Martinstag and St. Martin

November 11 and the Legend of St. Martin Martinstag There is a traditional German custom that has a few things in common with Halloween: Martinstag (St. Martin’s Day, Martinsmas). Although they are very different celebrations, the Catholic Martinstag observance on 11...

The Great German Bake Off

Before coming to Germany I thought I was a fairly good at baking. Lemon drizzle cake, raspberry muffins, carrot cake, treacle tart, no problem. I’m not claiming to be Mary Berry (British baking legend), but I could confidently walk in to the office knowing my...

On the campaign trail

In case you missed it, there was a general election last week in Germany. Receiving most of the international media coverage was, understandably, the fact that the AfD (Alternativ für Deutschland) won just under 13% of the popular vote, making them the third strongest...