What we learned on our first European trip (1 Viewer)

[MR. FUSION]

Whenever we visit Germany I am reminded that they always thought that they were better than us. Sad to say, they are.

I disagree, if you take a trip from North east Germany to say Berlin, you will see the Germans have completely destroyed the rural ecology & flying wildlife (including the Baltic bat population) of that region through a combination of thousands of giant turbines and a mono crop of rape seed oil (biofuel).

Further, due to the on/off nature of windpower their national grid has become highly unstable and has already created some high profile damage to their industry, such that the Germans need to build many more coal powered generating stations to compensate.

They have sucessfully destroyed a whole area ecosystem with a scam to 'save the planet' and to line the pockets of big energy and landowners, and made their grid unstable and will be producing more Co2 to stabilise it....... I am hoping we are better than that:thumb:

 

[Xan]

Here's one of my encounters;

Stood in the supermarket checkout queue, about three people with trolleys in front, me with a basket, and a lady behind me with a trolley. Looking around as you do, I spotted some dog treats about 5 paces from where I stood. Leaving my basket on the floor in the queue I stepped over to the shelf, picked up the treats and as I did so the female (certainly no lady IMO) pushed her trolley in front of my basket with the clear intent on pushing in. Despite my objection there was no getting through to her. I couldn't have left my place in the queue for more than 10 seconds and was always in sight.

Now tell me, is that perfectly acceptable behavior? Or do we Brits expect too much?

 

[Xan]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1348835/Kennel-Club-anger-over-Germanys-anti-dog-laws.html

This might go some way to explaining why we sensed so much dislike towards us and our dog who is a Staffie-Collie cross.

There were a few people who absolutely adored him though...

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[Xan]

Broken Link Removed

Well I never, I think I may have stumbled on something here...

Staffordshire Bull terriers or cross breeds may not be introduced or imported into Germany.

One exception being dangerous dogs carried along by persons who stay in the Federal Republic of Germany for up to four weeks (this especially applies to tourists).

Who knew? There's certainly no information to that effect when applying for a pet passport.

 

[CAMnJAN]

Touring in Germany

My wife and I have just returned home after a three week tour of Germany and we both thoroughly enjoyed everything about the trip. Most of the time we were in the Mosel region and the beer and wine was great, the scenery was beautiful and the weather hot and sunny. We learnt a few phrases of the language to get ourselves understood and I think the locals appreciated our efforts, we found the majority of Germans to be polite and helpful and we had decided not to talk about the war as long as they didn't talk about football! The parts of the country that we saw were clean and tidy and we felt safe when we parked up in our motorhome overnight and we will definitely be going back again probably next year. There are plenty of Brits who have no sense of humour and we have areas in this country that are strewn with rubbish and high crime areas where I certainly wouldn't want to go with a motorhome.:thumb:

 

[Allanm]

Further to my previous post on this subject where I defended the German people en masse, I forget their behaviour in bus queues.
Before the bus arrives, it's quite a jovial and good natured group of people waiting in a sort if line. As the bus approaches, a sense of urgency and selfishness starts to develop. When the bus stops and the doors open, pray you don't fall over
Only the strongest German makes it onto the bus and most other people will only get on if there are more seats than people in the queue
The sense of urgency and selfishness increases proportionately with the amount of previous stops ( and therefore the amount of people that have already, successfully, acquired a seat) before the bus gets to you
My advice, take a cab or walk
Allan

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[rangi]

Last time we went over there we had a hell of a job getting anywhere:Sad:

They're all as mad as cut Snakes:Angry: Every single one of the Crazies drove on the wrong side of the road, things were very fraught at times:Cool:

 

[Melchior]

There are some very interesting thoughts and experiences in this thread! Makes for interesting reading.

Here's one of my encounters;

Stood in the supermarket checkout queue, about three people with trolleys in front, me with a basket, and a lady behind me with a trolley. Looking around as you do, I spotted some dog treats about 5 paces from where I stood. Leaving my basket on the floor in the queue I stepped over to the shelf, picked up the treats and as I did so the female (certainly no lady IMO) pushed her trolley in front of my basket with the clear intent on pushing in. Despite my objection there was no getting through to her. I couldn't have left my place in the queue for more than 10 seconds and was always in sight.

Now tell me, is that perfectly acceptable behavior? Or do we Brits expect too much?

Xan - no, it is not acceptable and although I didn't ever see anyone behaving THAT badly, for some reason it does not surprise me. They don't have the same attitude to queuing as we do (who does?!) but it sound like that was an extreme case. Where were you when this happened? In a city or in the countryside? Cities are, like anywhere, much worse for rudeness.

My wife and I have just returned home after a three week tour of Germany and we both thoroughly enjoyed everything about the trip. Most of the time we were in the Mosel region and the beer and wine was great, the scenery was beautiful and the weather hot and sunny. We learnt a few phrases of the language to get ourselves understood and I think the locals appreciated our efforts, we found the majority of Germans to be polite and helpful and we had decided not to talk about the war as long as they didn't talk about football! The parts of the country that we saw were clean and tidy and we felt safe when we parked up in our motorhome overnight and we will definitely be going back again probably next year. There are plenty of Brits who have no sense of humour and we have areas in this country that are strewn with rubbish and high crime areas where I certainly wouldn't want to go with a motorhome.:thumb:

Wonderful - the Mosel area is fantastic. You got it right about the wine and beer! I always felt SO safe with the motorhome (and before that, car and tent) pretty much everywhere in Germany, even more so in the countryside (which is beautiful). Never had any worries about leaving it for a day in a stellplatz which was nothing more than a car park. Due to absent mindedness I left the car unlocked several times overnight, or the window wide open, even left my wallet on the dash once and it was just as I left it in the morning. This was in an "ok" but not wonderful area of Frankfurt, car was parked in a shared carpark outside our high rise apartment block. You wouldn't do that in the UK and get away with it in the equivalent area of an equvilent city!

Further to my previous post on this subject where I defended the German people en masse, I forget their behaviour in bus queues.
Before the bus arrives, it's quite a jovial and good natured group of people waiting in a sort if line. As the bus approaches, a sense of urgency and selfishness starts to develop. When the bus stops and the doors open, pray you don't fall over
Only the strongest German makes it onto the bus and most other people will only get on if there are more seats than people in the queue
The sense of urgency and selfishness increases proportionately with the amount of previous stops ( and therefore the amount of people that have already, successfully, acquired a seat) before the bus gets to you
My advice, take a cab or walk
Allan

The tram or S-bahn was my usual form of public transport but coming from London originally I didn't ever find their methods unusual! I would say your experience was about right for a big city and would be surprised if this happened in the countryside (did it?)

M

 

[Stephen & Jeannie]

It never happened !!!

That was the response I got from a German when I enquired if he had ever heard of Oradour sur Glane !

Perhaps the Holocaust was a figment of imagination as well !!

All in recent history !!

Head in the sand the lot of 'em !!

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[iandsm]

Germany

We have found the vast majority of German people friendly and helpful and not at all rude, at least not to us. We were welcomed (so was the dog) everywhere we went so I don't have anything adverse to say about Germany. Yes, there was a war but that is history. Modern Germans are not the Germans of 60 years ago.

I do not defend some of the terrible things that happened in the last war, and yes I have been to Oradour Sur Glan and left with a large lump in my throat but I cannot and will not view todays Germany and it's people in same light as those murdering swine.

There is a simple answer, if you have a closed mind with a pre conceived negative attitude, don't go, but if you can approach with an open mind try Germany you might be pleasantly surprised and if you don't like it or the people don't go back.

 

[durhamahoy]

This sounds more like a Yorkshire trait - " Ah knows what ah likes, and ah likes what ah knows"

Tha knows
:thumb:

 

[busby]

I disagree, if you take a trip from North east Germany to say Berlin, you will see the Germans have completely destroyed the rural ecology & flying wildlife (including the Baltic bat population) of that region through a combination of thousands of giant turbines and a mono crop of rape seed oil (biofuel).

Further, due to the on/off nature of windpower their national grid has become highly unstable and has already created some high profile damage to their industry, such that the Germans need to build many more coal powered generating stations to compensate.

They have sucessfully destroyed a whole area ecosystem with a scam to 'save the planet' and to line the pockets of big energy and landowners, and made their grid unstable and will be producing more Co2 to stabilise it....... I am hoping we are better than that:thumb:

WELL YOU CANT BLAME THE COUNTRIES POPULATION FOR THAT. BLAME THE GOVERNMENT. BUSBY

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[Heyupluv]

2 weeks, 1725 miles.

1. Brugge is lovely and the stelplatz is fantastically located but pricey.
2. Germans are joyless.
3. Luxembourg has fantastic smooth tarmac everywhere, twisty forest routes and cheaper fuel. Motorcyclists take note.
4. Germans are rude.
5. The Romantic Road is a great idea, but once you've seen one medieval walled city you've seen them all. Rothenberg being the jewel if not a bit touristy.
6. If there is efficiency to be found in Germany, it's being done by immigrants.
7. There really are hundreds are stelplatz along the Moselle. It's so perfect for first timers.
8. A lot of Germans appear to really dislike dogs.
9. Free wifi is very hard to find in Germany.
10. I'm really glad we won the war.

Come to france my friend:thumb:....I know what you mean...

 

[rangi]

I spent six years off and on in Germany, (off and on cause the Brit Gov. kept sending us to various Pox holes of the Empire) and I found the Germans to be tremendous people.
I met a few Vets of WW2, even attended a reunion of the 10th Panzers in Paderborn, (I was supposed to meet a mate in a pub, I went to the wrong Puboh. They were just like me, they didn't have two heads, suck blood, they were Squaddies, like me!
Met a couple of ex SS when I was in Krieskrankenhaus Ludenshied (sp?) Good guys!
Trained with the Bundesheer for three weeks or so just before the Wall went up just to get familiar with their weapons , actually got to fire a Museum piece, a Machinegaweer 43 (sp?) the weapon Kalasnikov stole and branded as his when he presented it to the Supreme Soviet in 1947.

All in all, go there as Tourists, everything is cool:thumb:

Go there as the Victors in Two World Wars and 1966 in your mind, showing your beer belly, tats , cargo shorts, and soccer shirt, and you deserve everything you get:Angry:

For a piece of history, visit the SCLOSS BENRATH, and if you want to walk on the wild side, Café Rosa in the Altstadt in Dusseldorf :thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

Perhaps it's similar but I think it's more of a safety thing. They let their guard down with some new ideas a few decades ago and that didn't really work out so well so they prefer to stick with what works and what is safe and known.

that wouldnt involve the removal of some concrete blocks and a lot of wire fencing by any chance ?

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