‘We wandered every cobbled street and climbed every Gothic tower’

Literary Lübeck Lübeck – Queen of the Hanseatic League – has a fading charm and vulnerability that is absent in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg… and in most of Germany. I loved my trip there, wandering the cobbled streets, climbing every brick Gothic church tower – mostly alone! Thomas Mann wrote the unbearably sad novel Buddenbrooks … Read more

Where it all went wrong for the German railways

Bremen’s Hauptbahnhof ranks last among the 50 European stations – Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images It’s been a bad few weeks for the German rail network. Striking drivers brought much of the system to a standstill last Thursday and Friday, and they promise more are to come. Meanwhile, a Washington-based research firm, the Consumer Choice … Read more