I went to Germany in 2000--my niece was getting married in Nancy so my sister and I made a three-week trip out of it. Since we have a distant ancestor who migrated to the US in 1837, we thought we'd make it a bit of a heritage tour out of it and fly into Germany. People in the US are always looking for the threads of heritage. It's a kind of hobby.
Anyway, we ended up seeing a bit of the Rhine valley and going to many cities, including Ulm (root of ancestor's home), Munich, Karlsruhe, Dusseldorf ,Saarbrucken--not in that order :) It was a remarkable trip.
I read your article...will comment under that. My German is getting better, but thank heavens for Google translate :)
Have the most wonderful, peaceful day.
AG