I want to provide a brief primer on the German political system to provide background for a series of articles I'm thinking about. This may not be everyone's cup of beer, but I'll do my best to make it as entertaining as possible. To reward you, dear reader, for your perseverance, there'll be a multiple choice quiz at the end with cash prizes. Ready? Off we go! 1. Representative bodies, elections, etc. Germany is a federal republic; this means that a significant number of powers are delegated to the 16 states (Bundesländer). Each state has its own parliament (generally known as a Landtag, with a few exceptions). The federal government has a main parliamentary body, the Bundestag (known in English as the Federal Diet; this does not imply that government spending is on a diet). In a federal election each citizen has two votes - the first serves to elect a representative directly based on election districts (there are 299), the second vote is directly for a party (more

We just got back from our annual ski vacation, this year for the first time in Reit im Winkl . We had stayed there for a weekend in August 2000, the year we moved to Munich. It made a favorable impression on us at the time; back then we weren't thinking in terms of ski vacation. Our first ski vacations were spent in Mittenwald , a town we're very fond of, but the ski area there is just too small and unchallenging. Last year we tried Alpbach in Austria, but we weren't totally convinced. So this year something new! 1. Our Quarters We stayed at Haus Seerose , where we had a two-person apartment. Our hosts were very friendly, the apartment was well-equipped and cozy. Just off the small, serviceable kitchen was a charming breakfast nook with a bay window and a great view: In addition there was a small sitting room which included a flat-screen TV with cable and an L-formed couch with table. The bathroom was modern (with shower, not tub), and a separate bedroom with a very c

This morning it was -11° Celsius in Munich - that's about 12° F. Other parts of Germany have been much colder - in Saxony temperatures have been as low as -27° C, that's -16.6° F! No change to this clear, cold weather is in sight. My wife is convinced that the weather will turn nasty as soon as we start our ski vacation the week after next...