Hi! Calicougar and I will be touring Germany before the con. I've found that locals often have MUCH better advice than the tourist sites and travel agencies when it comes to sight-seeing.
There are a few things that are so general and broad that we'd appreciate any suggestions you might have:
Which forest and what city/town?
We want to visit the Black Forest or the Heath forest (Südheide Nature Park), but they're HUGE. Where would you suggest staying? What town would be best stay in, keeping in mind that we're taking the train or cabs or busses everywhere (no car rental). We're most interested in day-hikes and seeing wildlife.
Quaint villages:
We'd like to visit one or two towns/villages that are old and quaint, medieval. Tourist traps are all right as long as there's a lot to see or shop around. There are thousands of these (even most big cities have them), but there must be a few that you, as locals, could recommend as being particularly neat! Maybe one of the fairy tale highway towns? (Again, accessible by train).
Horse farm. To look at spectacular horses. Friesisns would be neat to see. Another person recommended the Lipizzaners, but aren't they Spanish??
Dog events: not sure what's about, but I might be interested if there are any shows going on.
Zoos: I've seen the Madgeburg and Frankfurt zoos and enjoyed them a lot! How is the Berlin Zoo? Any other recommendations?
Theater: puppet shows (besides the EF Pawpet show!)
Again, any suggestions would be welcomed!
Lance