The GW Expat Blog

All Posts

Weekend in Hamburg

by | Feb 5, 2024 | , , , , , | 0 Comments

Last November I was in a funk. I had found myself in visa limbo after living in Germany for many years, newly laid off, and facing a big decade birthday. I kept telling myself it would all work out, but the anxiety was eating me alive and an impending birthday demanding to be dealt with wasn’t making anything easier.

Luckily, I have a wonderful family to lean on. They organized a trip to Hamburg for a long weekend and I got to know the Tor zur Welt (“gateway to the world”) much better than fleeting trips in the past. We stayed in the infinitely Instagrammable Speicherstadt which I had shockingly never even visited, crossed beneath the Elbe River in a tunnel that opened in the early 1900s, gorged ourselves on Franzbrotchen and strolled the neon lights of the Reeperbahn with kids in tow. It was a glorious way to spend a big birthday weekend.

Within a little over a week of this trip I had a job offer, visa appointment and was breathing a lot easier in my thicker, older skin. It probably wasn’t Hamburg that did it and a lot more old-fashioned paperwork, but the trip didn’t hurt. So here is my guide to a long weekend in Hamburg; hardly exhaustive but it did the trick for me and my family.

Hafen City in Hamburg Germany

Speicherstadt, Hamburg PHOTO: Erin Porter

(Disclaimer: Posts from my fellow former bloggers on this site aren’t nearly as kind to Hamburg; and rightfully so! Jane details getting pickpocketed off the Reeperbahn and Jessica her run-ins with prostitution. Hamburg is infamous for its seedy side, but in my experience it is much less dangerous than anywhere in the USA where I come from, and I find it all in good fun.)

read more…

The Nebra Sky Disc: An Introduction

by | Jan 22, 2024 | , | 0 Comments

The World’s Oldest Known Representation of the Night Sky

I’m not exactly sure when I first became aware of the Nebra Sky Disc, but I do recall being reminded of its existence in late 2021 when the German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer named his mission to the International Space Station “Cosmic Kiss” and took along a replica of the disc.

Nebra Sky Disc photo by Juraj Lipták

The original Nebra Sky Disc is on display at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle. PHOTO: State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Juraj Lipták

The Nebra Sky Disc’s Turbulent History
The mission’s name and patch were inspired by a 3,700 to 4,100-year-old bronze disc unearthed near the German town of Nebra in July 1999. This remarkable object offers us a look into the artistic ability and astronomical knowledge of people who were living in Europe around 1600 BCE. The age of the disc is only one of many aspects of this amazing object that are still uncertain. Although the disc has been part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register since 2013, and most experts consider the Himmelsscheibe von Nebra an authentic ancient artifact, its exact age and purpose remain uncertain.

The biggest problem relates to how the Sky Disc was unearthed on the Mittelberg (“center hill”) near the town of Nebra that gave the disc its name. Unfortunately, the two men who discovered the disc were not trained archaeologists. They were in fact amateur treasure hunters using a metal detector to find more of the artifacts the area is known for. They were so little concerned with the careful removal of their discovery, that in the process they damaged the disc in several places. Even now in 2024, despite many scientific tests and detailed examinations by at least 18 scientists, some aspects of the bronze disc treasure remain uncertain.

Map with Nebra in orange square

The small town of Nebra (in orange square) is located in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Nearby, in the Ziegelroda forest, looters dug up what was later named the Nebra Sky Disc. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

The looters also had no intention of following the law that makes such discoveries property of the state. They attempted illegally to sell their treasure find privately. At least one of the fences damaged the disc in an amateurish attempt to clean the metal surface. (The disc and hoard had lain buried in the soil for about 3,600 years.) The artifacts changed hands several times before the police in Basel, Switzerland, working with various German and other agencies, recovered the Sky Disc hoard in a sting operation in February 2002. The Nebra collection was turned over to the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 23 May 2008, the Sky Disc objects have been on display at the State Museum of Prehistory (Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte) in Halle (Saale).

Nebra Sky Disc Theories
Archaeology is a tricky profession. Attempting to explain the purpose of a one-foot (32 cm) diameter bronze disc created by people who lived hundreds of centuries ago is challenging. What does the disc’s design mean? What does it really depict?

Although there is almost universal agreement that the face of the disc depicts celestial bodies, not everyone agrees on which ones they are. Is the large round gold disc the sun or the moon? Does the gold crescent on the right represent a lunar phase or a partial solar eclipse? Are the 32 small inlaid gold discs supposed to be stars, and if so, which ones? Most experts think the small group of seven gold discs above and between the supposed moon and lunar crescent represent the “Seven Sisters” or Pleiades star cluster.

Nebra Sky Disc showing solstice markings

A photo with markings indicating the summer and winter solstices corresponding to the latitude where the Nebra Sky Disc was found, indicating a high degree of astronomical knowledge by those who created the disc. PHOTO: Frank Vincentz, CC-BY-SA-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Some observers think the two golden arcs along the sides (the left side arc is missing) mark the angle between the solstices. (See photo above.) But there is less agreement about the more bowed golden arc at the bottom. Some experts claim it is a solar barque (similar to Egyptian beliefs), while others have suggested it may depict a comet, the Aurora Borealis, a rainbow, or something else.

The Less Obvious Features
The lovely greenish patina covering the disc today is actually a form of malachite corrosion. Originally, the disc had a darker bronze coloration. The metals (copper, tin, gold) used have been analyzed to reveal that they were sourced from southern Cornwall in England. The disc was apparently created over time in four stages. Some of the gold star circles were moved or covered. The supposed solar barque was added in phase three.

The discovery site is a plateau at the top of the Mittelberg (252 m above sea level), about 4 km west of the town of Nebra. Most experts now believe the Nebra disc and artifacts were part of a hoard, not a burial site. The disc was part of a buried hoard that included two gold-trimmed swords, two axes, two spiral arm-rings, and one bronze chisel. Some observers believe the disc was in use for about 200 years prior to its burial, but its precise purpose is still uncertain.

Related Sites of Interest
In addition to the permanent Nebra Sky Disc exhibition at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle an der Saale to the northeast, about a 50-minute (48 km) drive from Nebra, there are other locations and facilities related to the disc. They are also part of an official Saxony-Anhalt tourist route known as Himmelswege (“Sky Paths”) that was inspired by the Nebra Sky Disc. Here are some of the six stations along the Sky Paths route:

Nebra Ark (Arche Nebra)
The Nebra Ark visitor center was opened in 2007. It is located near the discovery site. Shaped in imitation of the supposed sun barque seen on the disc, this visitor center offers an interactive way to experience the Sky Disc.
WEB > Nebra Ark – Official site (English; the German version below is more current and comprehensive)
WEB > Arche Nebra – Official site (Deutsch)

Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle

The Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte (State Museum of Prehistory) in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt is the permanent home of the original Nebra Sky Disc. PHOTO: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle (Saale)

Mittelberg Lookout Tower (Aussichtsturm)
The Mittelberg lookout tower affords visitors a bird’s eye view of the (slightly curved) plane around the tower, so they can see the lines that each act as a visual axis. They are directed towards various nearby landmarks, such as the Brocken peak.

Himmelswege (Wikivoyage)
This Wikivoyage page (in German) has more information about the various sites along the Sky Paths.

Himmelswege
The official site for the Himmelswege/Sky Paths (auf Deutsch/in German).

Sky Paths
The official site for the Sky Paths in English.

We hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to the Nebra Sky Disc. For more about this Bronze Age treasure, see the links above and/or do an online search for more Sky Disc information.

– HF

The “New” City of Dresden

by | Jan 8, 2024 | , , , , | 0 Comments

It feels like every year at about this time I hear rumbles of dissatisfaction with Berlin. Sometimes they are coming directly from me, but this year I’ve noticed more online posts than usual complaining about the rising costs of the city, the dismal winter weather, and the general gloom that seems to envelope the city after the Christmas holidays. Some people seem to think elsewhere in Germany may be the solution and share conspiratorial stories about where else foreigners might like to live. I’m not often tempted, but a recent trip to Dresden and its many endorsements from my fellow foreigners in Berlin can leave me daydreaming of a different life.

The city’s proximity to Berlin (between 2-3 hours depending if you drive or take the train) mean that I have visited several times throughout the years. The German-Way’s City Guide to Dresden is a great way to get acquainted with the many sights of the city, but while tourists stampede through the Altstadt (old town) by day carried on tourist buses, the city regularly grows quiet at night. It really is worth an overnight stay to see the elegant rebuilt city spectacularly lit against the dark and without the hordes, but another form of escape is to travel to the Neustadt (new city).

Confusingly, the Altstadt is actually newer than the Neustadt since it was almost entirely rebuilt after WWII. The Neustadt lies just across the Elbe river and many time-pressed travelers never make it to this side to explore what else there is to see besides the rebuilt Fraunkirche, Fürstenzug, Zwinger and more. They really should. Along with the historic buildings still defiantly standing, this side of the river is known for its counter-culture with eclectic shops, bohemian cafes and grungy nightlife.

On my last trip to the city I stayed in the Neustadt and soaked up its “mini Berlin” vibes along with attractions all it own. Here are just a few highlight of the “New” City of Dresden from art passages to “The most beautiful dairy shop in the world”.

Katy's Garage in Dresden New City

Neustadt in Dresden PHOTO: Erin Porter

read more…

How the German Advent Calendar Emerged from the Ashes of War and Conquered America

by | Dec 25, 2023 | | 0 Comments

How a Stuttgart Publisher and US President Eisenhower Saved the Advent Calendar

The Advent calendar tradition is a relatively recent Christmas custom, far more recent than the Christmas tree. Although homemade calendars date from around 1850, the first printed calendars were sold in 1902. With time, many German publishers designed and printed Advent calendars in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Sellmer's 1946 'kleine Stadt' Advent calendar

Based on his German hometown, Richard Sellmer’s first “Small Town” Advent calendar had 24 windows that opened to reveal Christmas scenes. The church image in the center shows an open door revealing an altar inside with a nativity scene. This first 1946 Sellmer calendar is still sold as a nostalgic reprint edition. Learn more below. PHOTO: Richard Sellmer Verlag

But when Germany’s Nazi government plunged the country into a worldwide war in 1939, paper shortages and Nazi anti-religious measures ended the popular calendar tradition. The Munich publishing house of Reichhold & Lang, headed by Advent calendar inventor Gerhard Lang (1881-1974), had been the leading calendar publisher in Germany since 1908. But wartime conditions led to Lang’s company going out of business in 1939.

Following years of devastation and suffering, Germans were eager to return to a more normal and intact world (eine heile Welt). Reviving earlier, prewar traditions was one way to accomplish that. Stuttgart publisher Richard Sellmer realized that the Advent calendar custom that had once been so popular in Germany was an ideal way to get people back to some degree of normalcy and happiness.

In late winter 1945, Sellmer applied to the American occupation authorities in Stuttgart for authorization to print Advent calendars to sell in Germany. That permit, typed in German and dated 6 December 1945 (see photo below), was granted by the Publications Control of the 6871st District Information Services Control Command. The paper for the 50,000 calendars would come from the French occupation zone. The permit misspelled Sellmer’s name as “Sellner”, and was signed by James J. Kelleher, 1st Lt. CAC. The permit’s December 6th date is St. Nicholas Day in Germany and Europe, although that may have been a mere coincidence. read more…

My Favorite Berlin Christmas Markets

by | Dec 11, 2023 | , , | 0 Comments

I am fresh off the high of my favorite Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). After the disaster of the pandemic years, my appreciation for Christmas markets has only grown. My personal favorite only runs for one weekend every Christmas season. I eagerly anticipate its arrival, and have a brief mourning period when it is over. Luckily, there are plenty of markets and Glühwein to warm me back up.

While some Germans may scoff at Berlin’s Christmas markets saying others in the country are better (and they very well might be), Berlin comes with quantity. There are nearly 80 markets and many bring the Gemütlichkeit glow. Here are my favorite Berlin Christmas markets with a few honorable mentions because there are just too many to talk about.

Alt-Rixdorf Christmas Market

Neukölln weihnachtsmarkt

Alt-Rixdorfer Weihnachtsmarkt PHOTO: Erin Porter

Location: Richardplatz
Dates: Dec 8-10th, 2023

This quiet little pocket of Neukölln lights up for this special weekend of Christmas magic. I love how you make your way through barely lit side streets to stumble upon this long oval square lit by a thousand white lights in the trees and gas lights carried by visitors. There is stall after stall of locally made, hand-crafted goods – no mass produced items here! Many of the 200 stalls come with compelling stories, as they are community organizations ranging from KiTas to NGOs, and proceeds benefit the neighborhood. This is the place to shop for thoughtful, unique gifts to stuff your favorite person’s stocking or place under the tree for yourself. Just beware the ever-present crowds that mean you might need to wait a moment to get close to the wares.

read more…

How Germans Helped Shape the World: Historic Globes

by | Nov 27, 2023 | | 0 Comments

No, The World Is Not Flat!

Bad news for flat-earth believers: Ancient Greek astronomers proved that the earth was a sphere – which later gave us the Latin (and German) word globus. Although references to globes representing the planet earth date from about 150 BCE, no terrestrial globes from ancient times are known to have survived.

Three Historic Germanic Globes
Globes representing the known Old World were constructed by the Ancient Greeks and during the Islamic Golden Age. While educated people in medieval Christian Europe knew the earth was a sphere, the earliest known attempts by Europeans to create a physical terrestrial globe did not occur before the 15th century.

This article was inspired by my attempt to learn more about the oldest known surviving globe of the world, known as the Behaim or Erdapfel globe. I earlier wrote about the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller and his groundbreaking map of the world. Published in 1507, his large 12-panel map was the first to label the New World’s continent “America” – a landmass hitherto unknown to Europeans.

Waldseemüller globe gores with America

Martin Waldseemüller probably created globes, but none are known to have survived. This printed panel of 12 gores by Waldseemüller could have been applied to the surface of a globe by him or his workers, but Martin Behaim’s globe is the oldest known surviving terrestrial globe. PHOTO: Public Domain, Badische Landesbibliothek

It is likely that Waldseemüller also produced terrestrial globes, but not a single one is known to have survived. We do know that he created “gores,” the printed, curved paper map panels pasted on a globe to depict the land and seas of the earth. But some 15 years before Waldseemüller’s world map, another cartographer produced a terrestrial globe in Nuremberg, Bavaria. Martin Behaim’s 1492 globe can be viewed today at Nuremberg’s Germanisches National Museum. To this day, it remains the world’s oldest surviving globe.

While researching Behaim’s pioneering globe, I stumbled upon two more notable early globes created by two other German cartographers. So here they are, the three early historic Germanic globes. read more…

Guide to Rostock and Warnemünde

by | Nov 13, 2023 | , , , | 0 Comments

The Deutschlandticket has been an absolute boon to my travel within Germany. With the tantalizing offer of low-cost air travel I have taken to sort jaunts around Europe from London to Naples. But as my family multiplies and travel costs rise, train travel has swung back into focus. In October alone, my family travelled to Rostock and Dresden, while using the ticket all month long for travel in Berlin. Quite a deal for 49 euro per month!

Note about the Deutschlandticket:

  • Signing up through BVG’s app is the easiest way to purchase and utilize. We encountered long lines at the city offices and errors on the webpage that prevented us from completing the purchase
  • Unlike its predecessor, the very popular 9 euro ticket, children over 6-year-old are not included and must have their own ticket
  • The ticket also covers public transport in other cities so we could continue to ride on this ticket on trams, Ubahn and SBahn in other cities

Both trips were arranged fairly spontaneously. As we headed into a long weekend celebrating Tag der Deutschen Einheit (Reunification Day) on October 3rd, our hot water mysteriously went out. We knew this was bad news. We weren’t able to reach the Hauswerwaltung (apartment manager) and resigned ourselves to a few days without hot water. Then we remembered the Deutschlandticket. It was time to get out of town.

We decided on Rostock because it was under 3 hours travel by regional train and we hoped to make the most of the remaining pleasant weather. Plus – we had never been to Warnemünde before. It was decided. Here is a guide to a short trip to Rostock with the necessary side trip to Warnemünde.

Rostock

Neue Markt in Rostock PHOTO: Erin Porter

read more…

The Rising Costs for Tourists in Germany

by | Oct 30, 2023 | , | 0 Comments

Room Taxes, Spa Taxes, and ETIAS

Traveling in Europe or anywhere else has always involved spending a certain amount of money. But over the past decade or so a new kind of travel expense has arisen in Europe, including the German-speaking countries. And yet another, if modest, new European security authorization expense will probably make its debut in 2025.

Lodging/Room Taxes in Germany
Weimar was the first German city to introduce a lodging tax in 2005. But what really got the ball rolling was a change to Germany’s nationwide 19 percent VAT sales tax five years later. In 2010 the German parliament passed a law reducing the 19 percent VAT rate to only seven percent for hotel stays.

Spa city of Bad Nauheim

The spa town of Bad Nauheim, north of Frankfurt am Main, levies a “Kurbeitrag” spa tax of €3.30 per person per day. A family “Kurkarte” day ticket costs €6.60. The town is also is known for a famous resident named Elvis Presley, who lived in a house on Goethestrasse as a GI in the 1960s. Learn more about the German Kurtaxe below.

That tax shift helped reduce the total price of a hotel stay for tourists in Germany, but it also reduced the revenue that communities received from the tax. Soon they were looking for a way to close the income gap. Although a room tax is very common in the United States and many other countries, it was a new idea for Germany. As of now (October 2023), only about 40 German localities across Germany have a lodging tax. But there is increasing pressure to add more. Munich, for instance, currently has no room tax, but the prospect of 40 to 60 million euros of new revenue is tempting.

Room Tax: die Bettensteuer/City-Tax
The German terms used for these special taxes vary from place to place: Übernachtungsteuer (“overnight stay tax,” “room tax”), Bettensteuer (“bed tax”), Beherbergungsteuer (“hospitality/lodging tax”), and Tourismusbeitrag (“tourism contribution/fee”) are just four examples. The many different names also reflect the fact that there is no uniform approach to these occupancy taxes within Germany. read more…