We should talk about that theming, since it's pretty much the only reason we're here. Leavenworth was originally a pretty standard small town of Washington, albeit one in a rather beautiful location in the eastern foothills of the Cascades. But in the 60s, they wanted to bring in more tourism, and decided to remake the town in a German theme. Themed architecture was all the rage in that era, but Leavenworth took it to a larger scale than pretty much anywhere else I'm aware of, and it proved to have lasting popularity here. Today, Leavenworth is... well, it's pretty much a tourist trap, especially around christmastime, but I think that's what they were going for all along, so I can't complain too much.
Anyway, I'm posting this now because I'm right in the middle of planning my first trip to real Germany! Admittedly, I'm not going to be spending a lot of time there -- we're going on a whole loop around the Alps -- but in a few months, we'll see how it compares to the Leavenworth version. 😉
That sounds fun - maybe we'll get to see what an Aldi in their homeland is like too when you get back from that trip!
ReplyDeleteI've actually never been to an Aldi on any continent, but maybe I'll finally get to on this trip! I could have when I was in Milan a few months ago, but I just didn't get around to it. The closest I've ever been is Trader Joe's, owned by Aldi Nord (I don't think I'll be getting to Aldi Nord territory on this trip).
ReplyDeleteI knew Safeway had overseas stores in Britain, but I didn't know about German Safeways! It's funny how that decor is pretty much exactly the same as they were using back home, just translated to German. I'm surprised they didn't go with something a bit more localized!