American Tourist Reacts To "13 Things You Need to Know Before Going to Germany | Feli From Germany"

[@SeanHendy]

As a British Army Brat (who then went on to serve also), I spent a few years as a young kid in Germany, then we returned again from 1981 to 1991, and then I was back again 1998 to 1999. Both in my family and within Army brat groups, we often reminisce fondly about our time in Germany and the many things that we miss. A few snapshots - well built homes with great multi opening windows (if you know you know); Schutzenfest (shooting festival); Christmas markets; Oktoberfest (beer, beer and more beer); all things Sausage, Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Currywurst; no speed limits on the motorway (150mph was my record); very liberal attitudes, massive sex shop next to McDonalds for example; great beers; cycle paths and cyclists have priority at junctions; open air swimming pools, a haven for us kids in the summer. Oh and houses, we almost always had a house with a cellar, and some with a converted/walk in attic too, making it much larger overall, than houses in the UK. And the floors on the first floor (that's the second floor to those in the US), are concrete, meaning they are solid, as are the stairs. This means no noise can be heard downstairs if someone is going up the stairs, or is on the floor above. A very noticeable difference when we moved back to the UK.

[@SeanHendy]

To add a counter argument to the customer service part, and to clarify, she was mainly talking about restaurants and the differences, it is completely different in other aspects. The efficiency of the train network and the quality of service, from my experience, is exceptional, as are the quality of the train carriages. Then there are things like taking your car in for a service, which I've done too, albeit about 25 years ago. The customer service is superb, even to the point where they showed me the old parts and tyres, that needed to be replaced, so there was complete transparency in the work they had done. There is a reason why Germany is known for its efficiency and that is in no small part down to the people and their work ethic.

[@Herzschreiber]

About the service in restaurants: No, it is not the "waffle house thing" (if I got that right). In contrary: When Germans are eating out, they usually are not in a hurry. They want to spend time with relatives or friends and a good meal, without having to cook and clean the kitchen afterwards :) Which means, we Germans don't want to be bothered by a waitress every 5 minutes. We want to feel "at home". Our idea is "As long as we feel comfortable, everything is fine and in case we need something we will call the waitress. Restaurant owners will not hurry you, if you want to you can spend three hours in a restaurant. (Yes, of course you have to eat or drink something, and nobody will believe you that your small coke needs 3 hours to be emptied, LOL. But they will not come and ask all the time, only when they get the feeling that you are abusing the restaurant as a "warm up hall" because the weather is bad. Then they will come and ask if you desire anything else, just as a hint which means 'you have not ordered anything for about 45 minutes, so please have another cup of coffee or pay and leave'. But they will not speak that out loud.) So, they are not unfriendly, they just give us customers sort of a "personal space" at our tables. Because this is how we like it. As soon as you make eye contact with the waitress and raise your hand, or in case you can't make eye contact shout gently for the bill or "Bedienung" (service) they will appear and be at your command imediately.

[@arnodobler1096]

We move much less and stay in one place much longer, sometimes for a lifetime. Having our own kitchen is important to us. The prices vary by decimal places. Rented apartments, especially smaller ones, usually have a kitchen.

[@germankitty]

You can buy "travel versions" of appliances like hair dryers, that have a switch or lever or whatever built in that will allow you to switch from lower to higher voltage or vise versa. Servers will rarely introduce themselves -- in fact, they may not even be wearing a name tag. And you can flag down any waiter for the bill; they will just inform the colleague who served you to come by. Dubbing gets ridiculous when they use the same voice actor for different actors in movies or on TV. For example, you had the same German guy's voice for William Shatner, Paul Newman and Sean Connery.

[@galaxyguideneunundneunzig2417]

4:40 Basically true. But in sea resorts, e.g. at the German baltic coast, e.g. in Warnemünde, the grocery stores are also opened on Sunday but only during summer time.

[@JohnDoe-xz1mw]

stay in your lane is alot harder than it sounds, at least in my city the seperation from walking paths to bike paths is horribly signed, in alot of places i assume it would be pretty much impossible for someone not used that there are "2 different roads on the same road" to tell which is which

[@trassentante]

From where I live in Germany it's possible to make a 300 miles trip and you've been in 5 different countries with 4 different languages. 😂

[@jhatje]

to the beer thing because of the purity rule you can drink any beer as a german i always try local beer and the beer on tap but you have to choose between white Beer pisener .....

[@MisterChrisInTheUK]

The USA doesn't use Imperial measures, they have their own pints, gallons etc. plus they usually refer to large weights only in pounds, eschewing the convenience of tons.

[@mikeklinger1712]

In the words of Nick from the fat electrician 😂the USA uses "Freedom Fractions"

[@alanmacification]

Actually, it's the American people who haven't adapted to Metric. The US standards have been Metric for over 50 years. All US official standards are Metric. The US pound is officially 453.59237 grams.

[@arnodobler1096]

The USA was mass settled by what? Trains

[@dirkschittko]

You do not chose cheap beer, but good beer. Wrong attitude.

[@haukegebhardt3378]

dont get a 50 cent beer, get a 2 euro beer from the corner store, a because 50 cent beer are the worst and for 2 euro you get a normaly 1,30 beer the are the best, get a Paulaner Salvartor beer that has 7,9 % alcohol enyou it ( my faroit) ecept i buy it for 1,30 euro

[@Julian-1984]

How about you react to - the big snow of 47

[@arnodobler1096]

You will live the boys: German Sausage And BBQ! | Chuds BBQ @ChudsBbq