Bavaria
My love affair with Bavaria started in 1989 (SO long ago...) and continues today and here's why -
My student exchange year to Regensburg in Bavaria was my first ever trip overseas. I was 17 and leaving home for 12 months away from family and friends to live with people on the other side of the world who I had only met through letters and photos sent via trusty old airmail. (Yes, this was back in the days well before the interwebs was invented.)
Excitement and nervousness mixed as I stepped off the plane into near freezing conditions that are standard in Europe in mid-January – just a bit different to the 35C+ degrees that I had left behind in Adelaide!
I was smitten with this corner of Germany from the first trip from Munich airport to my new home near Regensburg as we sped along the autobahn past rolling hills and quaint villages. No doubt when most people imagine ‘Germany’ they have a picture in their minds of half-timber buildings lining cobble-stone streets like something out of a fairy tale and while not all of Germany is like that, Bavaria embodies that stereo type perfectly.
While I was living there as a ‘student’ I was lucky enough to have been able to travel quite a bit during my stay, but by the end of the 12 months I was not even a little bit ‘ABC’d out’. (That is ‘Another Bloody Castle / Cathedral’, which is a saying that anyone who has been to Europe is familiar with…) Did I visit lots of castles and cathedrals? Yes. Did I visit lots of beer halls and beer gardens? Yes. Unless you are talking to my parents, then of course that never happened....
Bavaria is so much more than that thin slice of typical German-ness. Museums and galleries are everywhere, ranging from the traditional to the quirky and history permeates every street and district from Roman built roads right up to the modern history that must be seen and experienced in places like Dachau that is also part of Bavaria’s story.
What keeps drawing me back, though, time after time after time? The people. The lederhosen and dirndl clad people. The warm and welcoming people, who will greet you with a friendly ‘Prost!’ (cheers!) and invite you to sit with them at their family celebration. The loud belly laughing people who will admire your attempt to speak German but insist that you learn to speak Bavarian instead.
Almost a country within a country Bavaria will hit all your ideal German bullseyes and your first visit will definitely not be your last. Take my word for that!