The Texas of Germany

Luke and Jackie came to Hannover on the hottest day... ever. I don't mean it was really hot. I mean it was bewilderingly hot. Unnaturally hot. Melting into the sidewalk hot. No air conditioning, bad ventilation, if my body were this temperature I'd have a fever, kind of hot. Hannover is not used to this.

So we traveled to the part of Germany that seemed best suited to a hot climate - the Texas of Germany. That's right, we went to Bavaria.

First stop: Regensburg.
Regensburg is on the Danube, which is Donau in German. Of course we can all pronounce that word (dough-now), so why change the name to Danube in English? It's the same case with the state, Bayern. That's not so hard to say. But the Germans don't trust us not to screw it up, so in English we say Bavaria. Of course, no one but a native German could say München correctly (most of the sound comes through your nostrils), so I will happily call it Munich.

Regensburg was originally an outpost of the ancient Roman Empire. The doorway to the huge fort is still intact, unearthed just a couple of hundred years ago. The city has winding medieval streets, a towering cathedral, a charming river front, shops and restaurants and bars on every corner. There's also a bike trail all along the Danube, and even baseball. It makes you wonder why anyone lives anywhere else in Germany.

So what makes Bayern like Texas? Until the mid 1800s, Germany wasn’t Germany at all, but a group of independent kingdoms. Bavaria, like Texas, still acts like its own country. Most of Germany is Lutheran; Bayern is Catholic. The churches are more colorful, more ornate. Instead of the squared-off steeples of the north, they have rounded domes that look like Hershey Kisses. In Bayern, the people are bigger, the meals are bigger, the beers are bigger, the parties are bigger.  Most Germans are reserved; Bavarians are loud. They are considered the rednecks of Germany. 

Jackie with 'normal' sized beers

There were actual Texans in Regensburg too, and Midwesterners, and New Yorkers. Every day, Danube cruise boats would dock in the harbor and release a chattering band of retired tourists headed to their walking tours and swarming around the world’s oldest sausage stand.

Baseball is not the only evidence of a U.S. presence in Bavaria. Southern Germany was under American control after World War II, and is still home to major U.S. military bases. This is why, when I tell Americans that I live in Hannover, they ask “How far is that from Munich?”. They never manage to call it München.

As for that skin-melting heat - it broke on our second day in town, with a storm of Texan proportions.