Amberg Altstadt Fest

Who knew our humble village of under 50,000 could throw such an impressive festival?
During the summer in Germany, most cities hold some kind of Stadt (city) fest. They usually only span one weekend, which makes the extensive events even more impressive. Recently, we attended our local Stadtfest - the Amberger Altstadtfest. Who knew that a town of under 50,000 could draw such a crowd? There was not a nook nor cranny uncovered by festival spirit in the Amberg Altstadt. We counted five stages with various bands, several family friendly sidewalk performers, all of the major local breweries, and countless brats.

This is my favorite festival to date - not just because of the five minute walk from my house. The city is a manageable size but offers plenty of attractions for the fest. There was a substantial crowd to encourage singing along, but we did not have trouble finding a table. It also didn't hurt that the sun was shining down on a perfect 70 degree weekend!

Berlin Underground Tours

Prior "this would never happen in America" moments:

•  Dogs allowed inside restaurants
•  Deli and bakery workers serving customers bare handed
•  Dentists working on patients bare handed

Newest example of this train of thought:

•  Standing next to original WWII toxic glow-in-the-dark paint in a Berlin bunker

How did I happen upon this precarious situation? The Berliner Unterwelten (Berlin Underground) Tour. A group of archaeologists formed the Berliner Unterwelten in 1997 to preserve, analyze, and share Berlin's "subterranean architecture" with the world. After excavations and plenty of research, they started offering tours of various underground highlights. We had the pleasure of taking the WWII bunker tour a few weeks ago. The tours guides are incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and speak wonderful English.
This tour was hardly your run-of-the-mill WWII history lesson. The tour guides focused on the unusual aspects of their exhibits. We learned about how Hitler's regime required citizens to purchase expensive "air raid survival kits" to raise money, regardless of the fact that they would not help in a true air raid. He also lacked the time or money to build sufficient bomb shelters, so the pre-existing bunkers we toured were decorated as such and air raid drills were held inside, again painting the picture of safety despite a lack of structural support.
The tours are capped for good reason - as we all huddled into the "shelter," I was thankful for this. Plan ahead for the English tours and get there early (it's conveniently across from the Gesundbrunnen underground station). They offer a variety of different tours - I am eyeing the "Breaching the Berlin Wall" tour next!
Berliner Unterwelten website: http://berliner-unterwelten.de/home.1.1.html
Underground tours: http://berliner-unterwelten.de/files/buev_flyer_eng-spa_2013-06_web.pdf