Germany
Germany is north of Austria and Sweden, but it's still within a day's travel from many parts of Italy. The trip from Milan to Munich, for instance, takes a little more than seven hours by high-speed train.
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You can save a good deal of money on tickets to performances at Wiener Staatsoper by getting in line for the standing-room-only tickets that are released to the public immediately before each performance. There is no guarantee that you will be a lucky recipient, but if you are, you can watch the opera from “the cheap seats” with local folks.
The German rail network is extensive. More than 33,000 trains run in Germany every day, a staggering number that produces travel options galore. The main tourist city closest to Italy is Frankfurt, in central Germany, while the capital, Berlin, is farther away, in Germany's northeastern corner. Since Frankfurt and Berlin are large-scale cities, you can often find high-speed trains there from international hubs.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, at least in name, is best known to most Americans as the birthplace of the frankfurter, or hot dog. Though many places vie to say they are the home of the hot dog, it is Frankfurt that claims to have invented the modern-day ballpark delicacy in the late 1400s, when sausages were served inside rolls during imperial coronations.
Plenty of street vendors will be happy to sell you a frankfurter in Frankfurt, which is a good thing, since eating on the run may be all you have time for given the plethora of architectural and historic sites that the city boasts. There's the 311-foot-tall Gothic cathedral of St. Bartholomeus, the gingerbread-looking Roemer city hall, and the stunning Old Opera House, which was reconstructed following heavy damage during World War II. Tours of those three sites alone can take up the better part of an entire day.
Some fifteen museums line the River Main in Frankfurt, creating an area known as Museumsufer, or “museum embankment.” It is lovely to stroll not just within them, but also between them, enjoying views of the river as well. Perhaps the most important of the museums, if you have time to visit only one, is the Städel, named for the early nineteenth-century Frankfurt banker who started it. Today, it houses a good number of European paintings, including some by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli.
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Frankfurt is the only German city with a significant number of skyscrapers. There are about a dozen. Every few years, they all open their doors for public tours simultaneously in what is known as the Wolkenkratzer (skyscraper) Festival. Events include base jumpers, sky divers, fireworks, and laser shows high above most of the other city sights.
Berlin
Berlin is Germany's capital and largest city, with an accumulation of cultural institutions to match. There are more than 150 museums inside the city limits, each one housing a unique collection ranging from classic paintings to dinosaur skeletons. The city is also home to more than fifty performing arts theaters, two zoos, and a sports stadium used for the Olympics in 1936.
The Berlin Wall
The Socialist political party began construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 as a physical barrier to prevent people from traveling between East and West Germany. It split many families in two and separated workers from their jobs. An unknown number of people died trying to cross the border into West Germany. (Typically, people from East Germany were prevented from traveling to West Germany — not the other way around.)
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Many street hawkers and souvenir shops in Berlin sell pieces of concrete that they say were once part of the Berlin Wall. Don't fall for it. While there are some pieces of the wall that come with certificates of authentication, most of the rocky chunks you'll find in the local stores are nothing more than worthless rubble.
The fall of the wall in 1989 was the beginning of reunification that led to the present-day borders of Germany. Celebrations were intense, and former Knight Rider television star David Hasselhoff became the voice of the new Germany when he stood atop the opened wall and sang “Looking for Freedom” before thousands of screaming fans.
Today, little of the Berlin Wall remains. Souvenir-seekers armed with chisels have chipped away at the wall, pieces of which are now stashed in private collections the world over. A few sections still stand, including one near a former Gestapo headquarters, but the remaining sections tend to be damaged or covered in graffiti, thus making it difficult to appreciate how the wall actually looked.
The Checkpoint Charlie Museum, named for the American checkpoint between East and West Germany, gives you a good idea of the political tensions of the Cold War and the human drama that accompanied the partition of Berlin. You can also enjoy local walking and bicycle tours with guides who discuss the wall's history. Any local hotel concierge can put you in touch with an English-speaking guide of good quality.
Independent Films
One of the more interesting things to do in Berlin is take in a movie. More than 1,000 film and television production companies are based here, and you can often find movies playing on one of the city's nearly 300 screens that you would never be able to find in other parts of the world. Most are produced in German, of course, but occasionally you will find advertisements for showings with English subtitles.
If you are visiting Berlin during the month of February, consider buying a ticket to the Berlin Film Festival, known as Berlinale, where directors from around the globe compete for Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards. Some of the American-made films that you might recognize among the past Berlinale winners include 12 Angry Men, Rain Man, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and The Thin Red Line. Berlinale's official website, for dates and other details, is
