Turns out Texas is the hotspot des tages for German citizens. Lone Star fetishes are cropping up all over the place in Deutschland. You've got Germans who dress up in boots, spurs, and (fake) pistols to boot-scoot-boogie on the dance floor, plus mock battles between Germans dressed as cowboys and Indians; and in Berlin, visitors to "Old Texas Town" can tour "Main Street," stop by the Bank of Texas and a gold mine, then practice their square-dancing or drop in for a drink at a saloon.

"Sometimes I think the Germans are more into cowboys than the Americans," says one enthusiast. Though many Germans are at odds with the conservative state's ideology that produced George Bush and champions the death penalty, Germany has a long history with Texas -- Germans were among the largest ethnic groups to migrate to Texas in the 1800s. Texas is returning the love by increasing ad dollars to Germany and promoting German tourism to all parts Texas. Some 77,000 German tourists came to visit last year alone. What's with the soft spot for cowboy hats and big belt buckles? Line dancer Werner Stickel says the Wild West stands for "a wide-open world," and to him, Texas is both "very big," and has "lots of meat."