2005 letter about our general impressions of Germany, continued: There are a lot of motor homes on the roads in Germany and Italy. One day Adelle played a child’s game. How many motorhomes can you count on the other side of the road in five minutes? The answer: 25. There are more here than we have ever seen. But it should be noted that in France when we saw a motorhome coming toward us, they invariably waved or honked or flashed their lights. In Germany, we ignore one another on the road, and try not to interact when in a campground.

There were rarely any signs in German cities that indicated in which direction you should walk to view the local tourist attractions. Since there seem to be a lot of tourists, we find that a bit odd. Incidentally, when we were in Prague, there were signs everywhere. To find local landmarks, we always had to look at our maps. When we did this in the UK, invariably someone would come over and try to help us. Only once did any German volunteer help – and that was in the south.

Part of the German reserve is undoubtedly due to the fact that we speak different languages. Once one is identified as non-German-speaking it is natural that attempts at communication would be curtailed. But we do not remember noticing quite so much avoidance in France where people would try very hard to make us understand. And in Holland there seem to be many more English speakers than there are here, so we had no trouble at all in finding out what we needed to know.

It is the beginning of August. We know that our family members in Connecticut and in Florida have the air conditioning turned up high against the extreme heat. Germany has been mercifully cool. It has rained nearly every day, and while it is very comfortable in the sun, clouds make it very chilly. In fact, Adelle is wearing a T-shirt, a blouse, a sweatshirt and a jacket! Indeed there have been many mornings that the first thing we did was turn on the electric heater. We have been told, though, that this amount of cool and rainy weather is very unusual for August. Campgrounds are full of Italians looking for cooler temperatures!

In spite of the stand-offishness of many of its campers, Germany is a very comfortable country for Americans. The people you see on the streets look very much like Americans. The clothes in the stores are similar too. We have been in other countries in Europe where all the clothes we see in store windows are meant for the 15-28 year old crowd. In Germany, there are also places selling clothes that are aimed at adults. Every street has a café and a place that sells flowers. There are many beautiful old buildings, and every place seems to have nicely cut lawns, lots of flower gardens, and beautifully kept up stucco houses – usually whitewashed – with red tile roofs. Every bathroom is clean and orderly, the coffee is good, the pastries delicious – what more could anyone want? What’s so important about people who seem friendly and helpful? Or about signs to guide a tourist?

Don’t let all our complaining lead you to think we didn’t enjoy touring Germany. In fact, we did. But as in every situation, there are some things we would have liked to be different.