A demanding girl travelling through Germany

'Why did you choose Germany?' were the words of an Indian guy taking the same Rhine cruise and kind enough to take my picture.

'I was never attracted to Germany as a destination. My boyfriend is working for a German company [I told the story so many times that I seemed to know it by heart] and this time around, I joined him here. He's working and I'm travelling.'

Win-win.

What about Germany and I?

It was my I-can't-remember-which-time again in Germany, and I felt no connection whatsoever to the land itself or to the people.

I was going to be around more this time and I was curious as to what could change in my heart.

I remembered the prices to be lower in Germany, but they are pretty high. And I still don't like the food. It's definitely not a country to welcome you through that. Well, there is the occasional Apfelstrudel and I really had one great meal in Skt. Goar, but that was about it.

I also remembered it to be cleaner. The country, I mean. It stopped being like that, especially in the larger cities, which were -with a few exceptions- pretty bleak (particularly in the NW part).

A nicer surprise came, however, in terms of people. Even if reserved compared to the warmness [put lightly] of us Latins, most of the men and women I interacted with were helpful and kind.

One thing I didn't expect was the number of people who didn't understand English. I managed, though, and resorted to the other languages I know, occasionally encouraging my interlocutors to speak German, because I do understand it.

I forgot how rich in history Germany was! I fell in love with Xanten [if I tend to look back, my favourite moments were spent there] and all the legends guiding my childhood years caught up with me, as I kept reaching one place after the other. The Rhine and the Moselle did contribute to that and -while I thought I'd enjoy the Moselle more, a small part of which I kayaked-, the wilderness of the Rhine won me over.

I also liked the German train system. Even if the tickets are expensive and the trains are not always on time, the network is very extensive and those regional passes really helped me save time and money!

I did enjoy some visits to impressive and original museums, rode the world's oldest monorail and walked around some of the cutest and least populated villages in the country.

Sunsets were dramatic, sunrises were mellow, making friends within such a great variety of nations was imminent. I stopped chasing great bistros and settled for bakeries instead. I stopped watching my map and got lost instead. I stopped searching for wows and they came.