Archive
Ryan Bush
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Fort Schoenenbourg Maginot Day Trip: WWII Bunker Tour for Americans
Stop 2 of 4 · Sunrise to pastry: a Wasgau & northern Alsace day trip 1Europa-Denkmal (DE) 2Fort Schoenenbourg (FR) 3Wissembourg (FR) 4Deutsches Weintor (DE) A Fort Schoenenbourg Maginot day trip from the Kaiserslautern Military Community area drops you 30 meters underground into one of the largest preserved artillery fortifications of the Maginot Line, roughly…
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Bingen as Rhine-Day Base Camp: Where to Eat, Where to Park, Which Station
Stop 1 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary: May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein A Bingen Rhine day trip from Kaiserslautern works because the town sits at the southern hinge of the Mittelrhein UNESCO corridor: park once, eat early, take a train north into the gorge, and ride a cruise back…
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St. Goar in Rain: Closed Restaurants, Basement Asian, and the Castle That Got Away
Stop 3 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary, May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein A St Goar day trip from Kaiserslautern is what the Mittelrhein looks like once the morning weather report stops being true. We arrived by RB26 from Bacharach at 11:07 on our second wedding anniversary, with an Italian…
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TrZollV § 17 Bescheinigung (Pink Card): What This Retiree Customs Card Actually Gets You
As of April 2026: the TrZollV § 17 Bescheinigung, the pink-paper customs certificate colloquially called the “Pink Card”, is the German federal customs document that authorizes a retired US service member living in Germany to make on-installation purchases at AAFES exchanges, DeCA commissaries, and certain MWR outlets under a defined customs procedure. It does one…
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Kindergeld for an American-German Family: Which Path You Can Actually Claim
Who this is for: American-German families where one spouse is a US citizen and the other is a German national, living in Germany. It covers the two statutory tracks (the Bundeskindergeldgesetz (BKGG, the federal child-benefit residual statute) and the Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG, the German income tax act) § 62 path), why the Bundeskindergeldgesetz NATO-Truppe (NATO force…
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Kfz-Steuer for US Trucks in Germany: How the KraftStG § 8 Formula Works in 2026
As of April 2026: if you live in Germany and your name is on a German civilian vehicle registration (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I, the vehicle registration certificate), you owe Kfz-Steuer (Kraftfahrzeugsteuer, the German motor-vehicle tax) every year. The bill is set by a federal formula in the Kraftfahrzeugsteuergesetz (KraftStG, the motor-vehicle tax act): the assessment lives…
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Anmeldung in Germany: The 14-Day Rule and What to Bring to the Bürgercenter
As of May 2026: if you move to a German address and you do not hold NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) status, you have 14 days to register with the local Meldebehörde (registration authority). That is the Anmeldung Germany 14-day rule, set by Bundesmeldegesetz (BMG, the Federal Registration Act) §17 Absatz 1. The SOFA…
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US Class I-V vs German ECE-R55: Practical Hitch Ratings Guide
As of May 2026: the conversation about US hitch ratings ECE-R55 Germany at the KMC Stammtisch table runs in two languages and three different units, and the units do not match up the way people think they do. US Class I through V is one way to classify a receiver hitch. ECE-R55 (the United Nations…
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MFS vs MFJ When Your Spouse Is German: The 6013(g) Decision
As of tax year 2025: an American married to a German national has three plausible US filing statuses (Married Filing Separately (MFS), Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) via the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6013(g) election, and Head of Household (HOH) under IRC § 7703(b)), and the choice matters more than generic expat-tax guides admit. Samira…
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Our first family camping trip: Three slow days on Lake Thun in December
Stop 3 of 3 · Bernese Oberland, December 2023 1Nüblätze 2Beatus Caves 3Trip overview The dining room at the Vintage Chuchichästli on Bahnhofstrasse in Unterseen was warm in a way that Switzerland in early December earns: the December cold outside, low lights, four chairs around a table that the four of us had to ourselves.…