German TV and GEZ

This weekend....it kinda came out in Germany that the German TV tax guys are a bit disturbed.  They've come to figure that around fifteen million residences in Germany....aren't paying that TV tax.  It's a heck of a lot of money that ought to be going into the pot....that isn't.

German TV was designed in the 1950s with a state-run mechanism.  Rather than have commericals cover the cost.....it was a government thing, and everyone needed to pay if they owned a single TV or a single radio.  This concept lived on till the last five years when a flat fee deal was put together.  Today, if you own a radio or computer....you pay a simple 5.52 Euro fee.  If you own a TV, you pay a 17.03 Euro fee.  All monthly.

Through all the decades, the GEZ folks (the license and fee folks of mechanism).....built up a huge database of houses....who lived where.....and who paid.  It's probably the most comprehensive listing of any country in Europe.  The smart guys have compared the listing and what is coming in.....now realizing there's a problem.

The issues?  First, there's probably at least five million Germans or 'guests' who absolutely refuse to pay for the license.  They consider this state taxation game for TV to be bogus and would rather just refuse to pay it.  The punishment?  Well....the inspectors can come around and ask to enter your home.....but there's no legal method existing today for them to enter....unless a judge gets involved.

Second, there's a fair number of empty homes, cottages and apartments around Germany.  This database in question.....doesn't really take into consideration these empty places.  Some numbers of question....suggest around 1.8 million residences empty at present in Germany.  There's been real estate commentary going around that the number is increasing yearly as people die off, and the population lessens....with urban decay underway.

Third, the behavioral folks suggest that a growing crowd of German youths are simply abandoning TV in general.....sticking with internet delivery devices.  This crowd has zero interest in state-run TV or any of it's offerings.  Personally, I'm expecting a court episode sooner or later where some judge asks ARD or ZDF (the two big players of state-run TV) why they bother with internet streaming when there's not a big crowd asking for the service or using the service.

There's roughly between forty-five million and fifty million residences reported in Germany, depending on who you get the numbers from.  If fifteen million residences aren't playing along, it really begs attention.  Can the present model survive with the 17-Euro fee for TV per residence.....if a quarter of the population refuses to pay?  Would people be accepting of the idea of pushing up the fee to 24-Euro to make up for the loss?  Will some court step in and abolish the whole tax scheme?  There's a lot of questions here, and I suspect something big will have to occur in 2015 to settle these questions.

Local Hilltop on Sale

If I walk out the door of my house, and go on the trail around the woods......within a thirty-minute walk, I will be at the Kellerskopf.  For the locals, it's the highest point of elevation within miles.  It's also the location of a tower and a restaurant.

This weekend, I noticed that the property is up for sale.  A decent sized property, with a fifty-car parking lot, and a large building structure.  They want 998,000 Euro.  Yeah, it's a hefty price attached to it, and I'd have some doubts that he can get that much for the property.

There's not a big sorted history with the place.  It was "settled" in 1930, and built up a reputation as a quiet mountain retreat for people to get into their cars and drive over for a drink or two, or a full-up dinner.  You could spend five minutes walking up the tower stairway, to get a view of everything within five miles in any direction.  Or you could park a fair bit away, and hike up the various trails to the restaurant.

The guy who owns it....isn't the guy who runs the restaurant today.....a rental deal.  There's a fair amount of business going on, but it's not really a place that you'd seek out in cooler weather.  I'd suspect that seventy percent of their business is done in spring and summer.  On the other hand, there's a fair amount of catering done for wedding parties and such....which might occur all-year round.

I'm guessing it might take a while to sell the property.  The guy who buys into this.....has a limit on income and there's not much space to add on more structure.....like a hotel.

So, if you wanted a rustic old-fashioned stone building on top of a hilltop overlooking Wiesbaden, with a eighty-year old tower.....and plenty of woods surrounding the whole structure....this is the deal.

Business Operation for Sale

I sometimes browse around on business operations for sale here in the Rhine Valley area.  This week, I came across a unique operation for sale....a brothel.  Yep, a up and running brothel....around twenty ladies in the current operation, for sale as a business....for ninety-five thousand Euro (figure $120k).

It's on the Mainz side of the river, and has all the licenses required.  Business clients are regular and business is fairly good, at least profitable as they say.  The cause for the sale isn't given.  It might be the hours required, the frustration with the young ladies, or just the background of the business wearing a guy out.

Forty years ago....it would have been a one-hundred-percent German owned and German-gal operated operation.  I kinda doubt that is the case today.....with most of the ladies of a non-German origin.

The problem with German brothels (based on documentary pieces of the past).....you end up as a part-time baby-sitter, mental shrink, facility manager, customer complaint source, HR department, magnet for local mayors or corruption angles, and business manager.  It's not a forty-hour a week job.....more likely to be of the sixty to eighty hour a week, and forget about taking more than three or four days of vacation at a time throughout the year.  All of this....to keep everything functioning correctly and ensure that profits stay at a reasonable level.

I'd take a guess in the Mainz, Frankfurt and Wiesbaden region....there are probably over sixty brothels in operation.  Some significant (Frankfurt), and some of bare notice.

From the ninety-five thousand cost....how much would a guy take as profit each year?  Well....you don't own the building usually, and that means that roughly half the money coming in....will go toward rent, utilities and insurance.  By the time you part out your costs....I'm guessing a guy could take home forty-five thousand Euro a year, and might occasionally bump up to sixty thousand Euro.  But, then there's those taxes.  Throw in the accountant having to manage cash flow and explain things, along with occasional lawyers to fight off the city council or some irate customer who felt things didn't go well with "wicked Wanda".

An American would look at the opportunity and ask a bunch of questions....wanting desperately to portray himself as a brothel manager....print up business cards....and hype his new profession to his high school or college buddies.  Temptation usually drags on a guy enough....until he starts to think logically over what's involved and how you explain this new profession to grandma or the wife.  Then you settle back and decide it's best to pass over such a move in life.

Some guy will eventually buy the operation.....probably run it somewhat successfully for four years, and then get stressed out.  He'll decide to market it, and maybe a year or two later....sell it onto the next guy.  A bit of profit....a bit of unreported income.....and a drain on your patience.  At some point....enough is enough.  And you say good-bye to Olga, Wanda, Ingrid, Minni, Bobo, and Oretta.  Then you remind yourself.....that was their fake names and to be honest.....you never knew their real names anyway.

Such it is in life.

The Hunter Gentleman

I'll sometimes point out oddball moments of European and German history, and how things unravel in ways that you cannot imagine.

There's this kid born on 18 December 1863 in Graz, Austria.  The kid is royalty, but on the scale of things....he's number four down and ought remain a prince for his entire life.  As statistics go....it's a ninety-nine percent that you will go through life....learn how to ballroom dance, get some hunting skills, learn French mostly to chat with some hot lusty French pretender royal gals, develop a passion for dressing well for occasions, and be a first-rate horse enthusiast.  Toss in some knowledge of history, participation in the Catholic Church, and visiting other royal folks to gossip up on affairs and diseases of a suspicious nature....and you got a pretty good life as a prince.

So is destined Ferdinand of the Habsburg Empire.  There are three guys in front of him, and the odds are stacked against him ever getting to the number one spot.

Well....things just didn't turn out well.

There's Archduke Maximilian.....who ends up in Mexico as a royal.  He's the brother of the Emperor (Franz Joseph I).  "Max" ends up as the Mexican Emperor (yeah, who could imagine such a scene).  His reign lasted three years, and then the whole thing fell apart in 1867.  "Max" is executed by Mexican locals, who tossed out the monarchy idea entirely.

There's Archduke Karl Ludwig.....who ends up dying in 1896 of typhoid.

Finally, there's Crown Prince Rudolf, who would have been the absolute guy to take the place of the Emperor one day....except he got married with a Belgian royal baroness gal.  Things never took off, and Rudolf took to drinking....heavily.  What is generally said is that he kinda got fed up with the new wife only after two or three years, and wanted some type of blessing from the Pope to get out of the 'mess' (this would never come).

Rudolf ends up taking up hunting, and buys this great lodge deal in 1887 (Mayerling).  This is six years after the marriage start-up.  Mayerling was a upscale property in the woods.....a manor....that was far away from the inside crowd and private enough that guy could do just about anything he wanted.

From what is written....Rudolf ends up twelve months later after buying the hunting lodge.....in some kind of relationship with a fifteen-year old Baroness.  Yeah, she was underage, and in the immortal words of a fellow Bama-ite...."jail-bait".

Rudolf and this Baroness Mary Vetsara become a hot item.   For three years, the relationship evolves....to the point where Mary is begging Rudolf to get a divorce from the old wife, and marry her.  This divorce never seems to get serious, and in the end....there is this suicide pact made between Mary and Rudolf, which occurs on 30 January 1889.

Yeah, there's speculation of more to the story....foreign agents....murder....etc.  But a hundred years later....still no solid proof other than two nutty lovers who committed suicide.

All of this puts Ferdinand into the number one seat.  By the time that 1914 had come around.....there was only one thing that Ferdinand had a passion for....hunting.  Yes, an odd hobby, to the extreme.

You see....Ferdinand was kinda obsessive on the hunting habit.  Generally, he was hunting seven days a week.  Based on research and comments written about the Crown Prince.....he probably had killed over 200,000 animals in life.  He had money, time and connections.....to travel the globe and hunt in just about every single environment possible.

He'd hunted bears, lions, tigers, and elephants.  By the age of forty, he'd amassed a fair-sized collection of weapons, and was probably one of the most knowledgeable guys in Europe at the time....on guns.

All of this brings me to the initial grenade attack on his car....hours before the shooting that was successful.  You see....Ferdinand was fairly quick on grasping situations.  As the grenade came at the Crown Duke.....he deflected it easily.  He wasn't unnerved or lacking perception.  He also didn't back down after the initial attack and ask for more guards.

We are a hundred years past that episode.  It's an odd thing.  Three other individuals should have been number one in line, and they weren't there.  History is written in the margins...things that should occur, and don't.  People written out of a script because they were at the wrong place.....at the wrong time.  And in the end....the most prolific hunter in history....gunned down by some subversive dimwits to bring about a change in history.

A Shooting

It's one of those little things that you notice after a while....crime news isn't on the national news coverage of Germany.  It's rare that you sit there at 8PM....watching Channel One's (ARD)'s news piece and there's something on crime.

To be honest....even your regional TV coverage will be limited. So, you are left to mostly regional newspapers which tell of crime episodes.

Today, there's the story of some landlord out of northern Germany....who got fed up....his renter was behind on payment for electricity and such....so he cut the guy off.  The guy reacted.....shooting the landlord dead in the car, and would have shot the landlord's brother if the cheap gun he had hadn't jammed.  Legal gun?  I'm not betting on it....cops aren't talking at this point.  The guy reacted......shot the landlord, and later walked into a local station to turn himself in.

Hostility breeds reactions that sometime are pretty bad.

Here's the thing.....same town.....hours later.....another shooting.  That victim will likely survive.  Cops looking for the shooter presently.

Lot of shooting?  Well....here's the thing.  You just don't know because the national news folks won't carry it.  So you'd have to go paper by paper, and put stories together.  The general trend here in Hessen (my local state).....is knives and beatings.  You still die.....it's just by non-shooter aggressive people.

Germans will get all hyped up on talking trash talk on America and the gun mentality.  Generally, they miss these stories in their own backyard, and don't realize that they have the same problem going on here....just to a lesser degree.  You could wake up this morning....do your normal daily tasks, and suddenly find some frustrated character facing you with a pistol and he's out run of options for fixing his problem.

Wiesbaden Market Pillar

 The Market Pillar resides on the Marktplatz of Wiesbaden....about a block from the city park and on the cobblestone area where vendors appear on Saturday to sell fruit and vegetables.

On the list of the top five monuments or statues in Wiesbaden to check on....I'd rate it near the top.

Around 1902....it went up in the area where an underground vault area for wine was set.

There are probably twenty different symbols on the pillar, which can all have various meanings.

This era of 1902?  Well...the spa resort authority of Wiesbaden was still in full swing, and anything put up.....was a tourist spot for the VIPs to mingle, gather, and spend money.

Looking for a marker on the pillar?  It'll be hard to find anything much, and there's no plague or identifier.....other than some city map that probably got you there in the first place.

My general advice would be to stand and admire it.....step a hundred feet over and have an ice cream or an apple wine, and enjoy the downtown area of Wiesbaden.

When You are Young, Stupid and Naive

This week, Germany quietly pulled out of it's little laws that says....if you are a German and join up with an identified terrorist organization in another country, which is on the banned list in Germany...then return to Germany, you will face serious charges (real jail time).

As far as I know, it's the first time that they've shown a willingness to use the law and demonstrate an attitude that you'd best not think about coming back to Germany after you've done something pretty stupid.

The guy in question is from Frankfurt....twenty years old....and reportedly (the local media says it anyway) a trained member of ISIS.  The press indicates he spent at least six months in Syria and returned to Germany in the last month or two.

Where this goes?  I'm guessing the guy has an active Islamic movement covering his lawyer costs, and seeking to press this upward and have the law thrown out by the German Supreme Court.  Naturally, this will take at least eighteen months minimum....maybe even three years.  No one has really challenged this law....mostly I think because it's not been used and no real history exists on success or failure.

The odds of the German Supreme Court throwing it out?  It is an arbitrary thing about which terror group gets on the banned list and which doesn't make it.  The law apparatus utilizes the experts at the BND (the German CIA) and German police standards.  Personally, I'd give it a thirty-percent chance of being thrown out.

The implications?  That's the curious thing of the story.

Say you were a twenty-two year old German dimwit from Mannheim who got all peppy and hyped up on Islam....ran off to Syria....joined the ISIS movement in the summer of 2013, when they were the 'good-guys'.  You are second-generation German, with your parents from Turkey and always unsure of a life path....then found this great moment to help your religious friends fight the evil Assad of Syria.

Then you woke up one day to discover that the Assad war is stalled, and the leadership of ISIS has decided to find new targets outside of Syria to fight.  You get frustrated and ask questions.....then realize that this organization is fairly bogus and taking orders from some source you don't trust.

Normally, you'd walk out....take a bus over to Turkey, cross the border.....talk dad into buying a one-way ticket for you back to Germany.....show your passport, and return to a family and home.  Now, you hear about this law application, and realize you might get German jail-time for being a member of ISIS.  What now?  Where can you go, if you realize ISIS is bogus?  Your dad's old country....Turkey?  Well....you don't speak Turkish, and Turkey probably has an anti-ISIS law as well.

Somewhere else in the Middle East?  Other than hiding out in Syria.....you are screwed.

All of this leads back to a young naive dimwit....sitting in a Mosque in Germany.....getting all this hyped-up talk of going off to help fight the war against Assad.  You don't think....you don't rationalize the situation.....you don't ask questions.....and you don't really see through the fog to the big picture.

This Frankfurt guy is probably going to spend a couple of years in prison.....maybe five or six.  It might clear his head and make him appreciate rational thinking and logical decisions.  He might be better off in the end.  The sad thing is that he wasted six months in Syria, and will waste a couple of years in prison.....learning an important life lesson about decision making.

The Gal on the Bull

Wiesbaden has an abundance of city park space.  At one end, near the train station....is a pool area with one extra large statue of a naked gal laying on top of a resting bull.

Yeah, It's an odd piece and you simply stand there....gazing at it and wondering the myth or romantic novel that comes with the gal on the bull.

On a typical June afternoon, there are around sixty people resting in various poses on the benches or on the grass.  I imagine most are taking their lunch hour and dumping a fair amount of stress.

The green stuff at the bottom of the pool?  Algae.  A fair number of ducks visit the pool and things collect up there.

On my list of things in life to see....left still unvisited is Central Park in New York City.  For some reason, I envision Central Park to be similar to the Wiesbaden City Park.

Worth visiting?  The park space in Wiesbaden is fairly significant.  I'd take a guess at well over 500 acres of space, and it'd take pretty much a day to walk around the various parks in the city.  If you got a sunny day and mild temperature....it'd be worth a visit.

Fastfood in Germany

Back in the 1980s, there were a number of US franchise operations which tried to introduce themselves into Germany.  A fair number failed.  The successes?  McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fired Chicken.

In the last decade, a new attempt was made with several US operations: Subway and Dominos.

I would say that it's a rough business and just because of success in the US....it doesn't mean that the taste or the gimmick works in Germany.

Burger King and McDonalds?  They made it but Wendys didn't.  Both BK and McDonalds currently suffer because the corporate strategy is just to get shops open and then stage a massive coupon campaign, which means the local franchise owner is barely making any real profit.  If you really hold operating expenses to the absolute limit.....you might walk away each year feeling good (not great, but just good).  The coupon gimmick was supposed to get bigger crowds in, but after a while you notice that coupons are now a monthly thing and they cut into regular planning and finance.

Kentucky Fried Chicken?  They do a fairly good business, but Germans aren't exactly big chicken-eaters.  The only difference between the US and German KFC?  For some odd reason (based on the half-dozen times I've been at KFC over the past decade).....is that the chickens are slightly smaller (a quarter less in size) at the German shop.  I'm guessing they buy from Spain and go for the lesser costly chickens there.  Otherwise, it's the same basic operation.

Dominos?  Well....since they redid the menu and rediscovered how to make good pizza five years ago.....it's making it at a slow pace in Germany.  There aren't that many operations but it's growing.

Subway?  It's an unusual success story.  After you look at the menu and the cost situation.....it's a great deal for the lunch crowd.  It's about the cheapest lunch that you can find.  The Subway in the picture?  It's in the big hall as you enter the Wiesbaden train station.

I won't say that American fastfood is doing a four-star success here in Germany.  Some picked great locations, and some simply exist waiting on the better days ahead.

Accidents in Wiesbaden

If you follow daily Wiesbaden news....about every two or three days.....there's a significant accident within the city limits of a two-wheel vehicle.  Sometimes a bike, sometimes a scooter, sometimes a motorcycle.

Back in the winter months, we had some gal who was on a bike and was killed within the city limits as a bus ran her over.

Yesterday, I was halfway between the walkplatz and the train station.....and this accident occurred about sixty seconds before I got there.

Hard to say if the motorcyclist saw the car at the last minute (not in the picture), or just bad luck.  On the positive side.....the motorcyclist was ok, just a bit shaken up.  If you notice....he's got the reflective jacket on.....gloves....and is wearing heavier grade shoes.  Most folks aren't that safety-minded when you stand there on the streets and observe regular habits.

Fastnachtsbrunnen Statue (Mainz)

The folks in Mainz put a statue for just about any reason.  The Fasnachtsbrunnen statue.....is about ten minutes walking east from the bahnhof.

The local crowd put forward the idea in the mid-1960s of having a statue dedicated toward 'fests'.  Yeah, it's an odd subject.  Mainz was in the rebuilding stage from the war, and the locals wanted something that hinted of a new culture and lifestyle emerging out of the era.  Somehow, through the various nominations of artistic ideas....this is what got to the top of the list.

What an American would generally say is that it's a bunch of metal objects fixed into some fountain.  You can stand there for twenty minutes trying to imagine some meaning to it, but it's just about impossible.  My recommendation is that if you make it to the Schillerplatz, then stop and have an ice cream or apple wine.....and spend some time on the street just people-watching.

The Jupiter Statue in Mainz

 If you venture into Mainz....around the Landestag building near the river....behind it is this obisk type statue, referred to as the Jupiter Column.

What is generally said about this column is that the Romans were all fired up and designed this originally (going back 2,000 years).  At some point, the Roman era ended, and the locals.....probably in some peeved emotion over the crappy Roman 'bosses'....dumped the column.

So for around 1,500-odd years....it was lost.  Around 1904/1905....it was rediscovered by the locals and turned into a big deal.  You can imagine the newspaper folks all hyped up....some Roman-era statue found, and it's a big deal for the local Mainz crowd (at least in this modern era).

They worked up a platform and put the statue in a honored place....right behind the Landestag building near the river.

Best way to find the site?  Cross the river heading south, and the Landestag is impossible to miss.  Parking, I admit....is questionable.  Better to be on foot.

The historical notes mostly say that the Romans came up onto the Mainz area and stayed for roughly 500 years.  The statue was supposed to honor the Roman rule, Jupiter, and Nero.

One can imagine a bunch of local Germans standing there as the last Roman soldier left.....fired up and using horses and ropes to yank the statue down, then drag it off to the river.  Probably some cursing....some beer consumed....and some wild stories the next couple of decades as the crowd who dumped Jupiter down by the Rhine.

Condition today?  In remarkably good shape and worth a ten-minute trip to note.

Christmas in June

Sometimes, I'll point out successful German businesses.  This one?  Kathe Wohlfahrt.

It's a Christmas ornament shop.....open all twelve months out of the year.  Yeah, it's a bit odd to stand there at the doorway in June and gaze at Christmas ornaments.

It's a company which runs out of Bavaria, but you will find shops in most major urban areas of Germany.

Pricing?  On rare occasions, you might find a sale or discount underway, but normally....you pay full price.  If you were looking for unique Christmas-related items....it's the place to go.  This one in the picture?  In Rudeshelm.

Head Cleaner?

Here in Wiesbaden....people are generally thinking ahead of the game plan.  The city council in the past couple of days have come to a decision...by September....to hire up a person whose sole job in life is to assess, analyze and maximize on cleanliness (of the city).  Yeah, chief manager of cleanliness.

Apparently, what the city desires, is to take all the various functions that exist from street cleaners to park maintenance folks, and the other dozen-odd groups that relate to upkeep of the city landscape....and somehow have a more focused effort.  More bang for the buck, as we Americans would say.

No one says much over how much they pay for the job.....so I'm guessing it'll be between thirty and forty thousand Euro (figure forty-five percent taxation with social benefit costs).

Resume requirements?  Well....no one said much over that.  I'd take a guess that you need some type of civil engineering background....maybe a couple of years working for some smaller town's maintenance department....a knack for orderly operations....friendly with the clean-up crews....and some basic ideas over landscape maintenance.  I'd suspect that they already have a person in mind and that it's a virtual guaranteed lock-in for that one individual.  There's also a hint....at least by what the Wiesbaden Kurier (our local paper) that it's a one-year experiment job.  They might extend it by late 2015, or they might just dissolve it.

Does Wiesbaden have a neatness issue?  For a city of 280,000.....it's probably the cleanest place that I can imagine.  It's true.....after a fest or big week of celebration.....things are a bit untidy or messed up for a day or two....but the "gang" of clean-up personnel do their job and put things back into order.  I can't think of a single street where you might refer to the city as crappy or littered.  It's kinda hard for me to imagine what this king-of-cleanup is going to be doing, or how they provide value to the city.  But, it at least brings another guy off unemployment, and that's always a positive on wasting government revenue.

The Size of the Hand Statue: Deja Vu

A number of years ago....I watched Seinfeld intently.  I've probably watched every episode at least three times.  One of my favorite episodes....was the "big hand" episode where a new girlfriend of Jerry was identified as having big hands.

I was standing there in Rudesheim on Friday, and came across this statue of a hefty gal talking to some God-like guy, and right away.....the size of her hands got me.  It was like "DEJA VU".....Seinfeld's episode came to mind and I was thinking big hands.

Maybe it's true....artists all have a weak point and maybe they can't envision the right size of hand for a gal.  Maybe.

Vineyards and Germany

I will occasionally point out various statistics of Germany.

There are 252,000 acres of land dedicated to grapes in Germany.  Size-wise....that's twice the size roughly of New York City (with the various boroughs).

Most of this is all centered in the mid-section....along the Mosel and Rhine Rivers.

What the experts say is that Germany....on a yearly average....will produce roughly 1.2 billion bottles of wine.  Some on the expensive side.....some on the cheap side.

What history generally says is that wine and grapes weren't exactly a big-time goal of the local German tribes until the Romans arrived.  And for some reason....the Romans just fell in love with the slopes, the great weather, and the grape production of the local region.

Within a twenty-kilometer circle of Wiesbaden....I'd take a guess that there are at least three thousand folks....men and women....who claim to be an authority on wine.  They can just barely taste it, and spout ten characteristics of the wine, and might even be able to tell you the brand name.

After the Roman era....wine interest kinda drifted downward.  The peasant class went more for beer production.  Toss in the mini-ice age episode, and wine wasn't exactly a big-time player in German culture for several hundred years.  Then toss in the Thirty-Year War episode, and it's just not worth discussing much.  Up until the 1700s....the Catholic Church ended up controlling the vast amount of wine territory in Germany....strangely enough.

All that negative stuff came to an end in the early 1800s as Napoleon drifted through....seized property owned by the Catholic Church and dispensed it to the public.   Various private vineyards then existed, and were developed to a great extent.  The major business in wine production today?  It mostly owes itself to Catholic Church determination to produce better grapes, rather than more grapes....and the arrival of Napoleon to make private ownership of grapes possible.

An American, if asked about varieties of grapes....will simply say there's there's red and green.  That's usually what gets us into being classified as ignorant on culture and wine production.  Altogether....there's around 135 varieties of grape in existence in Germany (yeah, I know.....God really freaked out on grapes when devising the master plan).  From these 135 varieties...only thirty-five relate to the red grapes.  The rest?  White wine.

From the German university program.....you could go and spend four to five years, and get a degree in wine.  It's hard to imagine, but it is that complicated.  There's an entire science and business structure to wine.  A guy just walking in and saying he's got cash to buy some vineyard is not enough.....you'd have to spend years reading up on the stuff, and grasp an awful lot of strategies on wine, the weather, the selling activity, and how to talk wine.

So, when a German starts spouting off and talking up character of the wine you are sipping.....you might want to just lay low and hear the guy out.  Don't offer any commentary....just listen....and sip a little. You might learn something.

The Niederwalddenkmal

Rudesheim bought itself some tourist magnet back in the 1870s....with the construction of the Niederwalddenkmal (referencing Germania).

Germany fought a short but impressive war with France, and the Prussians wanted to put up an impressive memorial to the war and it's epic nature (at least what they believed).  The hill overlooking the river and the valley is a scenic area....so it made sense on the selection process.  They settled upon a plan in mid-September of 1871, and the project was finished twelve years later (1883).

Getting there?  Well, aim for Rudesheim (either by driving, by rail, or by boat).  The railway will drop you off at the end of town, and you exit the station by walking to the right and it's a eight-minute walk to the middle of the town along the river.  I'd suggest the second entrance to the horse-shoe that makes up the walk around the town (not the first).

As you make this horse-shoe walk, you will come to the far north part of the town where the cable car operation will exist.  Figure around seven Euro for a round-trip.  Each car can hold two adults and two kids.  Once you get to the top....it's a five-minute walk to the statue.

The gal on the very top of the statue?  The symbol of Germania....is always supposed to be a Amazon-like gal....rather farm-gal built....with reddish-blond hair of course.  She's always got a sword, a shield, and will have some item on her head to represent the Holy Roman Empire.  In a number of cases, Germania will always have an eagle either with her or standing nearby.

Below the Germania-like items is the picture description of the generals and troops.....as they set upon the French and won a legendary war.

As for describing the memorial?  Well....it's an awful impressive statue.  You could spend an hour sitting there and analyzing the various pieces and parts of it.  It tells a story of a epic battle and legendary win....at least in the minds of the Prussians.

What happened after they finished the statue.....they discovered that people wanted to go up and really get close, and it's a fairly long walk.  So a train-line was built and used for decades to get folks up to the top of the hill.  That later got replaced by a cable-car assembly.....which was used in the 1950s.  You might have noticed it in Elvis's movie based on being a G I in Germany.

As for the view of the valley?  It's probably worth the whole trip as you just stand there and gaze out on the valley and the river.  It'll drop your blood pressure by ten percent and is a pleasant reminder of Germany as a land of great scenic moments.

Best time to go?  I'd do it on a weekday when less people are there (avoid weekends in the summer months).  I'd also be picky and not go in the winter period, or when it's extremely cloudy (threatening rain).  The place is open almost all year round, but it's really not pleasant to visit in the winter.

As for eating down in Rudesheim?  Well...it is a tourist trap, but there are twenty different restaurants operating there.

I'd rank this episode as one of the top twenty places in Germany you ought to visit if you are there as a military member.  Figure roughly half-a-day for the whole walk and statue visit.  I should also note that you can pay for a one-way trip to the statue, and walk down the hill (figure 90-minutes) to make it kind of an adventure.

Rudesheimer Kaffee

I'm often amazed at gimmicks that get invented to drum up more business...more revenue...more profits....for a business operation.  Last Friday, I was in Rudesheim, and came across this display of Rudesheimer Kaffee.

For the novice, Rudesheimer Kaffee is a German version of Irish coffee.

You start with Asbach Uralt brandy....toss in a couple of sugar cubes.  Flambee the brandy until there's no noticeable sugar, then use a "special" coffee mug for this episode.  Yeah, a plain old mug is not the intended method of delivery.  Pour in extra strong coffee, with a bit of cream over the top, and you have Rudesheimer Kaffee.  You might want to throw a small piece or two of chocolate over this as a finishing touch.....so the locals say.

This all started in the late 1950s with some local kitchen chef who demonstrated the method and got the credit.  No one says if he got some interesting financial deal with the Asbach Uralt folks.

Do you need this entire "kit" seen in the picture?  Well....no.  The coffee cup doesn't have to be unique and you could just buy your Asbach Uralt brandy off the grocery shelf.

As for the comparison to Irish coffee?  I won't touch that answer.

Windmill Story

There was an interesting piece in the Taunus Zeitung newspaper from yesterday....on wind-power.

The heart of the piece suggests....by an expert who has poured over current and projected consumption....that the state of Hessen will require around 3,500 MORE windmills by 2050....to meet the goals established.

Course, this would draw a guy to ask how many windmills already exist in the state of Hessen.  It's around one thousand presently.

What the article lays into....is that of the thousand windmills in power-production right now.....the best you can generally hope for is around two to three megawatts per system.  The dream number as most power planners go with is five megawatts per system.  To reach it?  You'd have to build on prime hilltop areas where landscape is a massive priority with the public.

You can get the jest of the sense of this......3,500 more windmills over the next three decades....is an awful lot, and it's all related to the game of climate change.  To make one group happy, you have to make another group unhappy.  Then anti-windmill crowd?  They were probably climate change enthusiasts to start with, and then got negative as they discovered the whole deal at hand.

Will the 3,500 additional windmills be built?  I'm guessing they will be.  Where?  That might be a curious question to ask as the planners sit down and envision a windmill farm on each ridge.

Windmill Observation

 If you go to Rudesheim (just west of Wiesbaden).....there's a big hill overlooking the Rhine River and the valley below.  Everything on your side of the river is Hessen (formerly Nassau), and the other side?  The Rheinland Pfalz area (another state).

In recent months....a heated debate has come up on the Hessen side....over the placement of windmills.  As long as everyone was peppy over climate change and how we needed to put windmills up to save humanity.....things were fine.  Once we got to the point where we were actually doing it, and people figured out the change to landscape and scenery.....attitudes (especially in Hessen)....changed overnight.

So, this brings me to the hill overlooking Rudesheim.  From this vantage point yesterday....looking over into the Pfalz.....I could see a pretty good distance on a clear day (figure at least twenty kilometers).  And I could count up a minimum of five windmill farms on the Pfalz side of the river.

You can figure at least six to ten windmills in each farm.

I didn't stand around to listen into conversations and maybe ninety percent of the Germans visiting didn't really notice the windmills.  But I'm guessing a few would notice them and get negative about this change to the landscape.

Right or wrong?  Doesn't matter.  Once you made saving the Earth a priority.....the rest of the negativity over landscape or intruding into the German 'look' doesn't really matter.

The Rhine Valley has this one big plus.....wind flow.  It would not surprise me to return in ten years and find another forty windmills on the Pfalz side.....and maybe some starting to appear finally on the Hessen side.

Japanese Tourists in Germany

If you travel around the Rhein Valley a good bit and hit tourist hot-spots....you tend to notice busloads of Japanese tourists.

Around twenty years ago, I started to notice the trend with a few Japanese here and there.  Yesterday, there were probably four busloads of Japanese tourists 'dumped' on Rudesheim in the morning.

As I walked around, I started to notice menus, sales leaflets, and pricing.....in German, English, and Japanese.

It's one of those odd things that you come across......the effect of Japanese tourists.

Usually when Americans or Germans go on a trip.....there are various tendencies that you notice and can be amused by.  Yeah, both groups do drink a fair amount.  Both groups eat a hefty portion.  Both groups will chat up a storm over perceived unfair pricing or high costs of a vacation.

The Japanese on vacation?  You get the impression that they are always humble....always courteous and polite.....and spending money on the trip like it might be the last great trip of their life.  Yeah.....they do take twice as many photos as an American.  And I imagine that they drink only a quarter as much beer or wine as a German. It'd be curious to note the choice from the food menu, and if they frequently eat schnitzel while on vacation.

Business Story: Failure of a Structure

Sometimes....I'll point out good and bad business ventures in Germany.  This is the short story of a bad venture....gone bad....and is about as deep as you can get.

For a hundred years in my village (to be unnamed).....they had this hotel-pub-restaurant existing along the main drag.  While we always had two or three restaurants in the village...this was the upscale one, and the only hotel in the village (small but adequate would be a good way to describe it...maybe in the classic sense of a Bed and Breakfast).

So this guy comes along in the early 1990s and sees it as a good business venture and buys it.  He'll ride the hotel....the restaurant which had excellent references.....and have his own little pub.  Life couldn't be any better.

He does a good line of business for a couple of years....putting some cash here and there on minor renovation and probably expected things to continue along this path of limited renovation.  Then one day.....some pipes burst, and some issues arise.

What can be quietly said.....at least via gossip in the village....is that the renovation guys came to work on the pipes and found massive issues.  It's the type of problem where you'd be better off to tear down the whole structure and start fresh.  Normally, a guy would do that....but in this case....it's a historical joint, and that got attention of the town leadership.  Yeah, it's on a protected property list, and you can't tear down anything.  What you can do....is sink massive amounts of money into a renovation project to pretend it's still OK but you are gutting out the basic structure, then putting everything back with the same look.

Yeah, you can figure it's probably twice the amount of money that you'd do....if you tore down the site and started fresh.  This guy?  Well....he didn't have that kind of capital and knew it'd never pay itself back.

So for well over ten years.....the structure remains vacant.  The guy won't do anything with it....because there's no way of getting capital or a pay-back situation.  He can't sell the property because no one wants a place in this condition.  The town sits there....knowing the story but can't find a way to advance the mess.  A historical spot that ought to fall in or just collapse....but you can't wish that.

This guy will likely pass on the property one day to a relative who will be stuck with something that they can't do anything with.  I'm guessing the relative might be smart and just dump it back to the government, and maybe the town will come up with the million or more Euro to rebuild this structure the way that the law dictates.

So a hotel-restaurant-pub sitting there, and will never open again....at least while in private hands.

Jagdschloss Platte: Wiesbaden's Hunting Lodge

Over a four year period....1823-1826....some gifted home builders came up about five miles north of Wiesbaden....in the hills and forests behind the city, and built one fine hunting lodge for the Duke of Nassau.

What we can generally say is that it was a good hour's ride in a horse-carriage....huffing and puffing to get up the elevation involved.  I'd take a humble guess of 2,000 feet of hillside that you had to climb over that five-mile distance.

What you came to find was this great point on the hillside....surrounded by deep forest, and it had an abundance of hunting material (fox, quail, etc).  What is generally said is that the VIPs who came to Wiesbaden....would sometimes get invited up to the hunting lodge if they were a favored guest of the Duke.  Royalty from Russia, the Netherlands, England and various European countries would make the trip up and have an enjoyable day.  In the hot summer, with the higher elevation....it was probably somewhat of a relief.

Comments from the locals indicate that if Duke wasn't using it for the VIPs....the lodge was open for the lesser of the crowd status....to include the ultra rich, the bankers, and the other VIPs who might wander into Wiesbaden in the glory years of the spa world.

By the end of 1914....most of this glory period for the hunting lodge came to an end.  Royals and the ultra rich didn't come much anymore.  There's some indication of the lodge going into a negative period.

In the early part of 1945....the air raids came...mostly because the German Army set up a radar site on the hill (the highest ground in the entire region).  The hunting lodge was blasted away.  There wasn't that much left.

Around forty years later (1987)......the locals came back to view what remained and knew of its history.  An effort came up to rebuild it to some degree.  What you will see is the four walls and entryway that look pretty much like the original lodge.  The roof?  A bit different.....plexiglass.

Across the parking lot?  A restaurant that does a pretty good job and is open most days of the week.  The lodge itself?  It's used as a catering site and handles special meetings, weddings, or parties.

How did I come to find it?  Well....it's interesting and part of the story as well.  My village is eight kilometers east of the lodge....on a pretty level walking trail.  So I walked all the way over, rested a bit on wooden benches out front, and then trudge down the paved trail to the right side of the north side of Wiesbaden (another seven kilometers), and end up at a bus pick-up point.  Yeah, fifteen kilometers or roughly 11 miles of hiking.  A good walk on a nice day.

Worth visiting?  Well....I won't put the lodge on the top twenty items in Wiesbaden to see......but it might be an interesting place to go on a summer afternoon....sip an apple wine....have a plate of fine food.....and enjoy summer weather.  And if you might have some hiking needs.....it's five-star in my humble opinion.  

And yes, those are life-sized elk out front in some odd pose.

Bad Fashion Taste

Germany has it's fair share of tourist trap shops....where various items in marginal and bad taste are sold.

Today, I was out at Rudesheim, along the Rhein River....and came across this one shop with T-shirts.

Maybe I am from Bama.  Maybe I have crossed the line on occasion and got somewhat educated.  Maybe I did read up on Van Gogh a good bit.  Maybe I've been known for spending $6 for clothing at Wal-Mart.  But in this case....I KNOW it's bad fashion taste for these t-shirts that they put up in various Cheetah stripes.  And I'm even willing to bet that the guy sells a dozen of these per day during the summer tourist season.

Yeah, there's no limit.

The Art of Protesting in Germany

Just about every single community in Germany....has some protest group in full-swing....over some perceived 'wrong'.

In the local area, down around Rudesheim....there is this group referred to as "Rheintal 21".

Their protest is centered around the trains that pass through the region.....day and night....with the noise associated with them.

Now, it's not like this is a new issue or a new rail network.  This particular line....along the Rhein River from Wiesbaden to Koln....has been around for over a hundred years.  Probably half the folks around Rudesheim probably haven't ridden the local railway in thirty years.

What the protest group generally says is that speed limits need to be observed, and some limits on night-time usage.  They also hint that freight usage ought to be discontinued on this railway and be done elsewhere (probably to irk other folks more, my hunch).  They also talk up pollution (?) which comes from the freight trains and how it affects the Rhein River.....I'm kinda puzzled over that one but at least they are creative with imagination.

They claim six-hundred train pass daily.  I'm mostly on disbelief for that one and I doubt if they see more than eighty trains per day.....the vast majority between 6AM and 6PM.

It's kinda hard to find any significant German community without a protest group these days....either about bridges, lack of bridges, speed limits, new housing going up, subway expansion, subway closure, etc.  The list probably would encompass three-hundred different feel-bad situations.  Not to say Germans are whiney or such.....but if you wanted to start a protest group over the lack of a statue in your town's city park.....you'd probably get twenty-five people to come out on the first night of organizing.

Fake Cops, Again

We've had a number of fake cop episodes in the region over the past year.

A couple of episodes in downtown Wiesbaden have occurred where tourists were stopped by someone claiming to be a cop, then they were asked for their billfolds or purses.....only to later find money removed.

In the past week, in the Rhein Valley region, we had one guy pulled over by a car flashing blue lights.  The two "cops" then got the guy over to the side of the road and explained that they wanted to search his car.....directing him to stand out in the grassy area and await their inspection of the interior of his car.

One guy climbs into the car....starts it....and drives on off.  The other climbs back into the "cop-car" and drives off.  Fake cops.....stolen car.

From Wednesday here in Wiesbaden.....we had a woman stopped on a significant street by another fake cop and asked to review her purse.  1,500 Euro were removed, as the gal discovered that the cop was fake.

A trend?  Well....it's hard to say.  There's enough fake badges out there now, that trying to establish a real cop versus a fake cop is going to be difficult in the future.

Hot Water Spring

 At the end of the walkplatz in Wiesbaden....is Kochbrunnenplatz.  It's a combination park and warm water spring.  In the midst of it is a covered area over a hot water spring.

It sits adjacent to Taunus Strasse.  Walking from the train station, it'd probably take you thirty minutes to reach the park.

If you went back a hundred years....this was a popular spot for vacationing VIPs (Russia, US, France, Germany, England, etc)....to do a stroll on a summer afternoon, and use the waters for medicinal purposes.

Today?  You might occasionally see someone stop by and douse themselves with a bit of water.  There's a sign on the interior of the structure which details the contents of the water.....to finite detail.  Germans are that way....if you didn't know.

On the list of twenty-odd things in Wiesbaden worth checking out.....I'd put it between ten and twenty.  You don't come across things too often like this in life.

Storm Advice

Summer has arrived in Germany....with storms delivering devastating results yesterday (couple of deaths and fair amount of damage from hail).  On one side, an American can feel the heat, the sun, and start to think it's all nice weather.  On the other side, you might start to observe the radical changes that can occur in Germany in the midst of summer.

So, some practical advice.

It's entirely possible while visiting the Bavarian Alps in June, July or August.....that a summer storm comes up....dropping the temperature by twenty degrees (F) in an hour, and suddenly short-sleeve shirt weather requires a jacket.  If you are in higher elevations....it's possible to get wet snow that readily melts.

Hail storms?  Across most of Germany with hot afternoon temp's getting up to 90 degrees (F)....you ought to prepare yourself for thunderstorms, lightning, sleet and hail.

Around fifteen years ago, on a calm afternoon....I noted black clouds coming over Sembach (where I lived).  An hour later....this huge thunderstorm unleashed three inches of rain over a ninety-minute period, with some significant hail coming down.  The village drainage system wasn't built to handle that type of situation and a number of homes had flood damage.

My best advice?  If you are out for the day....check the weather forecast that morning, and keep an umbrella around.  Yeah, in a hailstorm....the umbrella is useless, I agree.  But for serious rainfall....it gives you a brief minute or two of protection while you seek shelter (not under a tree of course).

The German Fracking Debate

Last week....Germany came out with a pro-fracking stance that shocked most folks.  So, you'd take that and think the world had turned upside down.  Well....no....it's just not that way.

You see....what the German government said was that fracking could advance but there would be future rules and regulations written.  The extent?  It'll likely make it almost impossible to find a profitable plan that allows some minor risk and fair profits to come out of such adventure.  To get to this grasp of the situation....you would have had to read at least five articles and watch an hour or two of public debate comment to realize the lack of value in the announcement.

What Germans generally admit.....is that there's plenty of gas that could be extracted out of the eastern sections of Germany.  The amount is not clear....mostly because companies have only done limited research.  You can sense the lack of research mostly on payback possible and the amount of rules already in place.

Why did Germany suddenly change their mind and hint of possible fracking situations?  Ukraine...pure and simple.  They saw Russia's stance and the amount of reliance that they have with Russian natural gas.  Somewhere in the future....there will be some event to occur and Russia will no longer be considered a friendly partner.  So this fracking business becomes important.

What happens now?  Some scientists will get onto the rules committee and write a couple of hundred pages on what is acceptable and how things will progress.  Maybe there's some real fracking started in two years....maybe none.  It all depends on the regulations and the profit margin.

Brief Discussion on Housing Costs

The weekend Wiesbaden Kurier put out an interesting piece on real estate and pricing over thirty years.  It's an average on price per unit.....within the city, within the neighboring areas, and within Mainz.

For example....a family house in 1985 within Wiesbaden....would have run you around 417,000 Euro.  Around 2000, it would have gone up to 810,000....then hit a number of bumpy years...advancing and decreasing....sometimes losing ten percent of value in one year.  In 2013, the average house price would have finally hit 1,052,000 Euro (yep, over a million for a place in the city).

In 1986, Mainz would have set at 233,000 for a place within the city.....yet today....as close as Mainz is to Wiesbaden....the same house would run you around 547,000.

A one-room condo?  Most Americans would shake their head and vow never to waste money such a small-sized item....but here?  It's appreciated by single people and seen as an investment worth making. In 1984, it would have cost you 54,000 Euro in Wiesbaden to buy a simple one-room place with a bath and kitchen.  It would have peaked around 2000 with a unit running around 80,000 Euro.  Today?  Prices have retreated and it's around 73,000 (actually hitting 57,000 back in 2004) for today.

Mainz prices with the one-room condo?  In 1988, it would have cost you 43,000 Euro.  This year, it'd run you around 63,000 Euro.

What all these trends say?  Typically....German housing normally advances in most regions at around one to two percent per year.  In the Rhein Valley area....various factors screw up the trends, and you can watch a house that was 650,000 one year.....lose sixty thousand Euro the next year, and then two years later....bump back up to 680,000.  If you held the house for ten years.....and got into a peak-period.....you'd likely see the house value go up by thirty percent minimum.  If you held for ten years and got into a bottom-out period....you might see the value of the house a quarter less than what you valued the house originally.

All of this says alot about buying houses, and the strategy of when you ever decide to sell or move on.  You might be standing there with a significant amount of income put up against a house, and in a bad three-year period where it's stupid to sell, but left with the option of renting it out or just paying out of your pocket....until good times arrive.

The difference in pricing for outlying areas....like Taunustein or Idstein?  You could cut your cost by half for a house or a four-room apartment/condo.  But you need to add on the stress of driving into work or having all the accommodations of a major city versus a smaller town.  Cost difference between Wiesbaden and Mainz?  Well....it's kind of obvious.....Mainz might be twenty to forty percent different on houses and apartments....with Mainz seeming to be a lesser valued area.  More of a working class town?  Maybe so.

All these figures lead a person wonder what comes in twenty years.  A house in Wiesbaden running a minimum of three million Euro?  Yeah.  Who can afford a four-room apartment/condo in Wiesbaden....that costs one million Euro?  For the working class....I don't see any solutions and more people will be forced out of the city.  You can figure Idstein and various smaller communities will grow more with lesser-paid residents....and Wiesbaden will squeeze out the working class who simply can't afford outrageous costs and property taxes.

The Open Market

City markets tend to be an interesting place to just stand and spend ten minutes looking at a landscape blending into commerce, and alive with people and urban life.

Mainz has a city market down near the Mainz Dom (the major church in the old part of town).

There are some simple rules that I would advise on open markets.  First, you do get the most fresh of vegetables, fruit, bread and meats.

Second, I've rarely found that you save when using the open markets....which might be a negative.

Third, you tend to eat a fair bit when walking an open market....so it you were counting calories....it's a bad place to walk.

Fourth, spring and summer make a fine walk on a city market....November to March?  Not so much.

Fifth, always carry a bag with you and limit yourself to what you think you can carry with ease (don't get stupid and end up with thirty pounds of apples).

Sixth, most of what you see is from the local region.  Some.....might come from neighboring countries.  And a small bit from way past European borders. So you might want to limit yourself and your expectations.

Seventh and final.....open markets have been going on for more than two thousand years.  So, this is merely another day....on top of fifty thousand previous days.  You are participating in history....whether you notice it or not.

Something to Check Out in Mainz

Mainz has more statues per square meter than any city in Germany (at least in my humble opinion).

One of the ten statues worth seeing in Mainz is the Neubrennenplatz Obisk....down on Grosse Bleiche Strasse....near the old part of town.  It's about fifteen minutes walking from the train station....going toward the river.

It goes back to 1726 when built.  There are a number of cafes around the 'circle' and worth a twenty-minute pause for a coffee or ice cream to check out the water fountain.

Old Houses

 Wilhelm Strasse in Wiesbaden....is the most prominent street of the entire city.  It'd compare easily with the big name streets of New York or London.  It's where the rich of Wiesbaden go to shop, mingle, and hang out.

There's an odd thing that you'd come to notice about Wilhelm strasse....there are four houses situated on the street....all dating back to the mid-1800's.....all historical in nature....and all likely beyond a reasonable cost on the real estate market.

All lie in a row.....all neatly landscaped and part of the trend of Wiesbaden in that era of construction.  One of the houses lead back to an episode with the Queen of Serbia.

Use of the houses today?  Most have business related signs for the first floor, and I get the impression that parts of each house are condo-related.  Parking?  Well....that's questionable and I doubt if anyone in the 1800s era worried much about that.

Affordability?  I can only take a guess that you'd have to pull out a minimum of ten million Euro to purchase any of the four houses.  

If you stand on the opposite street.....there's no park benches to sit and observe the houses....maybe on purpose.

Each probably has a rich history....leading up to 1914 (the era of booming economics for Wiesbaden).

So, if you have an one afternoon....just start walking from the train station up, and enjoy a stroll along a historical part of town that usually doesn't advertise itself....but it's generations old appearance says alot.

Open Market on Frankfurt Kaiser Strasse

 Frankfurt has some nifty little things that don't fall on a top-ten list of sights to review or visit.

One of those insignificant things is the street market on Kaiser Strasse....about a block east of the train station.

You can figure around twenty-five 'wagons' are parked, and serving the local neighborhood.

From pork to vegetables....from flowers to honey....from fresh peanut butter to various jelly and jams.

 There's also a crepe wagon....with forty different possible crepes, and some decent coffee (at least by my standard).

Add on trees for shade, and ease of access to the U-Bahn/S-Bahn.....and it's a pretty decent stop on a spring or summer morning.

Fresh quality?  For the most part.  Cheaper than a grocery?  No.

So, if you have an hour to waste....check out the Kaiser Strasse open market area.

Frankfurt Dom

One of the ten things worth seeing in Frankfurt....is the Cathedral.....on the north side of the river....near Rothaus.

It goes by the Frankfurt Dom, if you have trouble finding it on the map.

Some history?  Well....it was built around the 1425 period.  Fire took it down around 1865, but it was rebuilt.  WW II saw this entire section of town bombed out, and the Cathedral was rebuilt again.

Tours are offered, and it's worth the time to see the interior.

I should add that about three minutes walking from here is the old part of the city....also worth visiting.  And directly across the river is Sachsenhausen....with various pubs open in the evening hours.

Rebuilt to the original spec's?  Well....this might be an interesting argument.  I doubt if it's an exact copy, and folks probably learned a few things from the previous mistakes in construction.

So, if you have an hour....it's worth stopping in and seeing it.

A Tax Story

It's not what I'd call a page one story in Germany, but it has turns and twists which are starting to pick up.

So, there's this journalist-writer-commentator of women's issues....Alice Schwarzer.  Alice has been around in the public arena for four decades and been a regular on German TV forums....commenting on mostly women's issues.

If you picked a hundred well known characters of the German public....Alice would be on that list.  Alice is seventy-one years old and still can debate when it matters.

Well....Alice back in the 1980s....got into some cash revenue episode outside of Germany, and decided to park the money in Switzerland.....turning some profits....but never reporting to the German tax authorities.  Yeah, it was stupid, but everyone did it and never got caught.

Well...Alice got noticed last year, and back in February.....the tax guys were onto her stash of money...which triggered Alice to admit things and paid 200,000 Euro to settle up.

Most folks thought that was it.  Well.....NO.  The tax guys came back this week to her apartment and did a search warrant.  They must suspect that Alice has more stashes of money around, and what she admitted earlier in the year.....wasn't the complete story.

The way that the German tax system works.....once they get onto your situation....they really don't give up.  Even when they think they might have squeezed everything possible.....they will simply bring in fresh people to keep reviewing your case and asking more questions.  It's possible that they could spend a couple thousand man-hours a year....just on one person.....asking the same questions over and over....digging into your financial background and hoping that you screwed up somewhere and eventually admit millions more income hidden away.

All of this has kinda triggered Alice to avoid public forums and offer commentary.  My guess is that she's pretty tired of the whole thing, but unless the tax guys think you've been totally honest......there's no real escape.

The German tax guys even more vicious than the American IRS folks?  Germans try awful hard to hide income and profits.....probably more so than the typical American.  So the German tax folks are a bit more dedicated (my humble opinion) than the IRS folks.  In Alice's case.....if I were her....I'd think long and hard about taking what capital I have and heading off to Tonga....to quietly enjoy my remaining years without some tax idiot searching my apartment on a regular basis.