Most Americans come from somewhere else. That is as true of presidents as it is of newcomers reciting naturalization oaths across the United States today. Donald Trump, the 45th president, is a second generation German-Scot — two nationalities that happen to be the first and tenth most common in the United States. Trump’s mother and grandparents arrived in America in the late 19th and early 20th century from Scotland and Germany. Two of his three wives are relatively recent arrivals from Eastern Europe and four of his children are half Slavic.

Last fall, researching a book on the women of the Trump clan, I set off on a three-week dash to the remote corners of Europe from where the Trump family hails. Besides interviewing people who knew them, I wanted to capture the history and rhythm of life in areas where the Trumps have roots, and so I wandered, sampling food, culture and ambience.

The following is a collection of observations from the west coast of Scotland and a little-traveled swath of Mitteleuropa, a German term for Central Europe. It’s an area that includes modern Germany but also Austria and what’s sometimes called “Germania Slavica,” the eastern edge of the German medieval settlement in parts of the modern Czech Republic and Slovenia. Besides the Trump clan, this slice of Europe is the birthplace of Freud, Grimm’s fairy tales, the Nazi movement, schnitzel, pilsner beer and some of Europe’s great writers and musicians including Kafka, Dvorak and Mozart.