Favorite things about Deutschland

1. The Public Transportation - We haven´t owned a car since we moved here! It is wonderful, being able to sit and read a book and arrive at work unstressed. I laugh when we drive over an overpass to the autobahn and see all the cars sitting in a stau. In the winter it is fun, cause I never have to shovel the snow, scrape my windows, pray that the car will start and then drive thru chaos. I also never have to look for a parking spot.
2. Health Insurance - Though I complain sometimes, it is a pretty good deal. America could learn from this system.
3. Vacation - This actually holds me back from moving back to the US. I literally cannot imagine going back to only having 2 weeks off a year.
4. Seasonal Produce - I love going to the market and seeing the mountains of seasonal produce. When it is cherry season, or strawberry season, and especially "spargel" season, it not only makes you hungry for this item, it also seems to ust make good sense. Plus, because it is local, the taste is not only more intense, but fruit tastes like it supposed to, carrots taste like carrots instead of orange cardboard tasting things.
5. The Markets - Bornheim has a market on Wed. and Sat. It is a full sensory experience when you walk thru the stands, all the colors, the smells, the sound of the sellers as they yell, offering their bargains at the end of the day. It all makes me smile.
6. FKK - I like it that the Germans don´t really care about nudity. It makes Americans look silly with their strange prudishness that is all out of whack. The Bild newpaper could take the naked girl off the front page though, maybe put it on the 2nd page? It seems a bit tasteless.
7. Downtown - It is so nice to have a vital, lively downtown, whether it is 2 in the morning or a Sunday, there are always people there and something going on. When I go home to Columbus, it just looks sad and dead.
8. Ease of travel - Living in Frankfurt makes it sooooo easy to travel to anywhere due to the central location. Even going thru security here isn´t that bad and the flights are almost always on time.
9. Multi-culti Frankfurt - It is great living in a city that has so many foreigners in it. Over 30%! It not only makes me feel safe (no neo-nazis) but all the restaurants, the languages you hear, the different clothing, makes for an interesting daily life. Hate to admit it, but before I moved here, I had only met 3 people from other countries
10. The German language - It is amazing that I learned this language at the age of 31. It is simply fun being able to express myself in another language, especially when mad. Ranting in German sounds so forcefull!
11. The Trains - It is so cool, getting on a train and whizzing thru the countryside at 300 km an hours. Being able to get up, walk around, or go have a coffee, makes taking a train much more enjoyable than taking a flight or riding in a car. Basically, I love the trains! I remember my first train ride, from Hanau to Frankfurt. I was so excited, you would have thought I was a little kid.