It’s no secret that I love hiking in Bavaria. But a recent knee injury has kept me out of the mountains the past couple of weeks .  I personally hike year round, but for a lot of people, spring is the start of hiking season, so dust off those boots, and get yourself onto one of these trails which are among my favorites in Bavaria: Höhentalklamm (Hell Valley Gorge) This is probably my favorite hike that I’ve done in Bavaria to-date.  The 1000m long gorge filled with raging water Read more [...]

In Chicago, some Catholics attending Mass at St. Alphonsus Church on the city's North Side — a church founded as a German national parish more than a century ago and the only church in the city that still occasionally celebrates Mass in German — say they are saddened by the pope's decision to step down. But many ultimately agree he is doing the proper, even courageous thing."He's a very frail man, his body is aging and I don't think (being pope) is something he could handle any more." Read more [...]