I'm in Germany!

Just thought I'd share, always wanted to visit.

The downside it though I have no EF access! Oh well, at least now I'm not checking daily for the new patch!

Whereabouts in Germany are you?

I live in East Prussia - 12km from Wolfsshanze - Hitlers eastern HQ where he spend most of WWII (Porsche and Henschel Tiger I were tested in my home town  ;D).
Till 1945 it was a german territory but the most powerfull man on the planet - Stalin made it a Polish territory.

Am I off topic?

I'm currently in Eppingen, a little town near Heidelberg, I'm staying with relatives.

I'll be here for while, I have a 1 year visa. Sort of a working holiday. Have landed a one off job this afternoon in a beer garden actually. But I'm still learning German, so its going to be a challange. Wish me luck on that.

In about mid June I'll probably start travelling, first to Berlin then to Meunster (for the Panzermuseum!), then to France and England. Might visit Switzerland too, I have a friend there.

To Paciat, the Tiger 1 was tested in your home town! Thats amazing!

Thanks for the replies guys, I expected just to get a lot of nobody cares sort of responses.

Welcome in my country xD "Tach"

And the tankmuseum in Munster;
well. I love it. A lot of tanks are fully
operational and between all the "standards"
you will find a lot of nice stuff ( which museum
had a 8,8cm PAK 43 or a dual-gun tank? ).

When u want to visit an other military museum
too than i can advise the Wehrtechnische Sammlung
at the town of Koblenz ;) 150km away from Heidelberg.

Greeting from Düsseldorf - the town of Rheinmetall
and the Karl-Gerät ( well. okay. Karl-Gerät was repaired
in Düsseldorf xD ).

Thanks for that, I am Australian but my grandfather was German and I have many relatives here.

I have looked at the DeutschesPanzermuseum online and I am really looking forward to visiting.

Thanks for the tip about the Wehrtechnische Sammlung, I'll be sure to check that out.

As for my family, one great-grandfather was in the Afrika Korps, one in Cherbourg on D-day and one on the Eastern front in the Hungarian army. So we were pretty deep in the war!

Also in the first world war my great-great grandfather was in Turkey fighting the Australians! and other Commonwealth nations. In Australia we have a national holiday on the 25th of April to celebrate and remember fallen soldiers (ANZAC day), you may have heard of it :P.

But all my family was on the other side! So I always have mixed feelings on that day.

Thats why I have come to Germany, to connect with my roots, learn the language etc....

Thanks for your reply and all the best with the Eastern Front!

Greifen an Kamerad!

I wish I could visit Germany.... 

Americas boring.

Don't get me started, should say that its boring depending upon which state your in! :P

Which for me just so happens to be one of the worst. Between Germany and Italy they are both pretty damn interesting places to go I would think..

Sovereign wrote:
Don't get me started, should say that its boring depending upon which state your in! :P

Which for me just so happens to be one of the worst. Between Germany and Italy they are both pretty damn interesting places to go I would think..

The ruins of the Roman Republic and Empire in Rome are epic. I don't think even modern engineers could recreate the mastery.

Florence is also a beautiful city, all that renaissance art is magnificent. Gondolas in Venice are neat too, the city would be screwed if the river flooded ;)

Vatican City, part of Rome, is a must see if your Roman Catholic. It's got some neat Gothic Style architecture.

Fun Fact;Back in the era of the Holy Roman Empire(Germany+Italy, After Roman Empire, Before European Renaissance and Exploration of the Americas. Even before the 100 years war)The Catholic Church converted the ruins of the Colosseum into a Stations of the Cross church, with the center being the area of prayer, with the stations of the cross lined on each pillar, and a altar on the ones left over.

Had the Romans not had a few bad apples like Augustus and Nero, they very well could have lasted much longer. But hell, a straight 1000+ years of dominance in the world is a LONG time. Their genius was great.

In fact, the Roman Empire had lived up until 1400 to be technical, but it was NOT officially the Roman Empire. Constantine, a roman emperor, newly catholic, moved to Byzantium and named it Constantinople, where he built the secondary capital to Rome. He was the one who pretty much screwed it up :P Mainly because power was split down the middle, east + west.

Eventually the last Roman Emperor was overthrow and the remains of the eastern empire was renamed Byzantine empire, lasting till about 1400 when the Muslim Turks had captured the city. Mainly the city lost wealth as a result of the fourth crusade, because Catholics were a bit ticked they hadn't gotten the treasure desired, so they sacked the city.

The Romans had a HUGE impact on the world.
___________________________________________________
Back to the topic, I suggest you visit:
1. Rome
2. Florence
3. Venice
4. Pompeii (Because of it's significance in Roman History.)
5. Naples (Beautiful sea side docks, you can walk along. ;))
___________________________________________________
For the US? New York is a VERY interesting city/state to live in, there's ALWAYS something to do. There are some nice beaches, good tourism, good food, historic neighborhoods. You just have to get over our accents :D

But if you lived in the middle of nowhere, maybe like Wyoming or somewhere, I could see where your coming from. Wyoming only has a total pop of 500,000 people. That's 1/16 of NYC's population ;)

Cranialwizard wrote:
Had the Romans not had a few bad apples like Augustus and Nero, they very well could have lasted much longer.

In fact, the Roman Empire had lived up until 1400 to be technical, but it was NOT officially the Roman Empire. Constantine, a roman emperor, newly catholic, moved to Byzantium and named it Constantinople, where he built the secondary capital to Rome. He was the one who pretty much screwed it up :P Mainly because power was split down the middle, east + west.

I do not know which Augustus you are talking about, but the one I assume you are talking about is not a bad apple. Octavian (Augustus' name before he got the honorary title of Augustus) ended years of civil war, restored order in Rome, and revised the entire Roman government.
It was Octavian who cleaned up the mess that was left after Caesar was assassinated and it was he who consolidated the empire when Marcus Antonius ran off to Egypt.

As for when the Roman Empire ended in the west, that's a matter of debate. One thing that is agreed upon by historians is that the "fall of Rome" is a myth. If you'd have walked up to someone in 650 a.d. and told them the empire had fallen, they would have asked you if you were insane. Even Charles the Great (Charlemagne, around 800 a.d.) fought in the name of the Roman Empire.

As for the East, that empire is known by a few names, one is the Byzantine empire, another one is the Eastern Roman Empire. Either way, that existed until 1453 when the Ottomans conquered it.

It was not Constantine who separated the empire into halves, he merely moved the capital of the entire Empire to Constantinople. Rome was still the capital of the Western Empire.
Diocletianus was the one who came up with the idea of having two emperors and two sub-emperors and he implemented it as well.

Also as a little note with Constantine, he was only baptised upon his deathbed. Whether he was pro Catholic before that because of a religious idea or because of political options is a matter of debate.

Now on topic:
When you visit France, I can advise you to visit the beaches and Point du Hoc (obviously XD)
Also, if you can, visit the war cemetery near Omaha beach, that is really a chilling and awe inspiring place.

Cheers

Yeh thanks for that.

Both of those are on my list.

I'm going to visit a volunteer farm in Brittany in a few months and from there head to the beaches for a day or two.

I'm particularly interested in the German war graves, see if I can find any Pfefferles (thats our old family name).

I know about my immediate families involvement in the war but I'm sure there are many others I do not know about.

Hey, all mostly oversees. Well, its very rare to see it from Southeast Asia

I live in Pennslavia. Blah- not even a lake I can fish out of.

Your all make me feel bad the I live in a no where land while you germans have all this cool stuff to look at. Only thing with history stuff is Getteysburg, with isnt much.

Seeme wrote:
I live in Pennslavia. Blah- not even a lake I can fish out of.

Your all make me feel bad the I live in a no where land while you germans have all this cool stuff to look at. Only thing with history stuff is Getteysburg, with isnt much.

What about trips to Pittsburgh and Philly? Lake Erie? The Poconos??

I live in Pennsylvania too. :)

Philly was quite cool when I went to visit, but I think New York beats it, sorry guys  :D

I live in Stuttgart  ;D
the home of Mercedes and Porsche

I live in Kharkov, it is home of glorious T-34  ;D

I live in Littlestown, PA!

Home of absolutely nothing!

I visited the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum yesterday. Quite an impressive collection of WWII vehicles and assorted arms.

There was a restored Panther in the back room which you could partially control with a joystick in front of the display. You can traverse the turret and operate the tracks forward and back. It was great to swing the turret around towards the shermans on display!

But to anyone who hasn't heard of this museum I recommend it. A large collection of vehicles from both sides, from WWII to the present. Pazer III, IV, Sherman, T-34-85, SU-100, Pershing, Leopard 1, Nebelwerfer, Schwimmwagen, 88's and my personal favourite, a Jagdpanther! The aircraft displays were also very good. You can enter several planes on display on the roof via staircases.

I stood in the doorway of a JU-52 like a Fallschirmjäger ready to spring! That was a little thrill for me.

Anyway if your ever nearby, definately worth the visit. 

Last edited May 28, 2010 at 5:57 PM by slappyfish

slappyfish wrote:
I visited the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum yesterday. Quite an impressive collection of WWII vehicles and assorted arms.

There was a restored Panther in the back room which you could partially control with a joystick in front of the display. You can traverse the turret and operate the tracks forward and back. It was great to swing the turret around towards the shermans on display!

But to anyone who hasn't heard of this museum I recommend it. A large collection of vehicles from both sides, from WWII to the present. Pazer III, IV, Sherman, T-34-85, SU-100, Pershing, Leopard 1, Nebelwerfer, Schwimmwagen, 88's and my personal favourite a Jagdpanther! The aircraft displays were also very good. You can enter several plans on display on the roof via staircases.

I stood in the doorway of a JU-52 like a Fallschirmjäger ready to spring! That was a little thrill for me.

Anyway if your ever nearby, definately worth the visit. 

I really need to visit that museum. It's not that far away from Stuttgart  ;)