.  If the last bus from town is at 11:58PM.....and you show up at the station at 11:59PM....you are screwed, and best have the money for a taxi.

6.  Buses from 0700 to 0830, and 1300 to 1500....typically are full of school kids and overflowing.  If standing for thirty minutes bothers you.....you'd best find another time to travel on buses.

7.  That one-way ticket you buy?  It's good from the minute you get on...until you get to the final destination (even if it takes 90 minutes).  You must punch the ticket with the machine near each entrance, and keep the ticket in case a conductor boards to exam tickets.  If the trip requires three bus changes....no big deal.  Trying to use the one-way ticket to hit three stop-off's during the morning?  It won't work and is illegal.  An all-day ticket?  If you intend to spend more than six hours in the city and travel around....it's the best deal but generally costs 6.20 Euro.

8.  Note, that an all-day ticket is for a particular local zone.  If you cross that zone into another zone....your 6.20 payment is not enough, and a conductor who catches you in the second zone will fine you (expect it to be a minimum of twenty Euro).

9.  Bus strikes do occur....rarely.  Usually....it's from o-dark-thirty in the morning and covers at least half the day.  Strikes never start at 1PM or the late afternoon.

10.  There is such a thing as a nine-hour bus pass (not just for one day but for an entire month)....which tends to cost twenty-percent less.  But, it's not effective until after 9AM, which means it fits better for a shopper or retiree....than a worker depending on bus usage.

Finally, a note about heat in the winter and cooling in the winter.  Sadly, most buses are overly warm in the winter-time and likely near 85 to 90 degrees (my humble experience).  So you might not want to overdress for winter travel, and have layers to remove if necessary.  For summer periods.....they will say most buses are air-conditioned....this usually means they can handle up to 85 degrees.  Anything beyond that.....means the bus is HOT and you will feel miserable after a thirty minute ride....thus requiring the cool refreshing feeling of a beer.

Statue Art: Frankfurt

Germans aren't particular about how chunky lusty nude lady statues....this coming from a guy who attended the fine schools of Bama which mentioned some Rembrandt guy once or twice, and might have accidentally spoken for thirty seconds on Van Gogh's talents.

Sadly, you couldn't fund a statue like this in the US.  The city council would get involved and ask questions over the intent.  Then folks would worry about the lady's physical attributes and if she was too fat or too thick.  Some cops would worry about vandals would spray-paint the statue.  And park managers would be tasked on cleaning it occasionally, which meant a crew who might make jokes over the job while hard at work.

Germans don't really care.  This is the Liegende statue in Frankfurt....along the city park.  Placed in 1937....in the Nazi era....it's hard to say if it was real art, an intentional joke, or just some criticism that was left to be interpreted.

Wiesbaden Curiosity Shops

Around the walkplatz of Wiesbaden, there's at least a dozen curiosity shops (used "JUNK" of a gaudy or questionable nature).

In my past life....I was a junk collector.  At some point, I was interrogated, and exercised to the point where I don't stop and buy JUNK anymore.

However, as I walk on various days.....I come to stop and notice really fascinating and wonderful JUNK.

There was a time in Wiesbaden when the city was floating on top of cash.  From the 1860 era to July of 1914....the city was enjoying lots of rich tourists who came, and spent money.  Merchants and shop-keepers got rich....along with bath house owners, wineries, pubs, restaurants, and fancy clothing shops.    

So, these guys went home, and handed cash over to their wife and family to spend, and ensured the hired help around the house got paid.

Folks went and bought silly stuff.....put it up, and admired it for some reason.

I would imagine there were dozens of guys in Wiesbaden in the summer of 1914 with expensive pen collections and fancy snuff boxes.  They admired their JUNK....and nothing much was said.

Today?  When folks clear out their aunt's apartment or their father's attic.....they come across stuff that folks bought in the 1920s to recently....at flea market operations, and mostly just stuck the items away.  The financial ruin of the area after the war (WW I) pretty much dissolved the new curiosity sales, and stopped guys from having fancy French pen collections or Russian pewter cups.

I'm not sure of the resell value or how fast some dancing frogs will sell....or how a standing cow in pewter is marketed.  Maybe it's all worth something.....but you just don't know.

Your Typical Average German Fruit Market

Wiesbaden operates with hundreds of small shops around the city.  Some are fifty feet wide and maybe twenty feet deep.  Small, efficient, and somewhat capable of profit.

This one?  A fruit and vegetable market.

No heating, no cooling, and just a couple of lights.  It's right off the street...so a truck can pull up at 6AM and dump twelve boxes off, and later at noon....drop another couple of boxes off.  One guy can run the operation for most of the day, with a few breaks by his wife or cousin filling in.

On the Backs of Men

 If you make a pretty long walk around Frankfurt....you tend to notice sculptures built into buildings.  Normally, there are free-standing men, Greeks Gods, or winged myths built on top of buildings.  But in this case....it's men built onto the side of a building....bearing the load of the landscape upon their back.

I probably came across at least five buildings in a couple of hours that had the design.

I admit....I probably stood there for several minutes in each case and marveled at the way it was built into the building and likely had a clear message to the purpose of the original building and it's occupants.

It tends to say something about the society, the economy, and life itself....being built upon the backs of men.  Either through their money, their taxation, their physical labors, or their achievements in life.

None of these are modern (the past fifty years).....they all come from the period prior to 1914 and the war.

Frankfurt has been a major business capital of Hessen, Germany, and for that matter....Europe and the world.

Risk and failure were always part of the banking and investment world.  It's not new....it's been around for thousands of years.  I suspect at some point in the 1800s....bankers and speculators began to sit down and view things from a scientific standpoint.  This got into construction ideas for new investment and banking structures.

Tens of thousands of people walk by these buildings today, and I doubt if even one-percent of them grasp the meaning of the statues built into the buildings.

Elsewhere in Europe?  I haven't really noticed these anywhere else.  Maybe it was a limited sculptor team that only operated in Frankfurt, and this is the lifetime of work that they can lay claim to.  Anyway.....if you are around the north side of the river, and have two or three hours....just walk near the financial district of Frankfurt and pay attention.  

A Quiet Unassuming Statue

Opfern translates from German to English.....meaning sacrifice, or to give of themselves for some greater good.

In Frankfurt, in the midst of city park about fifteen minutes walking from the Bahnhof....is the statue dedicated to sacrifice.

It was a statue coming out of the WW I era (1919) and centered on everyone who gave up something for the war (families gave up sons, wives gave up husbands, cities gave up future generations, etc).

Usually, it's Greek myths, historical icons, Roman warriors, noted statesmen, muscular horses, dead heroes, and soldiers who never returned from war who get made into park statues (sadly).

Few ever make a statue to honor sacrifice of society itself.  Sacrifice doesn't pass legislation, sign laws, or fit easily into a history icon.  Sacrifice can mean more than written words, or sweat.

This particular park is under some renovation, and there's a bit of landscaping efforts underway.

The statue?  It's fifty feet from the trail and few Frankfurt residents would see or observe it.  If I mentioned it to ten thousand Frankfurt residents (those who've been in the city for forty years).....I doubt if more than a hundred would stand and note where the statue is within the city.

The artist?  Benno Elkan.....a Jewish artist, who left Germany in 1935.

The odd history to the monument is that it came into negative view of the Nazis.....who felt statues ought to honor warriors.  So, at some point in the 1940-era....it was pulled down but not destroyed.  I'm guessing the city crew probably just picked it up and put it at some storage yard....waiting for further instructions which never came. In April of 1946.....another ceremony was held, and the statue was put back into the park.  It's quietly sat there ever since.

So, if you are in Frankfurt, near the European Central Bank and Taunus Strasse....there's a city park there, and along the trail....rests this statue.  Just minutes walking away from the Willy Brandt U-Bahn station.

The Energiepass

A couple of years ago here in Germany, some folks sat down.....with various agendas....and came to this conclusion that homes and apartment buildings....places of residence....ought to have a colorful form that details energy usage.

Mostly, this would center around heat usage and how the building itself rates.  Yeah, it's kinda like that colorful graphic chart on the refrigerator or freezer that you buy.  It would tell you the magical numbers and how efficient the house is or isn't.

They decided that it'd be optional and just kinda phase in.....and as of 1 May 2014, it's now mandatory.

The catch?  If you are about to rent a place or sell a place....the renter or buyer can expect this and you have to come up with it.  You can sense there's some gimmicks to the energiepass.  Well, yeah....there's some fallout to come of this business.

Can a owner do it himself?  Yes....there are local guys that you can approach who will produce the certificate or pass.  There's also an on-line deal where you input the numbers, and pay roughly 50 to 75 Euro.  The pass is generally good for ten years.

Amount of info required?  You need three years of data on heat, water, etc.

A fine if fake data or a false energiepass is created?  Well...yes of course.

So, this brings me to the future issue.  What this energiepass is going to create is a massive number of homes and apartment buildings which are unsellable or unrentable.....because of significant bad numbers on energy usage.  So the owner is forced into a corner....either spend thousands on renovating the building or just leave the empty house or building standing there.....not to be used for anything.

Are there that many homes and apartment buildings with bad insulation?  Folks argue over this.  Most everything built in the past twenty years easily pass standards.  Houses from the 1960s?  Not so much, unless the guy renovated and updated his house.  Apartment buildings are rarely renovated and it might be a forty-year period before some owner gets around to improving the house.

My humble guess....around fifty percent of apartment buildings and houses over forty years old.....will have lousy numbers on this pass.

Some folks in this process (going back a decade or more) probably saw this device as a forceful tool to either bring renovation to the marketplace or to force more new construction business.  Either way....more money has to be spent and the consumer.....you as the buyer or the renter....will end up paying a fair chunk more.

I'd expect rents to move up the scale over the next five years as apartment building owners are pushed into energy renovation.  Cheap renovation?  There is no such thing in Germany.

The energiepass was something with good intentions...at least on the front of the idea.  Sadly, it'll trigger more cost to the typical German, and maybe two decades down the line....result in the vast majority of German residences being fairly good on heat and utility numbers.  But I would expect somewhere in the shadows.....some wizard of manipulation to stand there and create energiepass II, and get fussy over numbers and factors of manipulating them.  So.....more of the same.

Bottom line?  When you hear of the word....it relates to a colorful chart that will tell you the heat usage of the building, and is mandatory from 1 May 2014 on...in Germany.

The Wiesbaden Organ Van Bogus Story

Today, the local newspaper for me....the Wiesbaden Kourier....came out with a lengthy article that was mostly written by the cops of Wiesbaden.

You see....for weeks, there's been this story going around in chat forums and Facebook pages of the locals....over a rumor of a mafia gang operating in Wiesbaden and kidnapping kids for organ transplant.  The description was usually a white van, with foreign plates, and shady characters who were trying to kidnap kids off the street, for some rich guy in a foreign country to have a new kidney.

What the cops generally say....somewhere on a Turkish newspaper read by the local Turks here in Wiesbaden....was a short piece that simply said an investigation was underway and involved kids taken off the streets, the mafia and organ transplants.  The story....from start to finish....is bogus.  But most folks read newspapers and assume everything printed, to always be true.

I have to admit....it's a pretty imaginative scenario.  How often did it get repeated?  Not just hundreds or thousands....but probably tens of thousands of times.  At some point....some kids probably started talking to teachers about it, and teachers finally asked the school director about the rumor....and this guy calls up the local mayor or chief of police.  Eventually, it's a daily task to explain it's a bogus story and the cops get tired of stating the facts that no such mafia white van exists.

Next week?  Some idiot will likely start a new bogus fake story of Ukrainian-Russians in the local area....planning hoodlum acts and burning cars nightly down on Mainzer Strasse.  

Burger King Saga Continues

It's been five days now since the investigative piece came out here in Germany over Burger King and it's questionable cooking and operating practices at a couple of franchise operations.  Germans now refer to it as a "sh*t-storm".....which usually means a bunch of chatter....mostly negative....and fast reactions by various participants in this game.

The most comical piece came out late yesterday....with a new Burger King code of conduct for employees.  It's basically a couple of simple questions, and how an employee is supposed to answer to customers.

When you gaze over the employee listing of Burger King throughout Germany....it's kinda like the same experience as in the US.  You've got folks who are marginally making it in life....limited education....limited intelligence....who don't really care about your company, it's success, or profitability.  It's simply a minimum wage job with no better path for the future.

Now, some management dimwit hands you a slip of paper and demands you read it before coming onto shift.....to sign some form noting that you read it.

The chief bit of comic relief?  There's a question that a customer could ask.....if you the BK worker eat at your own shop?  The correct answer is "yes, of course, almost daily".

Most burger franchise operations operate a heavily discounted meal deal for employees, so I would imagine that most eat there....mostly because it's a cheap meal.  Beyond that.....they don't care.

If you showed the investigative journalism piece to BK workers....would it frighten them off from eating?  I'm not sure about that.  Most would say that their own operations are better run and they don't notice unsanitary practices.

In the days to come.....you can imagine some German BK employees at the cash register as you walk up.....and you just smile to ask if they eat regularly there, and they smile back...."yes, of course, almost daily".  You the customer wink.....the BK employee winks.....and everyone plays a little game of pretending to care.

Maybe what we need is to bring the BK management team onto the scene....and not ask them to IF they eat at BK regularly.....but mandate that they have to eat a BK menu meal in front of you.  If they refuse.....then I'd just walk away.  Maybe if they had some fear over their own business operations and had a grasp of the real world.....it'd change for the better.  Just my humble two cents on this stupid topic.

The Big Story Over Age Sixty-Three Retirement in Germany

I admire German political figures....because they usually do their homework, and when they pump out some new program idea.....they know the vast impact completely.  There are rarely shockers where funding issues or limitations are later discovered....to the disadvantage of the German tax-payer.

So, this past week....some smart guys sat down and really poured over the new SPD idea of retirement at age 63 for the typical German worker.  Over the past five months since the idea got tossed out there....most CDU and FDP political figures questioned the whole thing and how Germany could possibly afford a vast sum as they imagined.

From the public?  Oh my....they got real peppy and excited over the idea of retiring two years earlier than the iron-clad rule of the past.  There are tens of thousands of folks in a state of mind already geared toward this new and yet unapproved retirement plan.

So, the smart guys came to the gimmick.  Basically.....it's a very small group of German workers that this would help or fall into play for.  Yeah, the SPD guys did their research well ahead of time, and know that it's a small amount of tax revenue to make this happen.....yet, it'll be some successful policy agenda that they can brag about in the next election.

You see....part of the gimmick centers on when you were born.  You had to be born before 1 January 1953, and now be sixty-three.....get into the first row of possible retirees.  If you were born after that date....no special deal and you have to add two months more, for each year.

Based on the numbers that Focus (the German magazine) crunched....there's only twenty-three million Germans who got into the first row of possible players.  But, then....there's a second factor which got tossed into the mess. A number of the twenty-three million.....are already retired.  Ha!  Focus says around 17.2 million.  So they can't play this game.

Who is left?  It's around five million (more or less).

Then, you get to the final factor....you had to have forty-five years of paying into the system.  You can't count unemployment or sabbatical periods.  No one has a clear picture of the numbers in this final filter....but I would imagine that the majority of Germans have at least one year of unemployment from older generation, and that means sixty-four would be the earliest they could retire.

How many make it through this final filter?  No one in the media has those numbers.  Only the government has access to the data and could talk in public about this, and they don't seem to be too talkative.  I can only take an educated guess and humbly think it's around 300,000 Germans.  Maybe even less than that.

Might all this pep and excitement in the German public sector over retirement at sixty-three.....affect just 300,000 of the eighty million?  Yeah.  Course, for the 300,000.....it's a big deal, and maybe you will celebrate with a big backyard bar-b-q for the friends and neighbors.  The rest of them?   They are sitting there on the balcony and wondering how they missed the filters on this early retirement deal.

So, hours and hours of forum chatter on German TV over this BIG issue.....with lots of experts talking over the limitations, or practical nature of early retirement, or the impending disaster for tax-payers.  And now?  It might just be a "little fart in the wind"?  Yeah.

Burger Wars Continued

Almost every day this week in Germany....there's another hamburger franchise update since the Burger King coverage on Monday night.

This morning.....there's chatter about the McDonalds one-Euro deals.

I've seen the advertisements and know the gimmick.  There's roughly ten items on the McDonalds menu which sell for one-Euro each.  It's a great sales gimmick.  The problem is.....they've undercut the regular prices and the franchise owner is basically selling items where he's getting no profit.  By the time you figure the five-percent franchise fee, the five-percent advertising fee, and roughly 150,000 Euro a year for the rent of the building and equipment....this one-Euro gimmick is zeroing out profits.

Naturally, the only thing that a McDonalds manager can do....is cut corners.

From the German magazine Focus this morning.....one of their sources laid into the fact that most all burger chains are now in frustrated economic issues and might be prone to cross the line on normally expected cooking and sanitary practices.

In 1984 when I worked at Ramstein....there were a limited number of American burger franchises around.  Today?  Just with Subway, which has become a popular trendy franchise operation in Germany.....there's roughly 520 operations.  McDonalds has around 1,400 operations.

The general problem here....if you stand back and look at the Monday night show....is that ownership got themselves into a tight frustrating episode over profit margin.  Whether or not the mother company triggered this, or the burger wars going on, or the stupid advertising campaign....they are all now being hurt by the mess.

The Snowden Week

The effort to bring Edward Snowden to Germany for testimony.....got a pretty hard stumble yesterday....as a special committee for the Bundestag came to the decision that it wasn't practical or smart to bring Snowden into Germany.

It was a twenty-seven page explanation.  What one could get out of the details is that Germany evaluated the cost and gains of such a on-site testimony....then gauged US reactions (probably cutting Germany off from various intelligence programs), and the heavier weight fell to a 'no-Snowden-visit'.

The end?  Well....no.  The committee simply evaluated what would occur, what was of value, and how things might turn out.  The Bundestag could go entirely against the committee, and just state that a majority (SPD, Greens and Linke Party) felt it was a great idea to bring Snowden into the country.  Would this harm the relationship of the SPD to the CDU.....to the current government?  Probably so.....but it's not exactly a four-star relationship currently anyway.

Chances of interviewing Snowden in Russia?  Well....the committee hinted that it didn't see big issues with that.  Course, this means that the dream deal that Snowden seeks.....getting out of Moscow and permanently staying in Germany.....won't happen.

Adding to some odd variety to the whole story is an item which barely got mentioned in this week's Snowden events.  You see....Snowden has a new attorney in his corner.....Plato Cacheris.  Why would Snowden need Cacheris?  Well....Cacheris is thought (by the NY Times) to be this guy who will talk to the US gov't and possibly work a deal for Snowden to return to the US.

Yeah, I know....it's an amazing thing.....Snowden desiring to return to the US?  After a number of months, and funding for his marginal lifestyle in question while living there in Moscow, under guard.....I suspect that Snowden has come to realize that this isn't going to work long-term.  There's no prospects of a stable life under these conditions.  On the thinking level.....he never put much thought into long-term implications....that's obvious.

The hinge to such a deal?  One can only imagine that Snowden wants some type of charity or compassion to what he's done.  I imagine it's a desired signed deal.....arrive in California, avoid court episodes, admit some type of guilt, remain in California for the prison deal, and get a sentence determined in advance.  My humble bet?  A twenty-five year deal at a minimum security place, with access to the internet.  He'd likely expect release at the year twenty under good behavior and still be less than sixty by the time he leaves.

The odds of such a deal?  If he had all the files and data on himself (rather than his Guardian journalist friend).....I think they'd talk to him and rig up a deal (probably thirty years).  But Edward doesn't have the files.  He's basically worthless to talk or discuss the situation in detail.

We are approaching twelve months of this game that he set upon.  He's probably figured out by now that some of the people who said they would support him.....weren't really helping him, and likely pushed him toward the Moscow-solution.  Some of the advisers that were 'free' in the beginning.....probably are seen now as fronting some agenda which he doesn't really grasp or understand in detail.

The German side of this?  If he had all the files and could deliver a testimony with every single detail from the files....he'd be a million-dollar guy to interview.  Sadly, he has no files, and every other week....his Guardian buddies release another key part of the files.  The agenda will continue for months.....maybe even years.  For the German people and government....what you'd get out of a Snowden testimony is simply version 1.0, and next week....you'd find that there is more to the episode.....getting you version 2.0, and next month.....more new German stories with version 3.0.

For this reason, the absolute necessity of the Greens in demanding Edward be allowed into Germany.....is of marginal to zero value. Other than publicity, magnet for political intrigue, and pandering to German journalists who got left to the side of the street because the Guardian guys got the bulk of the files.....it's all a joke.