Reply #10: It's a holiday in Europe today, and the streets are packed with spending Germans

[lebkuchen]

in outdoor cafes, restaurants, riding bikes, strolling along the river with the kids rollerblading beside, walking the dogs, cruising in their hot BMWs. Everyone was illegally parked in my neck of the woods.

Germans are incredibly money-conscious and know what they can/can't afford, unlike US culture, I think. That's why Suse Orman had to be invented. If Germans can't afford to go to the US, they'll find something nearby for a cheaper rate, and which doesn't require a huge expensive visa bureacracy, though such decisions don't help US tourism any...

The rise in the price of gasoline hurts Europeans, though camping/caravaning is still hugely popular, all over Europe, and that cuts down on hotel expenditures.