标签德国下的文章

从上魏斯巴赫山地列车的车站向外看，德国图林根 View from railroad station of mountain train in Oberweissbacher, Thuringia, Germany (© golero/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Cable car station of the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn

Today you can look at snow-covered tracks and remote forests from a station of the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn. If you want to experience the picturesque winter landscape of the Thuringian Slate Mountains from this unique perspective, you don't have to reach deep into your pocket: a day ticket for the historic funicular, which is open every half-hour over a nearly 4 Mile-long route, currently costs just 14 euros.

The track consists of a wide-gauge cable car and an adjoining standard-gauge and electrified adhesion section. Both parts of the route are closely linked operationally and have been listed as a monument to the history of production and traffic since 1982. The mountain railway has been part of Deutsche Bahn AG since 1994 - at the moment it is the only German cable car that is not owned by the community or privately.

楚格峰下的艾布湖，德国巴伐利亚 Eibsee lake at the base of Zugspitze mountain, Bavaria, Germany (© Marc Hohenleitner/Huber/eStock Photo)

The Zugspitze: Germany's highest point

Welcome to the snowy Bavarian Alps, where the mountain called the Zugspitze (TSOOG-shpit-seh) casts a cold shadow over the Eibsee, a small and serene alpine lake. Situated on the border with Austria, the peak is Germany's highest point at almost 10,000 feet above sea level, towering over the lakeside village of Grainau.

The word 'zug' means 'train' in modern German. Though the peak's name is much older than the locomotive (and probably refers to 'zugbahnen,' deep tracks cut into the mountainside by avalanches), it's especially appropriate now: a steep cogwheel railway tunnels up from the nearby town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to a plateau near the summit. Aerial trams also serve the mountaintop from both the German and Austrian sides, and the one from Grainau boasts the longest free span for a cable car in the world, at about two miles.

巴克南的跨年烟火，德国 Fireworks for New Year's Eve in Backnang, Germany (© Lilly/Alamy)

3, 2, 1 … Happy New Year!

Backnang, the city celebrating the new year in this photo, is in Germany's Baden region. Thanks to the Rhine River on the west, and the Black Forest to the east, the soil in Baden is ideal for vineyards. Among the varieties of wine produced here, Spätburgunder is common, which you may know by its more common French name: Pinot Noir. It seems likely that the people of Backnang would be celebrating with a glass of Pinot or something else this evening. However you choose to celebrate, here's wishing you a very happy and healthy new year!

贝希特斯加登县拉姆绍小镇上结冰的Hintersee湖和滑冰者，德国巴伐利亚 (© Jana Mänz/Westend61/Offset)

一年一度的施瓦本哈尔圣诞市集，德国巴登-符腾堡州 Annual Schwäbisch Hall Weihnachtsmarkt in the market square, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (© sack/Getty Images Plus)

It's Weihnachtsmarkt time!

The streets of this market square are all decked out in a tradition born nearly 700 years ago. Weihnachtsmarkts or Christkindlmarkts (Christmas markets, if you prefer less of a mouthful), take place around the world, but they originated in Germany as a celebratory way to observe Advent, the Christian season leading up to Christmas Eve. These markets are generally open-air affairs where everything is decorated, including the trees (called Tannenbaums in German if they're firs). People shop from local artisans who sell their handmade wares in small wooden chalets. Then it's off to eat traditional foods—roasted almonds, pastries, and biscuits—and sip on warm mulled wine. Today we're walking through Schwäbisch Hall, a German town that came into prominence during medieval times for its salt production, or 'white gold.' After holiday revelers tire of shopping and dancing in the streets, they can ease into one of the town's many healing spas to end the day.

大雾笼罩下的巴伐利亚阿尔卑斯山脉，德国 Fog shrouds the Bavarian Alps in Germany (© Anton Petrus/Getty Images)

Mountain mists over Bavaria

If the forecast in Bavaria calls for 'nebel'—you'll know that means fog. In modern German, the word for 'November' is 'November.' But an older German term for this month was 'Nebel-mond' which translates to English as 'fog month'—it's the time of the year when fog is most likely to roll in. In some parts of the world the topography and local climate make fog a regular feature of the weather, especially during certain times of the year. That's called 'fog season.' San Francisco has a fog season. Tampa, Florida, does too. Is there a fog season where you live?

The Brandenburg Gate seen through a heart-shaped replica of the Berlin Wall (© Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images)

We heart Berlin

We're gazing at the Brandenburg Gate—a symbol of peace and unity—through a heart-shaped replica of a remnant of the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the political division that once marked the German capital. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the concrete barrier that once obstructed this view.

Although it stood for 28 years, the fall of the wall was sparked on November 9, 1989, when an East German official mistakenly announced a newly relaxed travel policy during a broadcasted press conference. Within hours, thousands of hopeful East Berliners rushed the wall, overwhelming border guards who reluctantly opened the checkpoints. Soon Berliners from the East and West were on the wall, joyfully dancing together, breaking off pieces with their hands, hammers, and anything else they could use to crumble the cement. Shortly afterward, the wall finally came down and borders were opened.

Conditions that led to the wall began in the years following World War II, when Berlin was divided into Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the American, British, and French sectors known as West Berlin. Although East Berliners weren't allowed to emigrate, they managed to do so nonetheless, and by 1961, millions had left for life in the West, nearly bringing the East German economy to ruin. It was then, on August 13, 1961, that Berliners woke up to a barbed-wire fence cutting off West Berlin from East Germany, including East Berlin. Within days, East Germany fortified the barbed wire with concrete, eventually reinforcing it with an outer and inner wall, watchtowers, and floodlights, while also extending it 28 miles across the city and beyond. For nearly three decades the wall separated families and entire communities. When it finally came down in 1989, it would be another year before both cities would eventually be reunified under the new Federal Republic of Germany.

One of "Drei Gleichen“

The first leaves have already fallen, the temperatures in the morning are steadily decreasing and from today it is official: autumn has begun. With this idyllic shot of the Wachsenburg in Thuringia we would like to tune you to the golden season, which is at the same time the most beautiful for many people.

The Veste Wachsenburg looks back on a centuries-old and varied history. Its origins date back to the year 930, and in the following period the summit castle was destroyed several times and rebuilt or expanded. The Wachsenburg is part of a medieval castle ensemble called "Drei Gleichen".

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