Interesting You-Tube Glimpses of My Favorite City in Germany--Dillingen an der Donau

This is a spot called Blau Topf, a natural spring with beautiful blue water. It's not far from Dillingen, my favorite exchange site. Rural Germany was my ultimate experience, not the large cities with sprawling streets, heavy traffic, enormous buildings blocking the view of anything on the horizon.

I was fortunate enough to have been their twice for exchanges before taking another job at a school. The new position was also a German job, and the German exchange was also a benefit for students that was available, but they already had a German host city. My memories, however, will always turn to Dillingen and the incredible summers there in the late 80's.

The fact that I could no longer take students there was a disappointment, but high school students just don't like this kind of vibe. They wanted something else entirely: shopping opportunities, excitement, fast-moving environment.

That just doesn't happen in small towns, but it was something I loved immediately. I would have thought the same way when I was that age.

But the memories here will always be clear in my mind. It is a place I want to visit at least one more time. I want to see my old friends there. I want to see the city again, but hopefully it will be in springtime or early summer.

That's a time when snow is not a factor. Besides, I would like to experience everything as I remember it. Occasionally in the large jogging park at sunset, I could hear the sound of a cuckoo.

It's as if I can't hear that in Idaho Falls. One cuckoo in our area lives down the street. He cranks his dirt bike and races through the neighborhood without looking for small mammals or toddlers. I call him a cuckoo when my grandson is with me. It saves me the guilt of calling the person a crazy ba$t@*d and then hearing my grandson repeat my mistake when he thinks I'm not listening.

And there are sirens occasionally at all hours of the day in Idaho Falls. Just like any city in America, there are lots of "cuckoos." I prefer the one I heard evenings in the park in Dillingen. The city for me was magical, although I'm sure they had their fair share of the folks I often think are too cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

And even though the last picture isn't actually in Dillingen, it's in a city not far away from my favorite place.

Even the dialect of German there had a musical sound to it.