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Aschlafly posted:I'm moving to Germany in three months and will probably be getting a motorcycle for traveling. I've never ridden a motorcycle back in the States, though I do have a general license. How much of a pain in the rear end will this be? Depends on which state your DL is from. You should probably go ahead and get a motorcycle DL in the states. Here is a handy pdf to help you figure out if your state has reciprocity with Germany: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=germany+us+drivers+license+reciprocity 3rd result (not trying to be a dick with the lmgtfy just that I was having problems figuring out how to copy the link to the pdf file from the google results page and it was easier/faster than figuring out how to do what I really wanted) Total Confusion fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Mar 19, 2011 |
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Mar 19, 2011 13:39
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Ziir posted:There was a discussion about how people don't know how to use commas a while back and I just found an old letter from a Swiss pen pal where they wrote "[...] 6'000 miles [...]" with an apostrophe. The Swiss probably use the comma as the decimal separator and the full stop (period) for thousands (most European non-English languages do that)* So in English 1.2 1,000 In Swiss 1,2 1.000 Maybe they got confused as to what to use as the thousand separator for an English speaker to understand? * ah localisation, my favourite, least error prone part of my software development.
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Mar 19, 2011 16:43
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Questions regarding DB and buying tourist rail passes vs. buying point to point train tickets: We want to buy tickets for traveling between Frankfurt->Wuerzburg->Munich->Fuessen->Rothenburg ODT->Bacharach->Frankfurt. We'll use a day to get on a KD ship one day going along the Bingen-St. Goar area (not the entire way though). Otherwise we won't be on public transit run by DB. 1.) My wife and my experience on DB trains is that they rarely check tickets. On the 5 or so times we took a train run by DB, they maybe checked twice. (I'm not condoning getting on a train without a ticket but....) Would it be reasonable to say that we'll be using 7 days of transit and expect to be stamped 4-5 times (buying 4-5 days) and then buying the rest as point to point if we run over? I've bought a 10 day rail pass before in the UK and used MAYBE 5 days because they rarely check. Does the same apply on DB trains? 2.) It looks like Laender tickets are nice, but they only work after 9a. If we decided to buy the entire trip as point to point, wouldn't this be a LITTLE cheaper. What would you do in that situation? (I added it up and was getting about 260 euros for point to point versus the 280-300-332 euros for 4-5-6 days of rail passes. So the question is whether point to point is better than a rail pass given our route and plans. Just whatever you can help with is fine. We'll be buying rail tickets this month for our trip in June.
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Mar 20, 2011 18:22
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Well, if the point-to-point is already at 260 Euros, you're probably better off buying then whenever you need them. Or are those special offers? In that case, buy them beforehand as buying them just in time will usually be much much more expensive unless you have a Bahn Card 50/25 (the 50 is probably not worth it as it costs approx 200 Euros already for 50% off for a year)... Traveling on weekends and using the Bummelzüge (RE, RB), you'll be lotsa slower but only pay 35 a day for the two of you (and 3 additional passengers last I heard) - offer's only valid on weekends though. One thing to consider is buying the tickets on the train, so if you don't get checked for tickets (like when you accidentally miss the question "Jemand zugestiegen?"/"Any new passengers?") you have a chance of saving some money. Cash only, though! And you pay an extra fee of approx. 5 Euros and might have to tell them you didn't have time to buy tickets at the station/the ticket machine was broken etc. You really can't predict how the conductors will behave. I once cheesed through the whole of Düsseldorf to Berlin for free, or sometimes using the ICE with IC tickets. Your best chance to avoid conductors is using trains that are packed to the brim because that way the conductors won't get through either. No the most comfortable way to travel though. By the way, a friend of mine used to regularly go all the way from Essen to Berlin locked in the ICE toilet. 4 hours of piss stink to save 50 bucks.
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Mar 20, 2011 18:49
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Zwille posted:By the way, a friend of mine used to regularly go all the way from Essen to Berlin locked in the ICE toilet. 4 hours of piss stink to save 50 bucks. Well, I don't think we'll go that far. I shared this with my wife and we had a good laugh. The best I can figure, the regional routes that run midday don't get checked as often as the morning and more populated trains. We were trying to remember the times we ran up and down the Rhine and Mosel last year and it was more like 8-10 times on the train, getting checked approximately twice (all regional, mostly MRB). Are Laender tickets still available? I assume you can buy them at the machines in the stations, just never tried.
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Mar 20, 2011 19:02
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Yeah I think you can buy those at the station. I'm fairly sure of that but I could still check for you tomorrow, at least concerning the Brandenburg Länderticket. Oh, and I remembered something else - you can exchange any tickets if they for some reason don't get used. Tell them you got a ride in a car and they'll exchange them for a fee of 15 bucks. In reality this means you paid 15 bucks for the trip but I guess it's a good deal for any IC/ICE trip. And yeah, I think there's a chance they won't believe you but I guess they instated that fee because people were exchanging the tickets upon not getting them stamped so it kinda evens out or whatever. Another bit of anecdotal evidence: Another friend (of a friend) never ever bought public transit tickets, claiming he got caught so rarely that he paid less in fees than if he actually bought tickets. Zwille fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Mar 20, 2011 |
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Mar 20, 2011 19:33
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Zwille posted:Another bit of anecdotal evidence: Another friend (of a friend) never ever bought public transit tickets, claiming he got caught so rarely that he paid less in fees than if he actually bought tickets. This is believable for public transit in Munich. I got checked once in 3 months of riding everyday. I schwarzfahr-ed the first month or so until I almost got in trouble after giving a worker a nervous look in the u-bahn station and he checked me. Luckily I had acouple old day passes in my wallet that I never got stamped (I seriously didn't know you were supposed to do that), along with playing the dumb American card they let me go and even gave me a helpful hint to buy a weekly pass instead of daily as it was cheaper, thanks MVV worker. I was too nervous after that and started buying the monthly pass.
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Mar 20, 2011 19:44
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Zwille posted:Yeah I think you can buy those at the station. I'm fairly sure of that but I could still check for you tomorrow, at least concerning the Brandenburg Länderticket. BTW, what is the difference between the blue and white DB machines and some of the other colored machines (for example the yellow and black ones that we saw on the Rhine)? When do you know which one to use since sometimes they appear to sell the same tickets and sometimes they don't? I expect that this is something to do with the regional train company and how they sell tickets for just their system.
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Mar 20, 2011 19:48
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I dunno, that sounds like a regional thing. When was the last time you were there? The south usually is a bit anachronistic in most things (like restaurants in Munich closing on Sundays), but these days most stations have silver/white and red DB machines that sell the same tickets everywhere with local soft adaptations for Ländertickets and the likes. dxt posted:This is believable for public transit in Munich. I got checked once in 3 months of riding everyday. I schwarzfahr-ed the first month or so until I almost got in trouble after giving a worker a nervous look in the u-bahn station and he checked me. Luckily I had acouple old day passes in my wallet that I never got stamped (I seriously didn't know you were supposed to do that), along with playing the dumb American card they let me go and even gave me a helpful hint to buy a weekly pass instead of daily as it was cheaper, thanks MVV worker. I was too nervous after that and started buying the monthly pass. oh yeah, remembered another one: In public transit it usually works wonders to stall the guys checking tickets. I think 9 out of 10 times they just keep going and don't come back to actually check. It's funny how often this works considering I DO actually have a ticket, I just don't have to show it to them because they seem to forget once I start searching my pockets. I guess me being 2m tall helps.  It's probably a very different story on actual trains.
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Mar 20, 2011 19:51
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I got controlled & fined on an S-bahn in Hamburg, I even had a ticket but it wasn't for the right distance or stops or something. Tried to play the dumb tourist card, showed my Australian passport and everything but still got a fine. On longer IC/ICE I got checked every time, U-bahns it was very rare both in Berlin and Hamburg.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:24
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I've been checked every single time I've been on an RB/RE/IC train (not counting intra-city, i.e.: Hbf to Westbahnhof), even woken up from a nap once during the day on a weekday. City transport (Busses and S/U-Bahns) is a different story and I've only seen a guy checking once in Berlin, and all the locals just wave to the bus driver when they walk past them. I stopped flashing my pass after I realized nobody else does it. Funny story though, on NYE the entire train was full of people heading to Dusseldorf for the Sensation (huge party with 30,000+ people), and it seemed like nobody bothered to buy train tickets. They probably thought there's no way the conductor would check the entire packed car... Boy were they wrong. Dude made bank that night cause I'm pretty sure he pocketed it all. "Normally it's 50€ (or whatever) for riding without a ticket, but I'll give you all a special- only 30€!" x several hundred people.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:26
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unixbeard posted:U-bahns it was very rare both in Berlin and Hamburg. That's very dependent on time of day, really. In the morning/lunchtime I sometimes get checked two or three times on one ride, mostly on the U6. At night and on the weekends it's really rare I think. Friend of mine who was visiting me debated getting a ticket for a couple stops (Samariterstraße - Alexanderplatz) to his departure station from where he'd buy a train ticket anyway and nearly decided against it - he got checked, of course. Also he said he tried the stalling thing in Köln but the conductor called his buddies who then surrounded him completely. He 'found' his ticket quickly after that.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:40
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Alan G posted:The Swiss probably use the comma as the decimal separator and the full stop (period) for thousands (most European non-English languages do that)* The apostrophe is actually the correct sign for a thousand separator in Switzerland, unlike Germany which uses a point. To make it even more complicated, we use a point as a decimal separator when dealing with money: So in English 1.2 1,000 In German 1,2 1.000 In Swiss 1,2 1'000 In Swiss (money) $1.2 $1'000
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Mar 20, 2011 22:30
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Got checked on the S-Bahn in Berlin the weekend I spent there, wasn't going to buy a ticket since I was used to never being checked in Munich but was advised otherwise luckily. I just walked by the people checking tickets on the S-Bahn in Munich once while they were checking other people, if you look like you belong there and have a ticket you probably do.
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Mar 20, 2011 22:39
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gipskrampf posted:The apostrophe is actually the correct sign for a thousand separator in Switzerland, unlike Germany which uses a point. To make it even more complicated, we use a point as a decimal separator when dealing with money: Oh that explains it then (was just speculating as to cause). We used to have a German-Germany and a German-Switzerland translation but dropped the German-Switzerland one before I started there. I had only seen the German in action. I knew there were lots of differences between the dialects but not for numbering systems too. I don't think I have seen any differences like that within dialects of the same language before either so that's pretty interesting. I was investigating a bug last week in a tool we use to do with decimal separator stuff. English and Japanese were the same, with all the other European languages we had using the German style. I will need to test for Swiss on Monday to see if that behaves as you explained.
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Mar 20, 2011 23:01
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Speaking of schwarzfahren, what's the worst case if you don't pay? I got caught the other day on the S-bahn here in Köln, but I had to get off the train before he was finished, so I just gave him my name (via my bankcard) and my address and signed something. Thing is, my name isn't on the mailbox (everything has to be mailed to me as a "c/o") so the letter they send me won't get here. I figure I could either (a) ignore it or (b) go to a DB office and offer to pay. (a) seems like an ok idea, but I figure if they ever catch me again, it would be twice as bad because they'd know it was my second time. Alternatively, what's the deal with just walking away? A couple of times on the KVB I was able to avoid talking to the controllers and just get off at the next stop really quick, but what about if they catch you and start talking to you? How bad of an idea is it to just stall and then run out the door at the next stop? (I know that can't always work, last Friday here in Köln they had like 20 controllers and a couple of police officers checking the people who got off the U-bahn at one stop). I know all of these issues could be resolved by buying a monthly ticket, but for curiosity's sake...
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Mar 21, 2011 13:11
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Act like you're deaf/foreign/didn't catch what they were saying, and you might just get away. I don't think they're allowed to hold you down unless they're actual policemen I think. As for the address on the mailbox - I thought they had your banking data so they'd bill you directly? It'd just show up on your bank statement I think. If they gently caress up writing your address down (they should check your ID, for gently caress's sake), it's their own fault. Repeat offenders (if you get caught/written up/identified that is) do get a bigger fine or a felony charge (dunno about the exact translation, something to go on your police record), depends on the city probably.
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Mar 21, 2011 13:21
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Gold and a Pager posted:Speaking of schwarzfahren, what's the worst case if you don't pay? The worst case would be that you get banned from the public transport system for life while still having to pay whatever they take in cologne (it's 40 Euros in Berlin) and get charged with "Leistungserschleichung" 265a StGB (meaning that by using the public transport you willingly pretended that you had bought a ticket and that constitutes a special kind of fraud), plus whatever the cost for the trials. So in the end you could be looking at several hundred Euros and a year of jail time. While it's not unheard of, they usually don't bother charging people if it's their first offense and instead of jail it's generally just a fine that depends on your income (about 500 Euros if you are unemployed). So you only owe them a couple of hundred Euros which they can get in a couple of ways, taking away part of your wage or your stereo system are the most common. Gold and a Pager posted:How bad of an idea is it to just stall and then run out the door at the next stop? They can legally hold you for as long as it takes for the police to arrive, depending on the circumstances they can run after you and force you to the ground. If you start to struggle and that could be interpreted as an attack (which it will, since you are alone and there is at least 2 of them) they can defend themselves, I'm not 100% on that but I think they started carrying a mace for self defense lately. tl;dr Get a loving ticket you scumbag, people don't want to pay more just so you can get your fat rear end around the city. vvvv That would be fraud and yes people have been sent to jail for doing it. And just in case, tinkering with an old ticket is not a good idea either. hankor fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Mar 21, 2011 |
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Mar 21, 2011 15:00
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It's difficult if it's just one guy checking tickets, but if there's two, you're in luck! Usually what happens when there's two of them is that one will start on one end of the train/cabin/compartment and the other will be at the other end and they'll work their way to the middle. This is what I noticed at least. Best thing to do is if you're on one end, get up and walk to the other end where the person is checking tickets. They'll ask to see your ticket and just say that the guy down on the other end already checked your ticket. I've done this twice, and it's worked both times 
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Mar 21, 2011 15:33
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Zwille posted:I don't think they're allowed to hold you down unless they're actual policemen I think. Section 127 Code of Criminal Procedure [Provisional Arrest] (1) If a person is caught in the act or is being pursued, any person shall be authorized to arrest him provisionally, even without judicial order, if there is reason to suspect flight or if his identity cannot be immediately established. The establishment of the identity of a person by the public prosecution office or by officials in the police force shall be governed by Section 163b subsection (1)...
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Mar 21, 2011 17:34
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That's good to know - I thought not being able to be held down by non-police wasn't a US-only thing, at least regarding shoplifters.
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Mar 22, 2011 00:33
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Zwille posted:That's good to know - I thought not being able to be held down by non-police wasn't a US-only thing, at least regarding shoplifters. Citizen arrests are actually pretty common, there are hardly any countries that don't have it in some form. What makes the german version of it slightly unusual that it completely ignores the severity of the crime.
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Mar 22, 2011 02:45
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Can police just randomly search you in Germany? A friend and I were walking back home one night and the police stopped us and wanted to search my friend's backpack because he looked like "he was on drugs" or some poo poo. My friend let them search his backpack and the police found nothing and that was it. How do German laws searches, warrants, etc. compare to U.S. ones?
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Mar 24, 2011 11:17
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Law enforcement is not a federal but a state matter. The legality of random spot checks is determined by the states police laws.
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Mar 24, 2011 13:35
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Simply put, they need a reason to search you. And "looking like you're on drugs" is enough reason
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Mar 24, 2011 15:51
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The key phrase is "Gefahr im Verzug", the English translation/equivalent would be "probable cause" I think.
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Mar 24, 2011 16:02
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Zwille posted:The key phrase is "Gefahr im Verzug", the English translation/equivalent would be "probable cause" I think. Which is more common, Gefahr im Verzug or hinreichender Verdacht, or do they mean different things?
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Mar 24, 2011 16:52
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I would translate "Gefahr im Verzug" as imminent danger and "hinreichender Verdacht" as probable cause.
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Mar 24, 2011 17:01
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basically: gently caress the police
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Mar 24, 2011 20:08
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What's the "standard" thing/sides to serve with Schnitzel? My mom and sister wants me to make them a "German dinner" and I guess Schnitzel is close enough.
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Mar 25, 2011 04:01
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Ziir posted:What's the "standard" thing/sides to serve with Schnitzel? My mom and sister wants me to make them a "German dinner" and I guess Schnitzel is close enough. Salad, Pommes frites, or (the best option) both.
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Mar 25, 2011 04:33
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Fries are more popular (and easier), but potato salad would be more traditional 'german'.
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Mar 25, 2011 10:28
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You should also use a vinegar and oil dressing for the salad.
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Mar 25, 2011 11:24
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What kind of Schnitzel (sauce) are you going to make? Three popular ones are Wiener Schnitzel, Jäger Schnitzel and Zigeuner Schnitzel 
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Mar 25, 2011 11:47
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Ziir posted:What's the "standard" thing/sides to serve with Schnitzel? My mom and sister wants me to make them a "German dinner" and I guess Schnitzel is close enough. Mashed potatoes, french fries or croquettes would be the most convenient, if you want to be really authentic you'll have to prepare a potato salad. The thing with potato salad is that there is an absurd variety of recipes out there that are all authentic as pretty much every region has it's own. The problematic ingredients that wildly differ throughout germany are onions, eggs, mustard, apples, pickled gherkins and mayonnaise/vinegar. Personally I prefer all of the above with mayonnaise except onions but that's because my family is from the north, the brutes in the south like vinegar.
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Mar 25, 2011 14:03
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Potato salad needs vinegar 
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Mar 25, 2011 15:59
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I've attended Oktoberfest for the past 4 consecutive years. Every year I'm told something along the lines of "Bavaria isn't Germany - we should be our own country". Obviously this comes from the Bavarian's I'm talking and drinking with. Was Bavaria not originally a part of Germany? The reason, and often 'heated' example are things like Oktoberfest, Liederhosen, and the Drindle. Things that are distinctly Bavarian but associated (and marketed) as being 'German'. Their dialect/language is slightly different as well. FLX posted:What kind of Schnitzel (sauce) are you going to make? Three popular ones are Wiener Schnitzel, Jäger Schnitzel and Zigeuner Schnitzel My vote would be Jager with fresh mushrooms.... Square Pair fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Mar 25, 2011 |
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Mar 25, 2011 15:59
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bronin posted:Potato salad needs vinegar And broth! http://germanfood.about.com/od/potatoesandnoodles/r/potatosaladschw.htm
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Mar 25, 2011 16:18
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Considering how disgusting I think mushrooms are, Jägerschnitzel is out.
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Mar 26, 2011 05:04
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Look at you, remember how wrong those people that put vinegar in their potato salad are? You are worse. E: Apparently there is no way to make a Jägerschnitzel look good on camera. Square Pair posted:I've attended Oktoberfest for the past 4 consecutive years. Every year I'm told something along the lines of "Bavaria isn't Germany - we should be our own country". Obviously this comes from the Bavarian's I'm talking and drinking with. It's a pretty complicated issue that sort of starts with the german empire (the one with an emperor, not the one with a Führer) but also predates it by several hundred years. The gist of it is, that while bavaria was part of the holy roman empire of german nations, they weren't part of the actual predecessor state of germany, the north german confederation. Quite a while after the confederation agreed on a constitution bavaria and several other states joined to form the german empire, even then bavaria insisted on a special treatment to underline that while it was a member of the empire it was still a special little snowflake (sort of rightfully so, as bavaria was a military and economical powerhouse at the time, second only to prussia) This along with vast cultural differences between northern and southern germany along with some serious hate for prussia led to bavarians being proud to be bavarian and everyone else being proud/sorry for being german. Most germans think of bavarians as quirky people that are way to proud of archaic things while there is a surprising support for an own bavarian state in bavaria (This won't ever happen because it's more of a nostalgic view of grandeur than anything that is to be taken serious). If you are really interested in it you are better off finding a book about the topic as it's way to complex to be presented in a forum, wikipedia or drunken people in Lederhosen. hankor fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Mar 26, 2011 |
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Mar 26, 2011 05:13
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