German friends: Safe for Americans in Berlin?

[Spiffor]

You have nearly no risk in Germany. All Americans I have seen here (granted, these are Americans stidying here) are very well accepted by their fellows. You can expect some hot debate, but it should abate quite quickly since you are anti war IIRC (but you'll notice how extremistic some Germans are on the issue )
Many Germans are vegetarian, and most restaurants provide some choice for vegetarians, even Kebaps shops. So don't hesitate, and go to Germany !

(but avoid Stuttgart at all costs ; there is nearly nothing interesting here, except some museums and Porsche / Mercedes factories)

[TheStinger]

A vegetarian Kebab shop, no longer Germany is sruggling

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Spiffor
You have nearly no risk in Germany. All Americans I have seen here (granted, these are Americans stidying here) are very well accepted by their fellows. You can expect some hot debate, but it should abate quite quickly since you are anti war IIRC (but you'll notice how extremistic some Germans are on the issue )
Many Germans are vegetarian, and most restaurants provide some choice for vegetarians, even Kebaps shops. So don't hesitate, and go to Germany !

(but avoid Stuttgart at all costs ; there is nearly nothing interesting here, except some museums and Porsche / Mercedes factories)

What places would you recommend, besides Berlin?

Although the gay nightlife is a big draw for me, yes. But it's not a must, as I live in a city with a pretty incredible gay night life as it is.

I am waiting to hear from a friend if he wants to go with me. I would feel better about going with someone rather than travelling alone. If he agrees, then we will have to make a decision fairly quickly. I am leaning heavily on Prague or Berlin, less so on Rome.

Of course...how is the weather there now? I'm guessing cold an wet. Maybe Rome would be better in that regard?

[mapfi]

actually Rome has more rain than Berlin at this time of the year, usually.
Berlin's certainly colder - 30-40° vs. 45-55°

[SpencerH]

I havent been to Prague since 92 which wasnt long after the wall came down. I think you'd like it very much (lots o that there cultural-type stuff like them fancy fiddle players and such). There wasnt much in the way of nightlife for westerners aside from drinking in those days. That wasn't much of a loss since the beer was cheap and excellent. At that time it was mostly German tourists with a few american backpacker types mixed in. Its probably changed a lot now though. The food was good but not 'haute cuisine'. I had vodka flambeed duck at the 400 year old Hotel Europa. I also ate a Macdonalds hamburger just to say I did. The underground trains were very fast and efficient so if you stay near a station you can be downtown very quickly. Taxis were of two varieties. The local versions were cheap but held together with string and the tourist variety (BMW or mercedes ) that were hard to come by except at the new hotels and expensive by Prague standards.

[Spiffor]

I'm sorry, I cannot recommand you other cities than Berlin, as I almost never went to Germany as a tourist, and know about only the places I lived in.

However, if you like beautiful sceneries, you must go to the shores of the Rhines before it gets tainted by the Ruhr. The place is called the Rheingold, and is absolutely splendid IMHO (it looks close to the attached pic, and the sceneries goes further during tens of kilometres).

There are some beautiful sights in Western Germany, like in Cologne (Cathedral + many museums). Also, many big cities are bundled to each other in the area, and you have many historical or close-historical monuments (Bonn is near too). But I don't know these places enough to really recommand them to you. Good architecture is pretty limited to monuments there IIRC, except if you like ultra modern buildings.

Here in Stuttgart, the weather is currently cold and dry (no snow for three days now, and blue sky since), but it snows often. However, I was suprised it rains much less here than in Paris. I guess the clouds had enough time to lose most of their water before reaching here

[Datajack Franit]

Wurzburg as well

[BeBMan]

Wheather is damn cold now in Berlin (and in Germany overall as well). Not much snow, and no rain at all, but icy cold.

From the cultural perspective Dresden is certainly worth a try, however, I cannot say much about the nightlife there (my last visit there was over a decade ago).

Some pics to give you an impression....

Dresden http://www.horstwerner.com/views/dresden/index.html
Berlin:

http://www.horstwerner.com/views/berlin/index.html

Potsdam (near Berlin)

http://www.horstwerner.com/views/potsdam/index.html

[Hueij]

However, if you like beautiful sceneries, you must go to the shores of the Rhines before it gets tainted by the Ruhr. The place is called the Rheingold, and is absolutely splendid IMHO (it looks close to the attached pic, and the sceneries goes further during tens of kilometres).

Boris, you are into opera... Follow this advice, it's where the Nibelungen is (are?) set

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Hueij
Boris, you are into opera... Follow this advice, it's where the Nibelungen is (are?) set

Too bad I am not a Wagner fan.

I've heard that the people of Dresden are unfriendly to Americans, as there is still a lot of resentment over the bombings. This was from one source, though, so I'm not sure if it is true. Are they still cleaning up from the floods last year, though?

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by SpencerH
The underground trains were very fast and efficient so if you stay near a station you can be downtown very quickly.

The floods last summer caused huge problems for Prague's underground train system. When I was there in September none of the trains were running.
However:
a) they've probably fixed it by now and
b) I still found it easy to get around - the trams are every bit as useful as the trains