Final Stop in My Quest to Find Nature

The last stop on my quest to find nature while on my European vacation was Germany.  Here we would spend time in a small village and in Berlin.

Upon landing in Berlin and heading to the countryside, it already seemed promising that I would find nature here.  We drove past wooded areas and pastures that reminded me of home.  Our hosts had a plot in a community garden which was well manicured, and many of the villagers had yards with ponds and various ornamental plantings.  Here I heard frogs and saw them hop into the ponds before I could identify them.  They sounded similar to the green frogs at home. And I heard several birds calling, but certainly not nearly as many as I can hear from my deck at home.

One day we accompanied our host to a local school.  I was impressed with the grounds of the school (very green) and the large bank of windows in each classroom.  After teaching without any windows for much of my career, I appreciated the calming effect the view of green has on students.

What impressed me most in Germany was the transportation system....rail lines serve the small towns and bring some of the students to school.  There is also a "fast train" to Berlin, which we took. 

In the cities of Europe, there was a large presence of bicyclists commuting to work. Here is a bike rack in Berlin.

Energy sources seem to be diversified as evidenced by the fields of solar collectors and wind turbines we passed along the highway.  Many buildings had solar collectors also.









We stayed in an eco friendly hotel in Berlin.  Its mission was to create a peaceful environment; one way it did that was to make the elevators seem like you were in a forest, complete with bird sounds.  That really was relaxing.

All in all, I was impressed with conservation efforts in Germany.  These are probably in place out of necessity....when you have little in the way of resources, it is wise to conserve.  But still I was not impressed with the biodiversity when compared to the US.

I looked for controversial issues in conservation (and I am aware that solar and wind power both have detractors) but found little to report as environmental issues.

The biggest controversy: who would win the World Cup game between Germany and USA. 

We were interviewed by a TV news crew in front of the US Embassy in Berlin the day before the match.  Being on TV in Germany was something we never imagined would happen, but when you
travel, you have to expect anything!






We had been to many places and had many great experiences, but after nearly a month abroad I was anxious to come back home where the search for nature would not be so difficult.

As our journey wrapped up, I realized how fortunate we are to live in the USA.  There are many things to be thankful for in this country, not the least of which is our abundant natural resources.  So as the custom agent said to me, "Welcome home", I replied, "It's good to be back."  And it is.