1936 On the Continent

understand English they tried to include me in the company in some way.
    It was interesting to note how anxious the Germans were for my criticism or perhaps, rather, my praise. While to us our manner of life is not the concern of any foreigner, the Germans are most anxious that the foreigner should have a good opinion of everything and feel himself at home as soon as possible. It is much easier to get into a German family than an English one. The Germans keep open house and are delighted when a reputable foreigner visits them. The invitations which one receives even from casual acquaintances may be taken seriously and are not empty forms of courtesy as in southern countries.
The Rhine
    The Rhineland, my next objective, is rather a vague description—in the widest sense of the word the Rhineland consists of all that country lying on the banks of the river. Now this largest and most beautiful of Germany’s rivers is 825 miles long and traverses, from Switzerland to the North Sea, a huge part of the German Reich. It is navigable almost throughout its length, and thus is of the utmost value and importance for German commerce. Each part of the Rhine has its own individual beauty; even as far back as the Swiss frontier, where it flows through Lake Constance, the surroundings are most lovely. The Upper Rhine, which is known by this name from Basle nearly to Mainz, traverses the wonderful Black Forest, where are situated many important watering-places, where one of the best brandies, in the world, the “Schwarzwälder Kirsch” is made, and where the clock-making industry, still partly an industry of the home, is situated. The most important part for the tourist, however, is the Middle Rhine, from Bingen to Cologne,between the mountain chains of the Odenwald, the Taunus and the Hunsrück. The unpretentious Lower Rhine, which however has a charm of its own, flows through ever flatter country from Cologne through Holland to the North Sea.
Tributaries of the Rhine
    The Rhineland, however, means much more than this. The tributary streams of the great river are almost as famous as the Rhine itself. First and foremost the valley of the Moselle must be mentioned, where the scenery and mountains almost equal those of the Rhine valley, and the wines form an indispensable part of any good wine list all over the world.
    The little Nahe, which is only 70 miles long, is also very important for its wine industry, whilst the Rheinpfalz, entering the Rhine on the left bank between Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Saarbrücken, lies in the richest of Germany’s wine-growing districts and can put on the market no less than 500,000 hectolitres of wine yearly.
    Another tributary of the Rhine is the Ruhr, famous during the years after the War, on the banks of which lies the Ruhr district, with its tremendous industrial works and the headquarters of the important coal and iron industry of Germany. The most famous of the industrial towns here is Essen, where the Krupp works are situated. The industrialisation has naturally robbed the valley of the Ruhr of much of its beauty, and he who is not specially interested in the industrial creations of the Germans and in modern town building, will find little to attract him on the banks of the Ruhr.
    The Wupperthal is also a very important German industrial region and contains, amongst other towns, Wupperthal-Elberfeld and Solingen. The former is reckoned as the German Manchester, and occupies the same place in the textile industry. Solingen is known as the German Sheffield, as it is the biggest competitor of the Sheffield steel industry.
    Although the Main is a tributary of the Rhine, indeed the biggest of them, the Main valley with its metropolis, Frankfort, constitutes a region of its own and has really not much to do now with the Rhineland.
    Even this short account shows that it would take a lifetime to cover thoroughly the region of the Rhine and its environs. For myself and my fellow tourists, usually a week or less has to suffice.
    What is the best thing to do then? Should one go to Düsseldorf, the town of half a million people, which lies so temptingly near to Cologne, and which plays so great a part in the history of German art. Düsseldorfers laugh at the Cathedral town, and say they would be bored stiff there. I was a bit puzzled, then decided to economise as regards my time, otherwise I should be stopping in Western Germany too long and realise little of my ambitious travel projects. So I will put off