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You can boil many of these points down to a few things. Looking at their bad side, German people often tend to be envious, sceptical, a bit close-minded and they like to complain a lot. This behaviour can have some advantages if it's not too extreme, but it certainly can lead to discrimination pretty fast. In the best case it leads to the so-called Spießertum, which means being a boring, self-satisfied, precautious, but highly reliable person. Nevertheless I'm pretty sure that the differences between various Germans can be much larger than the difference between the average German and the average American.
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Jul 27, 2014 15:16
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posh spaz posted:When I went in to pick up residence permit, I said to the office worker the formal form of "Hello, how are you?", and the lady sat up straight as a bolt, said "Why would you ask me that?! We're not friends! I can't believe you would say such a thing to me!" Was it "Wie geht's Ihnen"? If so, yeah, don't do that. It's a real question where you expect an answer, and asking it of people you're not on informal terms with is weird. The only exception I can think of is that my dentist asks me that every time and it's not weird, but I just usually shrug and answer "yeah" or whatever so I guess it's not a real question in that case. posh spaz posted:It's pretty uncommon for someone to yield to me on the sidewalk. I guess I'm supposed to push them out of the way? This drives me up the wall as a German as well, but I just assumed it was like that everywhere. posh spaz posted:Germans love telling you you're wrong, even when you're not. Besserwissen is a national past-time. Actually, it's not.
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Jul 27, 2014 15:23
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posh spaz posted:I've lived in Germany for the past 6 months. I'm American, pretty Aryan-looking and speak German, for what it's worth.  posh spaz posted:When I went in to pick up residence permit, I said to the office worker the formal form of "Hello, how are you?", and the lady sat up straight as a bolt, said "Why would you ask me that?! We're not friends! I can't believe you would say such a thing to me!" Despite using Sie, it's still incredibly uncommon to ask someone how they are. You're a perfect stranger, why should you care how someone is? That being said, anyone working at the Ausländerbehörde should be totally aware that you didn't mean to be weird about it, unless they were having a bad day. Bad days happen quite frequently at the Ausländerbehörde. posh spaz posted:I saw an Indian girl at the Foreigners Office break down in tears after the guy refused to answer any of her questions in English, just saying, in perfect English "We don't speak English here. You have to speak German." Yup, par for the course unfortunately, but I honestly find it difficult to really find fault in this. If you're expecting to be able to deal with immigration, I don't find it terribly unreasonable to expect that you're going to have to deal with them in German, whether through your own skill or with the aid of a translator/coworker/immigration lawyer/student affairs rep from a university. posh spaz posted:One time when I went to the Foreigner's Office, the ticket machine to get in the queue to be helped was broken. They had a sign (in German) saying to go make an appointment with the secretary. I asked the man sitting at the secretary's desk if I could make an appointment. He said the secretary was on vacation and would return in 4 weeks, and I had to wait until then to make an appointment. It was not possible to see anyone any other way. I went back the next week and Was this in Berlin, by chance? Either way, appointments aren't required for the Ausländerbehörde, anywhere. Yeah, they prefer you to have an appointment, but 1.) you can usually make these online, depending on location and 2.) there will always be a place you can sit in the office to be waited on without an appointment -- it's just that you'll likely be waiting quite a long time unless you got there right when they opened. posh spaz posted:On three different occasions Germans have, completely unprompted, said something along the lines of "At least you're not Pakistani!" to me. I mean the US doesn't have an exactly untarnished record with racism or anything, but as an American going through vaguely similar circumstances to yours, I've definitely noticed that racism in Europe is much more widespread, and comments like this happen far too frequently. Europe is 20-30 years behind the US when it comes to publicly-acceptable racist statements. I was having lunch at work a few weeks ago with some colleagues, and someone mentioned how much they loved their recent trip to Istanbul. This led into a conversation about Turkey, and one of them said something like "I love Turkish people. In Turkey. German Turks are totally different, and they tend to be pretty awful." The one Turkish-German woman at the table heartily agreed. posh spaz posted:German shopkeepers/waiters/whatever service workers seem to have somewhere between complete indifference and total disdain for their customers. Maybe 10% of the time I'll get someone who actually makes eye contact when talking to me, and maybe 1% of the time they'll smile. However, Turks always seem to act like humans. I only shop at Turkish stores now if I can help it. Also, my bank is the most aggressively unhelpful bank I've ever dealt with. I pretty rarely get bad service, but again maybe you're viewing things through too much of an Anglophone lens. Germans tend to view us (both Americans and Brits) as superficial, where we view Germans as hard and overly serious. You shouldn't go to a German restaurant and expect to get treated like you're in an Applebee's, all schmalz and fake smiles and "y'all want a refill?" Personally I find the best level of service to be somewhere in the middle of both - a waiter who clearly doesn't look down his nose at you in hatred, but also respects my personal space and aside from delivering food, only comes to the table when I motion for him. Edit: actually yeah, I don't see this at restaurants, but I see it ALL THE TIME at grocery stores. Grocery store clerks here are godawful, especially to the elderly. posh spaz posted:Germans love telling you you're wrong, even when you're not. Besserwissen is a national past-time. Yup. posh spaz posted:The trains are awesome, if you don't need to be anywhere at any particular time. If you need to make an important meeting, leave 3 hours early. Which trains are you taking? Granted, I only travel with ICE (or with S-Bahn/local commuter trains), but in 2 years I've only had one negative experience with it. My train from Frankfurt to Berlin was delayed by 90 minutes in the middle of a very strong thunderstorm, and in the end Deutsche Bahn was handing out taxi vouchers for those who were missing connections. posh spaz posted:You can't buy Ibuprofen without being interrogated by a chemist, but 16-year-olds can buy as much beer as they want, no questions asked. 16 is legal to buy beer, so  . I've never had an issue buying Ibuprofen, maybe try another Apotheke. That being said, you do have to consider that Americans have the stereotype of being overmedicated in the first place.posh spaz posted:It's just not the magic socialist-industrial utopia I expected it to be. Ain't that the truth  . Two years after moving here I still really like the country, but you've hit on pretty much everything that I dislike about Germany in one post, namely: monolithic, self-important bureaucracy that is a total nightmare to deal with and makes you feel like utter trash as a human being; racism; and seemingly utter contempt for your fellow man. It can be kind of galling, and it's one of those things that, when I'm in an already bad mood because of work or depression or whatever, makes me seriously consider going back to Ohio.The highs are high, but the lows are low. I guess that's the best way I can describe it. That being said, here's some things I love about this country, so it's not all negative: döner, walkability, public transport, being able to have a beer/glass of wine at lunch or just before leaving the office with coworkers, being able to drink a beer in public, tolerance for GLBT (it took me SO LONG to get to the point where I could comfortably give my partner a little kiss in public), the weather, Spezi, Tagesschau, fashion (for better or worse, at least it keeps things interesting), the exchange rate (woo earning euros and paying my student loans back home in dollars), 5 weeks of vacation per year, a bucketload of Christian holidays that you take off work for, shops being closed on Sunday. Drone fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Jul 27, 2014 |
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Jul 27, 2014 15:26
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Smirr posted:Was it "Wie geht's Ihnen"? If so, yeah, don't do that. It's a real question where you expect an answer, and asking it of people you're not on informal terms with is weird. Yes, I said "Hallo, wie geht es Ihnen?" Granted, maybe you're right, and that's rude/inappropriate. However, I'm obviously a foreigner not well-versed in the finer points of German etiquette. The graceful way to handle that situation would be to calmly tell me that's not a typical German greeting, not tear the stranger a new one. Smirr posted:This drives me up the wall as a German as well, but I just assumed it was like that everywhere. I'm glad to hear that's not just me, then. I spent some time in the midwest, and it was like that as well, however that region of America is mostly of German descent, so who knows. I'm from the SW, and it's definitely not like that there. Sorry, that was a joke, as a preface to the anecdote about Germans being relieved I'm not brown. I get that kind of humor doesn't come across well on the internet. Drone posted:Was this in Berlin, by chance? Either way, appointments aren't required for the Ausländerbehörde, anywhere. No, it was in the Cologne area. Sorry, I didn't finish that thought. I went back the next week and just walked in and got helped. I don't know what that guy's deal was, unless his job was just to mess with foreigners while that lady was on vacation. Drone posted:I mean the US doesn't have an exactly untarnished record with racism or anything, but as an American going through vaguely similar circumstances to yours, I've definitely noticed that racism in Europe is much more widespread, and comments like this happen far too frequently. Europe is 20-30 years behind the US when it comes to publicly-acceptable racist statements. Yeah, I mean, we have KKK rallies in the US, but the counter-rallies are huge. It's not like American college kids shrug and say "Yeah, they're right, black people suck." Drone posted:Edit: actually yeah, I don't see this at restaurants, but I see it ALL THE TIME at grocery stores. Grocery store clerks here are godawful, especially to the elderly. I don't like the Applebee's style either. The service is always competent, although I find the eye-contact thing really off putting. Sometimes I'll hold up the checkout line if the grocery lady is throwing produce at the elderly, to give them time to grab their stuff and get out of the way. Drone posted:Which trains are you taking? Granted, I only travel with ICE (or with S-Bahn/local commuter trains), but in 2 years I've only had one negative experience with it. My train from Frankfurt to Berlin was delayed by 90 minutes in the middle of a very strong thunderstorm, and in the end Deutsche Bahn was handing out taxi vouchers for those who were missing connections. That's an amazing record. The RE and RB trains in NRW are on-time I swear maybe 50% of the time, in my experience. Normally it doesn't matter, but there have been a couple times my train to Cologne was late and I missed my connection and had to wait an hour for the next one. I can hardly complain about waiting an hour in Cologne, though. Drone posted:Ain't that the truth Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. When I came here, my plan was to find a job and stay forever. I think the quality of life is high here, especially if you're German. I've never been to Ohio, so I have no idea what it's like there, but it really doesn't seem like Germany is significantly better than say, Seattle, if you have a good job. Big, liberal cities have pretty good food, pretty good transit, are pretty tolerant, etc. I think we'll go back to the States for a bit, but I'd like to come back someday if I can get a good job. I want all those 4-day weekends and 4-6 weeks vacation. Being poor and a foreigner here is a bummer, though. I guess the weirdest thing about Germany is that literally every European I've met has told me I should go back to America. They think I'm crazy to want to stay here. Everyone wants to live in America. I guess die Kirschen in Nachbars Garten schmecken immer süßer.
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Jul 27, 2014 17:46
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Apropos Köln: besucht einer von euch Gamescom?
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Jul 27, 2014 18:00
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posh spaz posted:The Nazis had a big demonstration in my city against multiculturalism. I was at a very tiny counter-demonstration. Just out of interest, where and when was that? Because usually, there's a handful of neo-nazis and a huge counter-demonstration, and the job of the police is to protect the neo-nazis from being lynched on the spot...
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Jul 27, 2014 19:41
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Drone posted:Despite using Sie, it's still incredibly uncommon to ask someone how they are. You're a perfect stranger, why should you care how someone is? Kind of reminds me of my friend over in Denmark who had a minibreakdown when she realized that she was breaking the laws of Jante or whatever by going "I have made some awesome pie here have some awesome pie".
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Jul 27, 2014 20:19
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Blackstone posted:Just out of interest, where and when was that? Because usually, there's a handful of neo-nazis and a huge counter-demonstration, and the job of the police is to protect the neo-nazis from being lynched on the spot... It was in Aachen, maybe in March or April? I don't remember exactly. Maybe Aachen is especially Nazi-friendly? citybeatnik posted:That mindset just blows my drat mind. I hadn't heard of the laws of Jante. That's really weird. I really hate any formal forms in languages. My half-baked theory, as an armchair linguist, is that it affects cognition, creating barriers between people of different status. Or maybe that's the point of it? Living in Germany has really made me appreciate America, in all its' glory/shame. 
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Jul 27, 2014 20:31
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My (German) girlfriend had to ask for some help when she flew into Chicago a few months ago and she said she felt a ton of relief when the lady she asked was so helpful and friendly. She realized that in Germany people are usually so rude when you ask for help that she actually steels herself a tiny bit before she asks anything from store clerks or whatever. She was constantly amazed at how awesome the service was in the U.S. I wonder if the lack of a tipping culture in Germany has something to do with it? I know some Germans leave a tiny little bit of tip but it's definitely nowhere near the 15-25% that we obligatorily leave in North America.
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Jul 27, 2014 20:57
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eviljelly posted:I wonder if the lack of a tipping culture in Germany has something to do with it? I know some Germans leave a tiny little bit of tip but it's definitely nowhere near the 15-25% that we obligatorily leave in North America. There have been some experiments with tip-less restaurants in the US. This is a super interesting read: http://jayporter.com/dispatches/observations-from-a-tipless-restaurant-part-1-overview/ The tl;dr version isn't shocking: professionals still act like professionals even if you don't tip them. In the UK they usually include service charges, and while the service in London wasn't stellar, it wasn't nearly as abysmal as in Germany. The weirdest thing to me is that it doesn't seem like anyone actually likes the current system. I've had crappy retail jobs, and being a jerk all day wouldn't have made them better. It doesn't sound like the customers like it either.
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Jul 27, 2014 21:23
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It really baffles me because when I meet Germans in private settings they are so genuinely nice. It would make more sense if Germans were just assholes in general but that has definitely not been my experience.
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Jul 27, 2014 22:16
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eviljelly posted:It really baffles me because when I meet Germans in private settings they are so genuinely nice. It would make more sense if Germans were just assholes in general but that has definitely not been my experience. Germans are quite often a bit sceptical of people they don't know very well* and it can take a very long time to get to know someone. However, friendships tend to be be strong and long-lasting if you were able to convince others of yourself. (afair) The average German has less friends than the average American but he spends more time with each one of them. Also, the distinction between "friends" and "good friends" is extremely important in Germany, at least compared to my foreign fellow students. * just like in these forums 
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Jul 27, 2014 22:40
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Honj Steak posted:Germans are quite often a bit sceptical of people they don't know very well* and it can take a very long time to get to know someone. However, friendships tend to be be strong and long-lasting if you were able to convince others of yourself. I've heard that before. The problem is, everyone, everywhere is friendly to their friends. So that's not a very high bar. I don't really want to get to know someone if they're a jerk to me, on the off-chance they'll stop being a jerk five years from now. I have a few strong, long-lasting friends who are Americans and are also friendly, so I don't think they're mutually exclusive.
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Jul 28, 2014 07:52
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Honj Steak posted:Germans are quite often a bit sceptical of people they don't know very well* and it can take a very long time to get to know someone. However, friendships tend to be be strong and long-lasting if you were able to convince others of yourself. I find it much harder to make friends in Germany compared to Anglo countries, and it can be very intimidating to do so. However, once you're in with someone, you're in.
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Jul 28, 2014 07:54
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Got back from my extended German work trip last week...I want to go back. I really enjoyed my time there and am now considering it as a place to live later if a job with my company opens up. Biggest regret is spending almost all my weekends in Hannover and only one in Berlin, Berlin is an amazing city and one weekend wasn't enough time. Thanks to suggestions from this thread, the customer in Berlin and some luck I saw some cool stuff. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and VW Museums - VW was underwhelming but a good way to kill an hour or two, the other three were great. Berlin Tech Museum - Great exhibits on planes, boats and trains as well as a ton of other stuff Classic Remise Berlin - as a car guy this place was amazing Basecamp Bonn - pretty cool hostel I spent a couple nights at Nurburgring - I was there for the 24 hour race then went back when my Dad arrived and we did some laps with cars from Rent4Ring Also hit the Berlin Museum Island and watched the World Cup finals at the Berlin Fan Mile which was one hell of an experience. Now spending an hour or so a night working on my German so I can be a bit more comfortable with it for my next trip.
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Jul 28, 2014 15:24
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posh spaz posted:I've lived in Germany for the past 6 months. I'm American, pretty Aryan-looking and speak German, for what it's worth.  Smirr posted:Actually, it's not.  I am quite surprised that a large Nazi demo went on in Aachen without big counterprotests. I only heard about Nazis there in relation to some football hooligan shenanigans. You'd think in a university town like that, there were some left elements around? elbkaida fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Jul 28, 2014 |
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Jul 28, 2014 20:15
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elbkaida posted:You'd think in a university town like that, there were some left elements around? There are like 50k engineers here. RWTH and FH are very applied-science heavy, with a lot of math and business too. Not exactly a ton of lefties here. I wish I could find the link, but I read some research a few years ago about how engineers are more likely to become right-wing extremists, while doctors and lawyers are more likely to become left-wing extremists.
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Jul 28, 2014 20:49
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A friend of mine got his bachelor's degree in Aachen and I still don't really know the specifics of why exactly Aachen sucks, because every time the topic comes up he just goes "uuuuugggghhhhh" and gets too angry to talk. But the engineer thing is probably spot on.NitroSpazzz posted:Got back from my extended German work trip last week...I want to go back. I really enjoyed my time there and am now considering it as a place to live later if a job with my company opens up. Biggest regret is spending almost all my weekends in Hannover and only one in Berlin, Berlin is an amazing city and one weekend wasn't enough time. That sounds cool as hell, glad it all worked out, especially the World Cup final and the Nürburgring.
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Jul 28, 2014 22:49
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Smirr posted:A friend of mine got his bachelor's degree in Aachen and I still don't really know the specifics of why exactly Aachen sucks, because every time the topic comes up he just goes "uuuuugggghhhhh" and gets too angry to talk. But the engineer thing is probably spot on. Aachen is actually not bad, unless you're a single guy. It's big enough to have plenty to do, but still has a pleasant small-town vibe. There are like 50k+ nerdy guys desperate for girlfriends, so if your friend was one of those, I can see why he'd be bummed.
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Jul 31, 2014 14:16
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Has anybody been to the David Bowie exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin? I'm wondering whether it'd be worth the 10€, since I'm not quite sure what exactly they have on display other than his costumes. I do like Bowie though.
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Aug 2, 2014 13:36
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"Bowie in Berlin" is kind of a misnomer because his time in Berlin is the theme of one room out of... five or six? There's one room about his youth and early days, early influences and development as an artist, that sort of thing; one about Ziggy Stardust, one about his acting career (a bit sparse, that one) and a few others whose themes elude me right now. There are a lot of costumes on display, the rest is mostly printed materials, photographs and videos. For the videos you get an audio guide that automatically plays the sound for any video you're close to. That's very cool when it works but I had trouble getting the right soundtrack to play sometimes and flat out couldn't manage to find the right spot to stand in for a few. Frankly I didn't come out thinking it was super interesting but then I'm not the worlds biggest Bowie fan and it was too crowded, making it hard to appreciate some of the installations. The execution is quite good though and if you're a fan, and particularly if you can manage to go in when it's not as full, it's worth a tenner.
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Aug 2, 2014 14:04
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My Lovely Horse posted:"Bowie in Berlin" is kind of a misnomer because his time in Berlin is the theme of one room out of... five or six? There's one room about his youth and early days, early influences and development as an artist, that sort of thing; one about Ziggy Stardust, one about his acting career (a bit sparse, that one) and a few others whose themes elude me right now. There are a lot of costumes on display, the rest is mostly printed materials, photographs and videos. For the videos you get an audio guide that automatically plays the sound for any video you're close to. That's very cool when it works but I had trouble getting the right soundtrack to play sometimes and flat out couldn't manage to find the right spot to stand in for a few. Mhmmm... That sounds kind of interesting, though I'd have to see if I can find a day during the week then, I suppose. Thanks!
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Aug 3, 2014 12:50
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I have a bahncard and didn't know that they automatically renewed. I moved over the year that I had it and didn't think to update my address. I remembered about it and got everything sorted out a few weeks after it was renewed at a DB office in our train station. We were told that we would get a letter with the bill for the card later in the month. Even though we updated our address (Both my wife and I verified that it was correct on the computer screen before saving to their database) they messed it up and sent the bill to the wrong post office box. The bill showed up on the 5th stating that we need to pay by the 30th of last month. I'm going to call and let them know why our payment is late but how hosed are we? The letter states that can send the bill to collections.
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Aug 6, 2014 05:01
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Carnival Rider posted:I have a bahncard and didn't know that they automatically renewed. I moved over the year that I had it and didn't think to update my address. I remembered about it and got everything sorted out a few weeks after it was renewed at a DB office in our train station. We were told that we would get a letter with the bill for the card later in the month. Even though we updated our address (Both my wife and I verified that it was correct on the computer screen before saving to their database) they messed it up and sent the bill to the wrong post office box. DB usually sends out 2-4 late notices (the later ones tend to have a few bucks in late fees tacked on top) before they hand outstanding debts off to collection agencies, so you're not too hosed unless you completely ignore them for several months. If it's genuinely their fault for loving up the adresses, you can try to point that out in an appeal to them via letter and there's a chance they'll be okay with the original amount sans late potential late fees. They will, however, absolutely hand the debts off to collection agencies and that will get expensive for you, so ignoring them is basically the worst thing you can do. /ninjaedit: I think I also wrote a lenghty post about this topic and, specifically, how DB and the collection agencies they use dig in like ticks when not paid, in one of the previous iterations of this thread, let me look that up. Welp, can't find it. The only thing in this very thread is about how collection agencies will find you  Duzzy Funlop posted:The question is not whether or not they'll find you. They'll find you. Duzzy Funlop fucked around with this message at 09:08 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 08:47
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Carnival Rider posted:The letter states that can send the bill to collections. You know they're business people when they threaten their customers right up front. Thanks DB.
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Aug 6, 2014 09:22
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We went to the DB office the day after we got the letter, the person we talked to was helpful and pointed us to a bank across the street that could do the transfer. All is well now. Apparently their computer cuts off the first line of addresses after too long but we would have been hosed on the 10th. I'm glad our mail man figured it out.
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Aug 7, 2014 04:31
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The girlfriend and I want a little trip up north this coming week (4-5 days). Any suggestions? We have a round trip anywhere-in-Germany Deutsche Bahn ticket. We'd like to do something outdoorsy and probably camp. All on the cheap, as well 
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Aug 16, 2014 14:00
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Where are you starting out from? Werbellinsee just 80km north of Berlin is pretty and you can basically camp for free if you don't act like a dick. I don't think it's explicitly allowed but nobody seemed to mind when a friend and I crashed there after our bike trip. Oh, you'll probably need a bike, the nearest town is a bit off (Joachimstal, Joachimsthal, not sure). Stechlinsee is also pretty but not so much for swimming, it's a bit rocky. Rent a boat and row to the closed-down nuclear plant. Then there's Usedom on the Baltic Sea, you can hike/bike to Poland from there. Pretty promenade. Flensburg is ok too, but a city, same for Hamburg. The North Sea has more isles, I'm particular to Spiekeroog, but Föhr is nice too, and you can do day trips to the Halligs which get completely drowned when the tide comes in. You can walk there, too, look for Wattwanderungen, guided tours through the Watt.
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Aug 16, 2014 16:24
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Zwille posted:Where are you starting out from? Werbellinsee just 80km north of Berlin is pretty and you can basically camp for free if you don't act like a dick. I don't think it's explicitly allowed but nobody seemed to mind when a friend and I crashed there after our bike trip. Oh, you'll probably need a bike, the nearest town is a bit off (Joachimstal, Joachimsthal, not sure). Stechlinsee is also pretty but not so much for swimming, it's a bit rocky. Rent a boat and row to the closed-down nuclear plant. Then there's Usedom on the Baltic Sea, you can hike/bike to Poland from there. Pretty promenade. Flensburg is ok too, but a city, same for Hamburg. The North Sea has more isles, I'm particular to Spiekeroog, but Föhr is nice too, and you can do day trips to the Halligs which get completely drowned when the tide comes in. You can walk there, too, look for Wattwanderungen, guided tours through the Watt. Should've mentioned where we're starting out from. We're starting from near Heidelberg, so getting to the Nordsee area is definitely a bit easier for us (the ICE goes directly from Heidelberg to Hamburg, for instance, while we have to change trains at least once to get to Berlin). Anyway, I think swimming is probably not gonna happen since apparently autumn decided to come early this year  Both Spiekeroog and Föhr sound pretty nice actually, although the Spiekeroog ferry is pretty pricy. Thanks for the suggestions! What do you think of Cuxhaven/Neuwerk?
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Aug 17, 2014 01:28
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No idea other than that the names are goofy. Can't even reliably place them on a map. Hamburg definitely isn't a bad idea, and if you wanna approach a town by train in a cool way definitely go to Rendsburg, the approach feels like you're landing in a plane. If I'm not completely off base, Rendsburg is also on the way to Sylt which is cool (so I'm told) but probably pricey. Worth a day trip from Hamburg anyway if you've already got a ticket. Berlin also is only 90 minutes by ICE from Hamburg. Why not use Hamburg as your hub?
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Aug 17, 2014 02:44
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Zwille posted:No idea other than that the names are goofy. Can't even reliably place them on a map. Cuxhaven is just at the mouth of the Elba and then a bit west (so, basically directly south of Sylt) and Neuwerk is a little muddy island a few km from there - apparently it's possible to walk there from Cuxhaven twice a day. The campsites we looked at in Cuxhaven are all for Wohnmobile, whereas the campsites on Föhr (and the other islands there) look more like real campsites so I'm inclined to guess that Cuxhaven is for old people  I am not opposed to using Hamburg as a hub, but I think since we only have 5-6 days, I'd rather not try to hit every single cool place northern Germany - I'm thinking we'd probably do Hamburg for a couple of days and then continue on to the Nordsee for a couple of days. Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I'm strongly considering Föhr now.
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Aug 17, 2014 10:47
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Yeah, planning a couple days for each of those destinations is good. Speaking of Föhr, I thought it was car-free but I was wrong, that's Spiekeroog. If you walk through the Watt, do guided tours. It isn't always obvious where to go, so if you gently caress up you're dead or something when the tide comes in.
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Aug 17, 2014 17:10
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Zwille posted:If you walk through the Watt, do guided tours. It isn't always obvious where to go, so if you gently caress up you're dead or something when the tide comes in. gently caress you you're not my real dad  (Yeah we're gonna do Föhr and/or Amrum, it looks like. Cold rainy northern summer, here we come!)
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Aug 17, 2014 20:48
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So if someone were to spend a month in germany, what would be a good way to see the best parts? I've definitely got to see Berlin, and I also would want to see Dusseldorf, is there anything that I "can't miss"?
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Aug 18, 2014 15:00
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Köln, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig maybe? Though I'd prioritize it (Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden - any of the three) and then the other cities. Munich is good too but a bit far off. Plenty of destinations from there, like Schloss Neuschwanstein and the alps. I guess you could do a round trip and spend 1 week west, north, east, south. In that order, then: Düsseldorf (other NRW destinations very close by, really, the whole Ruhrgebiet cluster is just one big city. Zeche Zollverein Essen is a must for industrial architecture), Hamburg, Berlin, Munich.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:49
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Zwille posted:Köln, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig maybe? Though I'd prioritize it (Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden - any of the three) and then the other cities. Munich is good too but a bit far off. Plenty of destinations from there, like Schloss Neuschwanstein and the alps. I guess you could do a round trip and spend 1 week west, north, east, south. In that order, then: Düsseldorf (other NRW destinations very close by, really, the whole Ruhrgebiet cluster is just one big city. Zeche Zollverein Essen is a must for industrial architecture), Hamburg, Berlin, Munich. Thanks man! I definitely am leaning towards focusing on two or three, maybe four towns. I like to be able to take my time. So what's your favorite meal? I tried jagerschnitzel in an expat bar in thailand. So salty and filling, it was awesome.
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Aug 19, 2014 04:07
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I don't know about Jägerschnitzel, it's definitely a thing but I can't remember if I ever had it. Try Currywurst, Döner (Gemüsedöner too, if you do Berlin)... and Sauerkraut. Buy some and eat it raw (bit messy) or order it at a restaurant. I like Rotkohl and Grünkohl too, although season for the latter starts in winter (then absolutely eat Grünkohl with Kassler). Kassler is delicious too. Ditsch (at any major train station) has delicious soft pretzels for like 60 cents a piece. Try them with butter, and if you're in Bavaria, with Weisswurst for breakfast. You have to peel Weisswurst, though, otherwise it's like chewing a condom. And have some sweet mustard with that. And a Mass of beer, and chicken stuffed with spinach. In NRW try Pommes Spezial, it's fries with mayo, ketchup and a heap of chopped raw white onions. Königsberger Klopse are nice too. Bratwurst with mustard. Fischbrötchen if you're in Hamburg (Fischmarkt on Sundays at the crack of dawn), or just near a Nordsee restaurant.
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Aug 19, 2014 04:23
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Jägerschnitzel ist a confusing thing to order in Germany, because depending on where you are you get a regular schnitzel with mushroom sauce or a slice of breaded sausage with tomato sauce. The latter mostly in the East, where it's eaten for nostalgic reasons.
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Aug 19, 2014 06:15
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My Lovely Horse posted:Jägerschnitzel ist a confusing thing to order in Germany, because depending on where you are you get a regular schnitzel with mushroom sauce or a slice of breaded sausage with tomato sauce. The latter mostly in the East, where it's eaten for nostalgic reasons. As in it's a dish from the old days?
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Aug 19, 2014 07:32
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Yeah but not that old, it's typical GDR cafeteria food/school lunch.
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Aug 19, 2014 07:41
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