Nice side trips in Germany?

Julia,

just to clarify your question: you have 1 week of extra time, do you want to day daytrips and be back in Siegen every evening or could you go some place and stay there for a week?

I'd prefer to be back in Siegen to be with my family and avoid overnighting costs.

If you haven't been to Ludwig's castles near Fussen, I would recommend it, although it is a tourist area. Less visited towns in the Bavarian Forest or "Glassy Forest" are a pleasant retreat as well. Enjoy!

As someone who has actually BEEN to Siegen, I know Fuessen is a bit too far for what you have in mind, LOL! However, Amsterdam isn't out of the realm of possibility since you are talking about going by train. I think that Heidelberg would also be do-able. And how about Strasbourg?

So tell me, do you speak Siegerlander Plattdeutsch? I swear everyone sounded like they had marbles in their mouths. I was there for 4 weeks just over 20 years ago learning German as part of my college foreign language requirement. Could you give me the recipe for the potato bread (at least I THINK it was bread) that is a local specialty? I used to have it--in German, but misplaced it before I could ever actually take the time to make it.

Hmmm, for day trips that limits it a bit. Fussen is definitely out of the question for that. Some ideas:

Some ideas for daytrips:

• Muenster

Lots of history (Anabaptist movement, Westphalian Peace Agreement after the 30 year war ...) but also great young atmosphere as it has a huge student population. If you go on a Wednesday or Saturday there's also a market on the Domplatz. I always have to stop there for some lunch snacks, usually fresh potatoe pancakes or Matjes buns or some other local goodies.

• Duesseldorf

If you're interested in art you might know that Joseph Beuys lived and worked here. The museum for 20th century art is currently closed for renovations so I can't really tell you where his works are shown at the moment. But aside from that the old town centre is also nice to walk around.

• Bochum

Not really a pretty town and rather industrial, but its mining museum is world class. You even get to go underground and see a demonstration mine. My father and grandfather were miners so this holds special interest for me. Any miners in your family?

• Sauerland

That's really THE vacation area close to Siegen. However, I don't know it very well. Check out this website for some ideas:

http://www.sauerland.com/sauerland/reisethemen

Wow all really great ideas! Bochum is definitely a possibility. My grandpa's brother lives in Bochum, and their youngest brother (that I only recently learned of) died very young in a mining accident, so yes, definitely a mining history in the family.

Nancy-- My mom has a lot of the german recipes, and she does have one for potato bread. I can see if I can get it, otherwise I'll have to ask grandma (I leave on Wednesday 7/30). I do have a little bit of Siegerlanderplatt. Luckily the heaviest versions sound a bit like an American accent! I used to get heckled all the time in high school German by the other students by making "ich" sound like "ish." There's a few idiosyncrasies that I have picked up into my German speaking since I mainly learned from listening (my grammar is horrible). My family laughed when they caught me saying "Was ist dat denn?" But I've also confused a police officer at a local home show when I told him I was American while speaking German standing next to my German grandma, he said he couldn't hear any accent (maybe he was humoring me).