Green

Germany is a very green country. This was a major difference I noticed between Germany and the United States, especially compared to New Mexico but that's a climate/location issue. Even Berlin, the capital of Germany and its largest city by population, has no shortage of green spaces. Compare that with some of the largest cities in the US and it's like night and day. The one thing I saw in Stuttgart that I found the most amazing was in a plaza near a large park, where the US would have beautiful ornamental flower growing they were letting wild flowers grow. It was like a small patch of nature in a city.

On my trip back to New Mexico I had a layover at LAX, the main airport in Los Angeles. As the plane flew over LA I looked out the window and took in sight of a city almost completely devoid of the lush greenery I immediately fell in love with in Germany. For as far as the eye can see, it was a sea of houses, streets, businesses and occasionally I could pick out a park and of course most of the houses had backyards with grass and there were trees lining streets and a few in yards. But, none of it had that sense of life that Germany has.

To me this difference comes from our need to capitalize on every bit of available space we have. An area can't just be left sitting there without making someone money. Not to say that there isn't the same thoughts in Germany but at least on the surface it's not the same as what we have here.

In Germany if a farmer wants any kind of government assistance they are required to set aside a decent piece of their land where they are not allowed to operate. There are of course arguments to be made against this practice, it can and has hurt small farmers, but it shows that Germany from the top down has a vested interest in preserving nature and helping it rebuild the damaged parts. In the state of Florida a private investment company was allowed to buy what was supposed to be protected land so that they could build a shopping center and apartments. There seems to be a fundamental difference in opinion in protecting nature between The US and Germany.

Maybe I'm just speaking as a tourist that is unaware of underlying issues in Germany but, all you have to do is google both countries to see the difference in how each country treats nature.

Arial view of a neighborhood in Los Angeles

A lake at a botanical garden in Frankfurt

Wild flowers growing in Stuttgart

A community garden in Frankfurt

Vines growing on a house on a river in Strasbourg, France

Stuttgart from on top of the tv tower

A panorama of Stuttgart from the tv tower

Heidelberg Castle

A vineyard on a hill