Travel Weekly: Next stop, Germany

For anyone looking to travel to an environmentally friendly country, Santa Monica College student, Nelly Alavez says there is no better place than Germany.

"It was nice; it was very green," Alavez said, adding that she has observed that Europe is very environmentally cautious.

"In the streets when you walk around, there's always recycling trash cans everywhere," she said, also noting that it was rare to see any litter on the ground. "I wish there was more recycling cans on the streets [here] instead of just like trash everywhere."

She also observed the difference in automobile sizes between Germany and California.

"Over here you see SUVs, vans and trucks, and over there even the trucks are really small and the cars are like Smart Car sizes," said Alavez.

What Alavez enjoyed the most about Germany was the unique variety of food. With a wide menu consisting of snail, frog and duck, Alavez said she enjoyed the frog the most as it tasted "just like chicken."

She insisted that this was her favorite experience of Germany, as she would recommend that any traveler visit a restaurant as soon as they arrive there.

While in Germany, Alavez, along with her classmates with whom she traveled on a school trip, toured through several museums and made a stop at one of the most valued pieces of history.

"It was sad," Alavez said, describing a visit to Dachau, one of Germany's concentration camps.

The concentration camps of the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were slain during the genocide, remain as some of the most infamous tourist attractions in Germany for the forever lasting impact on world history.

"It was weird, because when we went that day, it was cloudy, too, and it was raining," Alavez said, emphasizing the environment which she said fit the mood of the camp.

Other places Alavez has visited include Washington state, where she enjoyed the cold and rainy weather, as it was a change from the usual heat and sunshine of California.

For anyone planning a trip to Germany, Alavez recommends stopping by a restaurant and experiencing a menu different from typical American food.