Red, black and gold

Germany seems different from my last extended visit in 2000. Maybe it´s the winter weather (with no snow), or the fact my cousins have grown up, or the electric organ being designated to a pile of junk in the basement... but everything seems bleaker than it was. I´m told the economy is the slowest-growing in all of Europe. Last night there was a fatal stabbing in town. People don´t feel safe.

We went for a Sunday drive in the nearby mountains. There was still snow on the ski slopes, and the whole region was swarming with sunday drivers. Some pretty towns along the way - old Tudor-esque houses, churches with variously-shaped steeples. But looking at numberplates you would have thought you were in the Neatherlands.