i lived in a small university town in southern Germany for several years getting my degree but returned to the US during covid. Those were definitely some of the best years of my life. The things that I learned, my personal growth and and experiences during those years, and especially the people that i met, I could go on and on. Germany has its flaws and charms, and it'll always have a special place in my heart. I think about it often.
I have seen Feli in other collaborations too, she is really the queen of colabs, doesn't really matter what the subject is about she has always something insightful to say.
Great video. Big fan of Feli. I’ve lived in Munich for five years and visit about every two to three years. When we first arrived I had someone show me in detail how to read S and U Bahn maps and train schedules. It was a huge help. On our most trip this past spring I used their apps to great advantage.
I lived in Germany for 8 years (3 years military, then several years later returned as a DoD civilian). Can't wait to go back for a third tour! I was in Heidelberg and Wiesbaden. I was always in either barracks/apartments that were either in the Stadt Mitte, or a short, 10-minute bus/tram ride away.
I lived in Germany for 3 years while in the Army in the 90s and I visited for a couple of months in 2015, traveling all over the place, and I have never had problems with maps or the way places are marked. Whether I was driving, taking local public transportation, or regional trains I never had problems getting around.
Munich is so beautiful, enjoyed visiting there very much, was 40 years ago though. Seeing how Munich has changed so much over time was interesting. The city of Frankfurt was more like an American city, not someplace I would recommend. Hamburg, Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden are on my radar for future travel, on my bucket list at this point. Thanks Kyle
We love Munich and the suburbs and we stayed in Vaterstetten east of Munich, but we loved how clean they are. The streets are so clean and nice to walk down.
Either someone slipped something into my CZcams tea this morning, or I'm watching Geography King doing a video with Feli From Germany, but I'm just going to roll with it.
German here, living in Austin. Great video. You guys hit the nail on the head. You mentioned differences in food, maybe something to get a bit deeper into next time.
It would be nice to have better public transportation and walkability in Cincinnati. I went to Barcelona in Spain last month and it was really fun to wander around and take the metro lines. I really liked it and also want to go to Germany sometime. Good video!
Nice interview. One of the reasons downtown areas of most US cities are less desirable than those of European cities is because the US has prioritized automobiles so much over mass transit, cycling and walking. As a result, downtown areas are often dominated by massive parking lots and freeway interchanges, and are generally unpleasant, desolate and creepy, especially after dark. I would love for you to interview citynerd sometime. His style is very different than yours and he tends to focus on transportation and land use in cities, but I think it would be a great discussion.
It’s a matter of taste certainly, but I go to Munich regularly and have lived there temporarily, and while it is certainly pretty in places, it doesn’t feel like a village at all. There is a noticeable difference between the city centre and residential areas, and the residential areas often require pretty long walks to shop. I compare this to Cologne, where I live, and where I have multiple shops of all kinds in the same radius that in my temporary Munich neighbourhood contained exactly one butcher, one bakery and one supermarket. And it was an area that was still well inside the ring roads around the city, while in my Cologne neighbourhood, I’m closer to the motorway than the city centre. Thanks to remote working now being normal, I didn’t have to move to Munich after all, but while I was pondering the possibility, I was already thinking of moving to Augsburg instead and commute, because I found Augsburg so much nicer and more liveable, apart from much more affordable housing. I even bought a foldable bike to take on the train with me, and spent several weeks living in Augsburg and doing the commute to the Munich office.
I think going on a walking date for the first time is a wonderful idea. Also, I 've always thought Over the Rhine is such a cool name for a neighborhood. Over the Rhine is a very good band also.
I watch Feli's channel. After multiple self-guide trips to Europe, including Germany, I've found just about everything in Europe better than USA. Reading subway maps gets better wuth practice, LOL. London & Prague have the easiest subway systems to use. Next year's trip will be limited to Germany. I spend about a month on these trips. In my opinion, Germany has the best food!
"Village feeling" = many of the large German cities were created from the merger of villages, so pretty much every district has its "own center/city square". For example, in Hamburg, the district of Altona was not part of the actual city area for a long time, just like Ohlsdorf, and the cemetery was also established outside the original city area. Unlike in American suburbs, many new German areas also take into account the nearby infrastructure (shopping opportunities, daycare centers, school routes if necessary and changes to bus routes/new bus routes = Many things can therefore be reached within a relatively short walk.).
I enjoyed your video. I was stationed with the US Army in Wiesbaden at Camp Pieri from December 1970 to March, 1972. Wiesbaden is a beautiful city and Germany is a beautiful country. Wiesbaden is located about 20 miles west of Frankfurt. I also was on temporary duty in Oberammergau for 3 weeks during the late winter of 1971 and just loved it there. The transportation system is great including rail system. I rode the train from Wiesbaden to Bonn and back in one day. The Rhine Valley is just beautiful with all the castles located on the hillsides. One thing I noticed about the names of the suburbs around Wiesbaden ( and I sure it is that way for the big cities too) is that a suburb is hyphenated with the name of the city. Our post for example was near Wiesbaden-Dotzheim. I assume Dotzheim was town of its own at one time according to what Feli said.
Yes, exactly. Most of these former independent villages were either incorporated in the early 1900s (mostly in large cities like Berlin and Hamburg) … or in the 60s/70s
As a Bostonian I have a hard time relating to generalizations about American cities. Boston does seem to be much more like a European city than what might be thought of as a typical American city. Good transportation, very walkable, and a desirable downtown people wish they could afford to live in.
The suburb v closer to downtown discussion is interesting because the suburb cannot exist without the downtown. Munich's (and most of world cities excluding American cities) system makes sense : more economic and entertainment opportunities, as well as better transportation options are closer to the city center, so people want to live closer there. American cities have been deprived of walking, biking and transit infrastructure (as mentioned in the video) and continue to be deprived of it. Which makes living closer to the city not as beneficial. The suburbs also don't offer those benefits of walking, biking, transit offered by European cities which means American cities are just not able to offer the fun aspect of going out "walking on a date" or getting out of your home and simply start walking in random direction and stopping at a local bakery in a plaza (or 'square') to grab some delicious croissant and capuccino. One of the ways we can bring about a change is by supporting usage of transit, and walking/biking infrastructure instead of vehicles because vehicle usage amplifies land use due to parking spaces and road traffic, which means establishments that could have been close by and walkable have to accommodate parking and be further apart, and hence less walkable.
12:16 Tracy Chapman references this in her classic song "Fast Car" (recently repopularized by a country cover by Luke Combs). There's a line about wanting to buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs.
Cincinnati threw away a good metro plan in the early 2000’s and still have a partially abandoned/partially removed downtown loop tunnel for streetcars that was never used
I don't live in America _or_ Continental Europe, and I don't think this is an especially novel observation, but it seems to me that New York City is rather "European" in as much as that _Manhattan_ is where you live if you're successful - or, perhaps, if you're _hoping_ to be successful, particularly if you are pursuing a career in one of the more artistic professions, though this will of course necessitate living in - _sharing,_ probably - a shoebox in one of the less fashionable areas of 'town', assuming that there are any parts of the island even _left_ that haven't been gentrified entirely out of the reach of 'normal folks'. Of course the well~heeled will very likely have a place somewhere like one of the 'Hamptons, or one of the nicer places Upstate, or in Connecticut, or wherever; but the townhouse or ritzy apartment in Manhattan is a _given!_ Of course, it is well known that the population of Manhattan something like triples during the workday. This spike is of course accounted for by the, ah, 'drones' making their way in from the other four boroughs, or from (whisper it!) _Jersey,_ 😖, or from further afield - "on out on the Island", etc. This is the cohort known disdainfully as the 'Bridge & Tunnel' crowd, almost as if the East, Harlem and Hudson rivers constitute a protective moat! Of course, strictly speaking, since we're talking about all of the four other boroughs, this snotty reference should probably be expanded to include "boat people" too, to include the residents of New York's 'forgotten' borough, and the one which, in my mind, I always think of as NYC's most archetypically 'suburban' borough (at least suburban in American terms, although I'm aware that much of it is more 'respectable' Working Class, a term I can't say I'm especially comfortable with, rather than straight~up Middle Class.) I myself come from the Rep. of Ireland where, much the same as our British neighbours, the term 'Suburb' _can_ mean more or less the same thing as the term is taken to mean in the US, but this is not necessarily the case, either. Many of our suburbs, for reasons probably too complicated to get into here, are distinctly working class in character, indeed some would resemble more what would be termed in America as 'ghettos', although while these areas are typically more 'diverse', neighbourhoods in the British Isles× are (mostly) not segregated to anything like the same degree as in the US. Also, while these neighbourhoods are distinguished by crime rates markedly higher than the norm, they are not normally 'out~and~out _dangerous'_ as their US counterparts, for anyone with a modicum of street smarts so long as they're minding their own business. As for City Centre living, while there are obvious exceptions like London, or those areas of the bigger cities, eg Manchester, which have seen considerable gentrification, unlike the rest of Europe, from what I can gather, the rich in general have long tended to abjure 'Downtown' in Britain and Ireland, other than as a place to eat and be entertained (if the particular city hasn't been 'doughnutted~out' entirely!) Here the trend still seems to be one of the CBD segueing into a kind of inner core of what is often called 'Flatland' (ie 'Apartment~Land'), an area of cheap transient housing for students and impoverished single people and couples (as well as, often, some purpose built student housing), which further dissolves into the "Inner City" which tends to be much the same as what one finds in America, though, again, perhaps without such high crime rates... recent decades have of course seen 'Hipsters' often make considerable inroads into such areas, sometimes followed by unabashed gentrification. From here we graduate, of course to the inner and outer (mostly) residential suburbs, which, as I've said, tend to have a more varied demographic make~up, economically speaking, than what one tends to find in North America, especially the US. So yeah, I hadn't _meant_ to write some big, peer~reviewed paper for 'Sociology Letters', I only meant to point out that New York (and maybe 3 or 4 other old East Coast cities) is a bit of an anomaly in American terms, even if it _is_ functionally America's commercial and perhaps cultural Capital. I guess, like a lot of metropolitan areas, I kinda _sprawled..._ I hope I may be forgiven! ×"British Isles" - I'm just using the term as a collective shorthand for the geographical entities of Britain and Ireland, taken as a whole. And now you see _why!_ I won't be getting into it any further, so please feel free to substitute the term you feel happiest with!
Nice to see Feli in a different context. Now I have another CZcamsr with your channel that I will visit regularly. You made a good choice to invite Feli
Oh, how nice 2 of my favorite CZcamsrs in one episode! But dear Feli leaves out one thing when she looks at the suburbs: even "new" suburbs were always planned and built as functioning units in Germany. For example, the "Maxvorstadt" in Munich, which began as early as 1805, which had a church and its own administration (which, however, is subordinate to the city), and everything a city needs. But also the 3 huge apartment blocks "Asemwald" near Stuttgart, which were planned in 1960 (i.e. in the economic boom after the 2nd World War) and completed in 1972, are considered a suburb, and have their own small grocery store, restaurants and of course playgrounds.
“Don’t measure the wealth of your nation by how many poor people own cars but rather how many rich people take public transport” - I don’t remember who said it, circa 19something.
@@DankSi what really doesn’t make sense is that the U.S. used to especially on the East coast, which to be fair that’s where like 90% of the population lived at one time but still. We sold our national soul to General Motors in the 40s.
@@DankSi That's not true. Wealthy countries like Japan, South Korea, Hongkong, Singapore, Switzerland or Germany also have the best public transportation systems. Maybe the US is the outlier? With all those stroads, zoning and other problems which prohibit walkability and bikeability there is almost no reason to use public transport. Public transportation thrives when you enter and exit maybe 5-10 minutes from your real start and end point. It might still work, when you have to drive to your entry point, but it can't work when you're also car-dependend at your exit. If someone makes the US less car-centric and more walkable, then public transportation would also be far more useful. But like Feli, I don't believe that this will happen anytime soon.
@@philw6056i will disagree slightly with that transit has to be 5-10 min walk. While that is ideal, it could also be a 5-10 min bike/ ride. With proper securty for bikes, it would greatly increase range to about 2 miles. Also bike share programs could be part of that transistion.
8:23 Sorry for the layout of the map of the public transport system around Frankfurt… those schematics have always been this weird… it’s essentially a 1960s design, vaguely reminiscent of the one used by Transport for London (UK), but without the additional information on the ticket zones. The reason why it’s so confusing is because it’s a „one size fits all“-map that doesn’t take into account where you are right there and then, and it’s extremely overloaded with information you don’t really need, at the expense of the information you really DO need… I think the reason the public transport providers went for this was because back in the days of printed schedules (which were an annual book looking at least as thick as the Frankfurt telephone directory…) there also always was a map included - an actual map of Frankfurt with all the lines, but starting some time in the 1970s also the first schematic displays of the regional train lines (even before S-Bahn) and the subway lines, but no bus lines or streetcar lines, for fast travel. Unfortunately, as time progressed, the regional provider grew, covering more areas, and also there were more fast travel lines… and the result as of now… well… that’s the one at this timestamp…
I watch her channel all the time. i went to Germany this spring for a river cruise Netherlands to Romania and the most significant thing I noticed is there seems to be as many bicycles as people.
Yeah! Collab between two CZcamsrs I've followed for years! I also used to listen to Feli's podcast Understanding Train Station which they recently ended but episodes are still posted. Check out that 'cast.
The biggest shock i had when i moved to the States from German was not being able to go into bars because i was too young. And if you get a chance to go back, I highly recommend visiting Heidelberg.
To paraphrase what City Nerd said on one of his videos (I think on the Twin Cities): Don't confuse being temporarily uncomfortable seeing poorer people on mass transit with being in actual physical danger.
Ya know, I’ve been a lot of places and I really only confuse these two things in the U.S. It’s almost like American poor people are far more likely to be violent than poor people in other places like Europe… and that’s not to say that Euros aren’t violent ever… but I don’t really know why I feel different about it.
@@L0VTX_H8CA maybe because poor people in the US are more desperate, as there aren't things like a "basic income" (aka welfare) or basic (free) infrastructure to rely on. Transportation is a very good example: In the US it's often "get a car or die" (either by starvation or while walking on the edge of a highway). If you can't afford a car in Germany, then you may take the bus, your bike or if you can't even afford that, just walk _a few minutes_.
@@kailahmann1823 you’re probably right, too. This isn’t a field I specialize in, I just know in NYC I watch my back everywhere I go and in Oslo I’m just as if not more relaxed as I am in my sleepy west Texas oilfield town.
German public transportstion can indeed be difficult which is why ai wished she had mentioned the Deutschlandticket. It makes public transport incredibly easy and it's also an awesome bargain. It's a monthly subscription style ticket valid for all local and regional transport all over Germany and it's just 49€ per month. Also I'd like to add that maybe Feli overdoes the "germans are always outside once the weather is okay" a little. Sure, many people are. Many americans are just as outdorsy. I'm more of an indoor person myself, so is my social bubble. And this week we're expecting temperatures around 35° so I won't be outsude a second linger than I have to be...
What she’s describing of Germany’s suburbs is very similar (but different to the suburbs in the northeast. One of the differences being that housing and other economic development wasn’t restricted
But as a geographer, you also have to say that in Europe you don't generally want to live in the city center, but in the neighborhoods that are close to the city but of higher quality. This is usually a west-east contrast, the good locations are in the west (Westend) (because the wind generally comes from there and therefore the air is better, because the industry is usually in the east). As Feli rightly says, suburbs are mostly for families for cheaper property, while surrounding small towns in charming locations are the really desirable and expensive locations. As a result, the cities tend to be poor because they have to provide the infrastructure for the entire region (hospitals, universities, etc) while these wealthy small towns produce more and more luxury through the wealth of the residents and thus the tax revenue.
Maybe your confusion also stems from the fact that we say the direction of the train using the final stop whereas in America, I've seen cardinal directions being used more often (e.g northbound, westbound, southbound, eastbound trains). In my mind, I don't think about the cardinal direction I have to travel in but rather the stop I'm going to and the ones I'm changing at, so if the platform announcement voice tells me the train is going in the direction of Hauptbahnhof via Westbahnhof, that's very useful info for me.
Having been blessed to travel widely in Europe, Munich is far and away from favorite German city and I think it is precisely because it does have that "village" feel you two discuss. I find it interesting that she now lives in Cincinnati as I find it one of the more European/Germanic feeling cities in the U.S. I mean come on it does have an Over The Rhine area--can't get more German than that. :)
It always makes me happy when I see a youtube creator I subscribe to leave a comment on a video of another youtube channel I subscribe to. When two youtube creators I subscribe to do a video together like this, it's next-level awesome. Hmmm might a trip to Svalbard and a collaboration with Cecilia Blomdahl be next??? I've been watching her channel a lot lately... such incredibly beautiful scenery, and her videos are so peaceful and relaxing. Would love to see a collaboration between the two of you also.
OMG, I am witnessing the start of a new era!!! 😂 Gone is the wholesomely nostalgic 2000s intro, and a collab with fellow german Feli to boot! Go, my King, go 🤩
2:17 about Munich feeling as a village thing. Same with Amsterdam. It still kind of feels like a village because all the building are really small and historic. And about Frankfurt. Same with Rotterdam. It feels like the very big city with the modern highrise building because of the bombardements in the past in the center. Everything is also very far away from each other because the city is more car centric.
What kept Munich that cozy and small city like are the zoning/construction laws. it's forbidden to construct buildings higher than the highest church in the city center
I work in DC and I never drive inside the city. It's much faster and cheaper (parking downtown is $15-$25 a day), not to mention all of speed cameras. Metro is normally pretty decent, and the city is also very walkable
I would add Boston and to a lesser extent, Portland, Oregon. Also, the cities in north Jersey (New Brunswick, Jersey City, etc.) have excellent public transit. The New Jersey Transit trains have a cruising speed of 110 mph (~ 175 km/h).
Great to see you had a guest. I was already following both your pages. Just one constructive criticism: she goes by "fee-lee," and you called her "feh-lee." In the future, check the pronunciation. Otherwise, excellent conversation.
I love my city of Cincinnati. But lets be real, Transit is not something we are known for 😂 Germany was one of the easiest countries to get around when I went. Cincy could use Europe's transit system. Which we could have had if we had not gotten rid of the inclines, built the subway, kept the trolley, and/ or made a better version of the connector 😂 But we are a beautiful city
I am living in a suburb of St Louis, MO but I wish I was out in the country. I like small towns and tolerate small cities. But having to live in the metro area is a pain.
I'm German, my thoughts about Munich: it's quite clean, you still see, that it was always a wealthy city, the public transportation maps are as good as those of other big cities (eg. London, Paris, Berlin). The ticket system is very confusing.
Feli's POV about American cities is understandably Cincinnati. In many American cities, especially fast growing ones with a limited amount of legacy city footprint, the closer-in neighborhoods and their downtowns can get quite expensive relative to the suburbs.
Interesting, but I'm not sure I agree with the argument that people in the US live in the suburbs "after they've made it". Sure, in some wealthy suburbs that is the case, but at least where I live it's far cheaper to live in the suburbs than paying an absurd amount to live in the city. Americans - especially younger ones - are just averse to it sometimes because the suburbs are considered to be stale and boring (which I guess is true!)
The collab that makes total sense that none of us thought of before. Genius, GK.
The crossover I didn't know I needed. I've been watching both channels for years!!!
Me too!
Feli got to be "Geography Queen" for a day.
Same here! You got good taste my friend.
Wasn't expecting this collab but so glad it happened. Great job by both of you!
i lived in a small university town in southern Germany for several years getting my degree but returned to the US during covid. Those were definitely some of the best years of my life. The things that I learned, my personal growth and and experiences during those years, and especially the people that i met, I could go on and on. Germany has its flaws and charms, and it'll always have a special place in my heart. I think about it often.
Love Feli's channel! So nice to see this collab!
Wow! What an unexpected surprise! Love it.Greetings from Germany
Ein toller Gast!
Most excellent choice of collaborators Kyle!
I have seen Feli in other collaborations too, she is really the queen of colabs, doesn't really matter what the subject is about she has always something insightful to say.
I've been following Feli for about four years, so pleasantly surprised to see her featured on your channel! 🥰
Love both channels. Glad they collabed
Great video. Big fan of Feli. I’ve lived in Munich for five years and visit about every two to three years. When we first arrived I had someone show me in detail how to read S and U Bahn maps and train schedules. It was a huge help. On our most trip this past spring I used their apps to great advantage.
I lived in Germany for 8 years (3 years military, then several years later returned as a DoD civilian). Can't wait to go back for a third tour! I was in Heidelberg and Wiesbaden. I was always in either barracks/apartments that were either in the Stadt Mitte, or a short, 10-minute bus/tram ride away.
I lived in Germany for 3 years while in the Army in the 90s and I visited for a couple of months in 2015, traveling all over the place, and I have never had problems with maps or the way places are marked. Whether I was driving, taking local public transportation, or regional trains I never had problems getting around.
Loved this episode and can’t wait to check out Feli’s channel. Keep up the good work Kyle and found this format very informative and interesting.
Munich is so beautiful, enjoyed visiting there very much, was 40 years ago though. Seeing how Munich has changed so much over time was interesting. The city of Frankfurt was more like an American city, not someplace I would recommend. Hamburg, Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden are on my radar for future travel, on my bucket list at this point. Thanks Kyle
We love Munich and the suburbs and we stayed in Vaterstetten east of Munich, but we loved how clean they are. The streets are so clean and nice to walk down.
Two of my favorites! Thank you both for this collaboration!
Wow, this was great. Definitely unexpected but so great!
Either someone slipped something into my CZcams tea this morning, or I'm watching Geography King doing a video with Feli From Germany, but I'm just going to roll with it.
Cool that you had a guest. Interesting.
I love the new intro globe
German here, living in Austin. Great video. You guys hit the nail on the head. You mentioned differences in food, maybe something to get a bit deeper into next time.
Good job on your collab. I would definitely like to see more.
It would be nice to have better public transportation and walkability in Cincinnati. I went to Barcelona in Spain last month and it was really fun to wander around and take the metro lines. I really liked it and also want to go to Germany sometime. Good video!
Shocked at this colab! Have been following both of you since 2020!
Feli From Germany is one of my favorites! It was so cool that you had her on your channel.
Nice interview. One of the reasons downtown areas of most US cities are less desirable than those of European cities is because the US has prioritized automobiles so much over mass transit, cycling and walking. As a result, downtown areas are often dominated by massive parking lots and freeway interchanges, and are generally unpleasant, desolate and creepy, especially after dark. I would love for you to interview citynerd sometime. His style is very different than yours and he tends to focus on transportation and land use in cities, but I think it would be a great discussion.
Feli is so cool! 🤩
very pretty 🙂
It’s a matter of taste certainly, but I go to Munich regularly and have lived there temporarily, and while it is certainly pretty in places, it doesn’t feel like a village at all. There is a noticeable difference between the city centre and residential areas, and the residential areas often require pretty long walks to shop. I compare this to Cologne, where I live, and where I have multiple shops of all kinds in the same radius that in my temporary Munich neighbourhood contained exactly one butcher, one bakery and one supermarket. And it was an area that was still well inside the ring roads around the city, while in my Cologne neighbourhood, I’m closer to the motorway than the city centre.
Thanks to remote working now being normal, I didn’t have to move to Munich after all, but while I was pondering the possibility, I was already thinking of moving to Augsburg instead and commute, because I found Augsburg so much nicer and more liveable, apart from much more affordable housing. I even bought a foldable bike to take on the train with me, and spent several weeks living in Augsburg and doing the commute to the Munich office.
That was a wonderful collab!! Great idea and interesting perspective! Thank you!
I think going on a walking date for the first time is a wonderful idea. Also, I 've always thought Over the Rhine is such a cool name for a neighborhood. Over the Rhine is a very good band also.
I watch Feli's channel. After multiple self-guide trips to Europe, including Germany, I've found just about everything in Europe better than USA. Reading subway maps gets better wuth practice, LOL. London & Prague have the easiest subway systems to use. Next year's trip will be limited to Germany. I spend about a month on these trips. In my opinion, Germany has the best food!
"Village feeling" = many of the large German cities were created from the merger of villages, so pretty much every district has its "own center/city square".
For example, in Hamburg, the district of Altona was not part of the actual city area for a long time, just like Ohlsdorf, and the cemetery was also established outside the original city area.
Unlike in American suburbs, many new German areas also take into account the nearby infrastructure (shopping opportunities, daycare centers, school routes if necessary and changes to bus routes/new bus routes = Many things can therefore be reached within a relatively short walk.).
Feli sent me. Enjoyable conversation!😊
Also: There are Type Ashton from the US or rewboss from the UK (and numerous others) who live in Germany and have things to tell, too. 😊
I enjoyed your video. I was stationed with the US Army in Wiesbaden at Camp Pieri from December 1970 to March, 1972. Wiesbaden is a beautiful city and Germany is a beautiful country. Wiesbaden is located about 20 miles west of Frankfurt. I also was on temporary duty in Oberammergau for 3 weeks during the late winter of 1971 and just loved it there.
The transportation system is great including rail system. I rode the train from Wiesbaden to Bonn and back in one day. The Rhine Valley is just beautiful with all the castles located on the hillsides.
One thing I noticed about the names of the suburbs around Wiesbaden ( and I sure it is that way for the big cities too) is that a suburb is hyphenated with the name of the city. Our post for example was near Wiesbaden-Dotzheim. I assume Dotzheim was town of its own at one time according to what Feli said.
Yes, exactly. Most of these former independent villages were either incorporated in the early 1900s (mostly in large cities like Berlin and Hamburg) … or in the 60s/70s
So cool! Didn’t think this crossover would be a thing
As a Bostonian I have a hard time relating to generalizations about American cities. Boston does seem to be much more like a European city than what might be thought of as a typical American city. Good transportation, very walkable, and a desirable downtown people wish they could afford to live in.
The suburb v closer to downtown discussion is interesting because the suburb cannot exist without the downtown.
Munich's (and most of world cities excluding American cities) system makes sense : more economic and entertainment opportunities, as well as better transportation options are closer to the city center, so people want to live closer there.
American cities have been deprived of walking, biking and transit infrastructure (as mentioned in the video) and continue to be deprived of it. Which makes living closer to the city not as beneficial. The suburbs also don't offer those benefits of walking, biking, transit offered by European cities which means American cities are just not able to offer the fun aspect of going out "walking on a date" or getting out of your home and simply start walking in random direction and stopping at a local bakery in a plaza (or 'square') to grab some delicious croissant and capuccino.
One of the ways we can bring about a change is by supporting usage of transit, and walking/biking infrastructure instead of vehicles because vehicle usage amplifies land use due to parking spaces and road traffic, which means establishments that could have been close by and walkable have to accommodate parking and be further apart, and hence less walkable.
The crossover I never expected
Great to see Feli on your channel. Thanks for the video and collaboration.
12:16 Tracy Chapman references this in her classic song "Fast Car" (recently repopularized by a country cover by Luke Combs). There's a line about wanting to buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs.
What an awesome collab. Can't wait to see more of these.
This could be good as a podcast
Cincinnati threw away a good metro plan in the early 2000’s and still have a partially abandoned/partially removed downtown loop tunnel for streetcars that was never used
Im still blown away by the architecture in the German neighborhoods of Cincinnati. Thank you for inviting Feli , she is so smart and knowledgeable
I don't live in America _or_ Continental Europe, and I don't think this is an especially novel observation, but it seems to me that New York City is rather "European" in as much as that _Manhattan_ is where you live if you're successful - or, perhaps, if you're _hoping_ to be successful, particularly if you are pursuing a career in one of the more artistic professions, though this will of course necessitate living in - _sharing,_ probably - a shoebox in one of the less fashionable areas of 'town', assuming that there are any parts of the island even _left_ that haven't been gentrified entirely out of the reach of 'normal folks'. Of course the well~heeled will very likely have a place somewhere like one of the 'Hamptons, or one of the nicer places Upstate, or in Connecticut, or wherever; but the townhouse or ritzy apartment in Manhattan is a _given!_
Of course, it is well known that the population of Manhattan something like triples during the workday. This spike is of course accounted for by the, ah, 'drones' making their way in from the other four boroughs, or from (whisper it!) _Jersey,_ 😖, or from further afield - "on out on the Island", etc. This is the cohort known disdainfully as the 'Bridge & Tunnel' crowd, almost as if the East, Harlem and Hudson rivers constitute a protective moat! Of course, strictly speaking, since we're talking about all of the four other boroughs, this snotty reference should probably be expanded to include "boat people" too, to include the residents of New York's 'forgotten' borough, and the one which, in my mind, I always think of as NYC's most archetypically 'suburban' borough (at least suburban in American terms, although I'm aware that much of it is more 'respectable' Working Class, a term I can't say I'm especially comfortable with, rather than straight~up Middle Class.)
I myself come from the Rep. of Ireland where, much the same as our British neighbours, the term 'Suburb' _can_ mean more or less the same thing as the term is taken to mean in the US, but this is not necessarily the case, either. Many of our suburbs, for reasons probably too complicated to get into here, are distinctly working class in character, indeed some would resemble more what would be termed in America as 'ghettos', although while these areas are typically more 'diverse', neighbourhoods in the British Isles× are (mostly) not segregated to anything like the same degree as in the US. Also, while these neighbourhoods are distinguished by crime rates markedly higher than the norm, they are not normally 'out~and~out _dangerous'_ as their US counterparts, for anyone with a modicum of street smarts so long as they're minding their own business.
As for City Centre living, while there are obvious exceptions like London, or those areas of the bigger cities, eg Manchester, which have seen considerable gentrification, unlike the rest of Europe, from what I can gather, the rich in general have long tended to abjure 'Downtown' in Britain and Ireland, other than as a place to eat and be entertained (if the particular city hasn't been 'doughnutted~out' entirely!) Here the trend still seems to be one of the CBD segueing into a kind of inner core of what is often called 'Flatland' (ie 'Apartment~Land'), an area of cheap transient housing for students and impoverished single people and couples (as well as, often, some purpose built student housing), which further dissolves into the "Inner City" which tends to be much the same as what one finds in America, though, again, perhaps without such high crime rates... recent decades have of course seen 'Hipsters' often make considerable inroads into such areas, sometimes followed by unabashed gentrification. From here we graduate, of course to the inner and outer (mostly) residential suburbs, which, as I've said, tend to have a more varied demographic make~up, economically speaking, than what one tends to find in North America, especially the US.
So yeah, I hadn't _meant_ to write some big, peer~reviewed paper for 'Sociology Letters', I only meant to point out that New York (and maybe 3 or 4 other old East Coast cities) is a bit of an anomaly in American terms, even if it _is_ functionally America's commercial and perhaps cultural Capital. I guess, like a lot of metropolitan areas, I kinda _sprawled..._ I hope I may be forgiven!
×"British Isles" - I'm just using the term as a collective shorthand for the geographical entities of Britain and Ireland, taken as a whole. And now you see _why!_ I won't be getting into it any further, so please feel free to substitute the term you feel happiest with!
Nice to see Feli in a different context.
Now I have another CZcamsr with your channel that I will visit regularly.
You made a good choice to invite Feli
We should see this more often. Perhaps especially when she goes to Canada.
Oh, how nice 2 of my favorite CZcamsrs in one episode!
But dear Feli leaves out one thing when she looks at the suburbs: even "new" suburbs were always planned and built as functioning units in Germany. For example, the "Maxvorstadt" in Munich, which began as early as 1805, which had a church and its own administration (which, however, is subordinate to the city), and everything a city needs. But also the 3 huge apartment blocks "Asemwald" near Stuttgart, which were planned in 1960 (i.e. in the economic boom after the 2nd World War) and completed in 1972, are considered a suburb, and have their own small grocery store, restaurants and of course playgrounds.
“Don’t measure the wealth of your nation by how many poor people own cars but rather how many rich people take public transport” - I don’t remember who said it, circa 19something.
Doesn't make a lot of sense considering the wealthiest nation doesn't really use public transport
@@DankSi what really doesn’t make sense is that the U.S. used to especially on the East coast, which to be fair that’s where like 90% of the population lived at one time but still.
We sold our national soul to General Motors in the 40s.
@@DankSi
There are different measures of wealth.
That country you're referring to has lots of people rich in money but poor in human values.
@@DankSi That's not true.
Wealthy countries like Japan, South Korea, Hongkong, Singapore, Switzerland or Germany also have the best public transportation systems. Maybe the US is the outlier?
With all those stroads, zoning and other problems which prohibit walkability and bikeability there is almost no reason to use public transport. Public transportation thrives when you enter and exit maybe 5-10 minutes from your real start and end point. It might still work, when you have to drive to your entry point, but it can't work when you're also car-dependend at your exit.
If someone makes the US less car-centric and more walkable, then public transportation would also be far more useful. But like Feli, I don't believe that this will happen anytime soon.
@@philw6056i will disagree slightly with that transit has to be 5-10 min walk. While that is ideal, it could also be a 5-10 min bike/ ride. With proper securty for bikes, it would greatly increase range to about 2 miles. Also bike share programs could be part of that transistion.
Enjoyed this very much. I’m also a fan of world according to Briggs. Maybe do a collab with him?
She was great!
8:23 Sorry for the layout of the map of the public transport system around Frankfurt… those schematics have always been this weird… it’s essentially a 1960s design, vaguely reminiscent of the one used by Transport for London (UK), but without the additional information on the ticket zones. The reason why it’s so confusing is because it’s a „one size fits all“-map that doesn’t take into account where you are right there and then, and it’s extremely overloaded with information you don’t really need, at the expense of the information you really DO need… I think the reason the public transport providers went for this was because back in the days of printed schedules (which were an annual book looking at least as thick as the Frankfurt telephone directory…) there also always was a map included - an actual map of Frankfurt with all the lines, but starting some time in the 1970s also the first schematic displays of the regional train lines (even before S-Bahn) and the subway lines, but no bus lines or streetcar lines, for fast travel. Unfortunately, as time progressed, the regional provider grew, covering more areas, and also there were more fast travel lines… and the result as of now… well… that’s the one at this timestamp…
I watch her channel all the time. i went to Germany this spring for a river cruise Netherlands to Romania and the most significant thing I noticed is there seems to be as many bicycles as people.
True. Everyone owns a bike. But by far not everyone owns a car
You're rockin' the guayabera, Kyle! 👍
Sweet! Two of my favorite CZcamsrs! Content from both is always informative and entertaining.
Yeah! Collab between two CZcamsrs I've followed for years! I also used to listen to Feli's podcast Understanding Train Station which they recently ended but episodes are still posted. Check out that 'cast.
Love both channels! Great collaboration.
Great video! I've been following both of you from your early days!
The biggest shock i had when i moved to the States from German was not being able to go into bars because i was too young.
And if you get a chance to go back, I highly recommend visiting Heidelberg.
Never heard of your guest, but she was really good!
To paraphrase what City Nerd said on one of his videos (I think on the Twin Cities):
Don't confuse being temporarily uncomfortable seeing poorer people on mass transit with being in actual physical danger.
Ya know, I’ve been a lot of places and I really only confuse these two things in the U.S.
It’s almost like American poor people are far more likely to be violent than poor people in other places like Europe… and that’s not to say that Euros aren’t violent ever… but I don’t really know why I feel different about it.
@@L0VTX_H8CA maybe because poor people in the US are more desperate, as there aren't things like a "basic income" (aka welfare) or basic (free) infrastructure to rely on.
Transportation is a very good example: In the US it's often "get a car or die" (either by starvation or while walking on the edge of a highway). If you can't afford a car in Germany, then you may take the bus, your bike or if you can't even afford that, just walk _a few minutes_.
@@kailahmann1823 you’re probably right, too. This isn’t a field I specialize in, I just know in NYC I watch my back everywhere I go and in Oslo I’m just as if not more relaxed as I am in my sleepy west Texas oilfield town.
@falsificationism Thank you for mentioning this. Feli’s (seemingly inadvertent) implication was the only blip on an otherwise excellent video.
Two of my favorite CZcamsrs. 🙂
I always love it when two channels I have followed for a while collaborate on an interesting video.
German public transportstion can indeed be difficult which is why ai wished she had mentioned the Deutschlandticket. It makes public transport incredibly easy and it's also an awesome bargain. It's a monthly subscription style ticket valid for all local and regional transport all over Germany and it's just 49€ per month.
Also I'd like to add that maybe Feli overdoes the "germans are always outside once the weather is okay" a little. Sure, many people are. Many americans are just as outdorsy. I'm more of an indoor person myself, so is my social bubble. And this week we're expecting temperatures around 35° so I won't be outsude a second linger than I have to be...
Great interview and great information.
Geography King + Feli from Germany = a match made in geography Heaven!
oml what a crossover😮!!! Love both ur channels! its like two sides of my subscriptions colliding lol
That was a nice collab. The Munich map reminds me of nyc transit maps.
What she’s describing of Germany’s suburbs is very similar (but different to the suburbs in the northeast. One of the differences being that housing and other economic development wasn’t restricted
But as a geographer, you also have to say that in Europe you don't generally want to live in the city center, but in the neighborhoods that are close to the city but of higher quality. This is usually a west-east contrast, the good locations are in the west (Westend) (because the wind generally comes from there and therefore the air is better, because the industry is usually in the east). As Feli rightly says, suburbs are mostly for families for cheaper property, while surrounding small towns in charming locations are the really desirable and expensive locations. As a result, the cities tend to be poor because they have to provide the infrastructure for the entire region (hospitals, universities, etc) while these wealthy small towns produce more and more luxury through the wealth of the residents and thus the tax revenue.
Maybe your confusion also stems from the fact that we say the direction of the train using the final stop whereas in America, I've seen cardinal directions being used more often (e.g northbound, westbound, southbound, eastbound trains). In my mind, I don't think about the cardinal direction I have to travel in but rather the stop I'm going to and the ones I'm changing at, so if the platform announcement voice tells me the train is going in the direction of Hauptbahnhof via Westbahnhof, that's very useful info for me.
This was nice, but I'd still like to see an account of your experiences and observations of the German cities.
Having been blessed to travel widely in Europe, Munich is far and away from favorite German city and I think it is precisely because it does have that "village" feel you two discuss. I find it interesting that she now lives in Cincinnati as I find it one of the more European/Germanic feeling cities in the U.S. I mean come on it does have an Over The Rhine area--can't get more German than that. :)
I’ve followed both of you for years so this is awesome
It always makes me happy when I see a youtube creator I subscribe to leave a comment on a video of another youtube channel I subscribe to. When two youtube creators I subscribe to do a video together like this, it's next-level awesome. Hmmm might a trip to Svalbard and a collaboration with Cecilia Blomdahl be next??? I've been watching her channel a lot lately... such incredibly beautiful scenery, and her videos are so peaceful and relaxing. Would love to see a collaboration between the two of you also.
Danke!
US Armed Forces radio used to have one standard daily weather forecast: 50 degrees (F), light rain and fog in low lying areas.
OMG, Feli!!!
Love Love Love Feli!!!
❤❤❤
OMG, I am witnessing the start of a new era!!! 😂 Gone is the wholesomely nostalgic 2000s intro, and a collab with fellow german Feli to boot! Go, my King, go 🤩
Not the crossover I was expecting but love Feli. Wish you guys talked about "German" Texas.
Great colab.
I think that Paul from Geography Now would make for a good conversation about travelling and how to promote cultures from other parts of the world
2:17 about Munich feeling as a village thing.
Same with Amsterdam. It still kind of feels like a village because all the building are really small and historic.
And about Frankfurt.
Same with Rotterdam. It feels like the very big city with the modern highrise building because of the bombardements in the past in the center. Everything is also very far away from each other because the city is more car centric.
Hot contestant for collab of the year. Great video!
I haven't wanted to live in a city since I left Detroit, where I grew up
Great format! I enjoyed watching a number of Feli's videos, admittedly, as it relates to South Germany's rich beer culture. 😀
very nice, two of my favorite CZcams channels.
What kept Munich that cozy and small city like are the zoning/construction laws. it's forbidden to construct buildings higher than the highest church in the city center
The only us cities that can be somewhat comparable to European cities with regards to public transit are NYC Philly, DC, Chicago and San Francisco.
I work in DC and I never drive inside the city. It's much faster and cheaper (parking downtown is $15-$25 a day), not to mention all of speed cameras. Metro is normally pretty decent, and the city is also very walkable
I would add Boston and to a lesser extent, Portland, Oregon. Also, the cities in north Jersey (New Brunswick, Jersey City, etc.) have excellent public transit. The New Jersey Transit trains have a cruising speed of 110 mph (~ 175 km/h).
And Boston
How is public transit in Philly, San Fran, and DC? I am from Chi Town.
Great vid
Wow, surprising collab
Great to see you had a guest. I was already following both your pages. Just one constructive criticism: she goes by "fee-lee," and you called her "feh-lee." In the future, check the pronunciation. Otherwise, excellent conversation.
I love my city of Cincinnati. But lets be real, Transit is not something we are known for 😂
Germany was one of the easiest countries to get around when I went. Cincy could use Europe's transit system. Which we could have had if we had not gotten rid of the inclines, built the subway, kept the trolley, and/ or made a better version of the connector 😂
But we are a beautiful city
I am living in a suburb of St Louis, MO but I wish I was out in the country. I like small towns and tolerate small cities. But having to live in the metro area is a pain.
Awesome. I have watched both of these channels for years. This should be good
The collab we didn't know we needed! Thanks, King and Feli
I'm German, my thoughts about Munich: it's quite clean, you still see, that it was always a wealthy city, the public transportation maps are as good as those of other big cities (eg. London, Paris, Berlin). The ticket system is very confusing.
Feli's POV about American cities is understandably Cincinnati. In many American cities, especially fast growing ones with a limited amount of legacy city footprint, the closer-in neighborhoods and their downtowns can get quite expensive relative to the suburbs.
Loved seeing this collab of two of my favorite CZcamsrs as someone from Cincinnati! 😊
Great video!
Interesting, but I'm not sure I agree with the argument that people in the US live in the suburbs "after they've made it". Sure, in some wealthy suburbs that is the case, but at least where I live it's far cheaper to live in the suburbs than paying an absurd amount to live in the city. Americans - especially younger ones - are just averse to it sometimes because the suburbs are considered to be stale and boring (which I guess is true!)
Like the new intro Kyle 😊