I once paid 4 Euros for a seat reservation. However, there was an old lady already sitting in my seat and I did not have it in me to tell her to get off. Experience tells me that most passengers understand how the seat reservation system works and will gladly get off when you show them proof of reservation, but I was not going to make an old lady stand for 3 hours in a crowded train with no other seats left. One of the oddest dilemmas of my life.
@@jesusthedevil You're not wrong, but I didn't feel good about the idea of kicking an old lady off a train seat. Even though I would be 100% legally in the right, I can't help but feel that karma would come kick my ass if I went through with it.
@@donutdude1934 Big Respect, well done. Sometimes older people just do not know how to handle the online Reservation System, so it is hard for them to make a seat Reservation.
Also remember to press the round button on the door of the train/metro when you need to get on or off, the door doesn’t automatically open at every stop, and do it quickly too, learned that the hard way.
Regarding the service: It has also to do with not being intruding. That goes for Restaurants especially, the service people are there to help you bring you your food, and drinks and tell you where the restroom is, but while you are eating they will leave you allone and stay back so that you can enjoy the cmpany that you are with and aren't interupted every 5 minutes, because a server is asking you if everything is okay. Compared to many restaurants in the US you will also stay in the restaurant for much longer because no one is pushing you out. It is similar for shopping. The service people will have an eye on you and if you make contact, they will come over and help you out, otherwise they will let you look through the product on your own, to make your own decision and if you need help with a size or something else they will help you out later. They are there to help you get what you want and not necessarily to push product. That is how a lot of European countries prefer it.
A lot of Americans prefer this, too. I've been at some restaurants where the servers are so very intrusive. The worst is when I've just taken a mouthful of food and at that moment the wait staff demands to know how I'm enjoying it. What am I supposed to do, open my mouth and show them? On the other hand, I was in a different restaurant where I did happen to need service, so I waved to the waiter from across the restaurant--and she waved back and then left!
@@zaram131 Do you think we are all looking forward to get more immigrants? Stay on your continent and try to improve things there, dont bother others. We dont need gunculture or McDonaldization of US-Americans.
I'm a non-white shopper with a darker skin color. I've always interpreted "helpful salespeople" as *surveillance* -- even more so in Europe because "American niceness/intrusiveness" is not common while shopping in commercial retailers and bigger stores in Europe, mainly only in certain small shops and mostly in (high-end) boutiques.
*Food by weight* : This might also apply in Germany. Here in Prague, especially during the Xmas markets, it's common to see a ham being cooked on a spit. You buy the ham, and it's served on a slice of bread. Locals/ Czech speakers will be given a normal, manageable amount (typically 50g of meat ). A tourist however can sometimes be hacked off a 200g "slice", and it becomes expensive as the food is sold by weight. So ask for a certain weight ( somewhere 50g to 100g is more than enough ). If you get too much, say no, that's too much and get them to reduce the meat they are going to sell you.
I wish I could like this 100 times. I booked a direct train from Cologne to Amsterdam. Let's just say it was not direct... there was cancellation, there was changing, there was a lot of running and I got to Amsterdam 3hr late and stressed 😂
I live in the Netherlands on the Amsterdam - Hannover/Berlin train route. Dutch trains are occasionally delayed, but rarely more than 10 minutes. The international trains from Germany however take being late to a whole other level. They're hardly ever on time and 90 minute delays aren't an exception 😂
#1 tip for me: Always carry some cash. After visiting the UK and France, where credit cards and tap-to-pay were nearly ubiquitous-even for a small street vendor or a coffee bar, this was not true in Germany. Yes, you can pay with cards at major stores and restaurants. But many smaller shops will take cash only. Even at a coffee shop that accepted cards gave side-eye when I tried to charge €10, and the cashier asked, “can’t you just pay in cash?” Also keep in mind you might need some euro coins to use certain public restrooms!
@@quincyquincy4764 I'll be curious to see if any of this has changed post-pandemic! The needing cash to use restrooms, even at a McDonald's, was definitely a shock for me!
Having a strong cash based society is considered to be a safeguard for privacy and democracy in Germany. Even though it comes with the price of making money laundery easier for criminals...
A german would run away, if a sales person is coming up to "help". That's like somebody selling you sunglasses on the beach, considered annoying behaviour, having your time to look around on your own, is considered fine. Service is not intrusive, you have to ask for it.
I like to put a positive spin on it by saying that _you’re_ in charge of the pace of your meal. If you want to sit and read your book for an hour, they’ll let you. Sometimes US servers are attentive to be attentive*, but I think we’ve all had a few experiences where that attentiveness carried an unspoken message that they want to keep that table turning, so please don’t dawdle. * Tipping culture is certainly part of it, but also if you came to my house, no money changing hands, my 🇺🇸 cultural norm would be to anticipate your needs and offer you anything I think you might want.
@@Magic_beans_ Right, and getting things offered is so damned annoying. Sometimes I just take a water and don't drink it, to stop the permanent questioning of anybody passing the room. Cause rejecting offers is considered bad behaviour too. So by saying "No thanks", "No thanks", "No thanks" the host is making the guest feeling bad or inpolite. Thankfully it's the reverse way on the bathroom. If you need it, you ask for it. That's the way it's supposed to be for everything, but isn't, not even in German culture.
OMG......I am German and for my whole life I go absolutely CRAZY when people come up and want to help me in an insistent way. I really have to try to control myself so hard to not get snappy.
I'm a non-white shopper with a darker skin color. I've always interpreted "helpful salespeople" as *surveillance* -- even more so in Europe because "American niceness/intrusiveness" is not common while shopping in commercial retailers and bigger stores in Europe, mainly only in certain small shops and mostly in (high-end) boutiques.
Freiburg! The sunniest place in Germany. Where we will probably try to live if Tangerine Palpatine is back in power. Ah, Germany. So many of my best memories are there.
Great list, I remember many of these from my past trips to Germany. I would add: • One usually has to pay to use public restrooms, whether through a turnstile or by leaving coins in the basket of the person outside who cleans them. • Punctuality isn’t just important for business meetings; I was gently scolded for arriving a few minutes late to a relative’s home, even when nothing else timed was planned. • At restaurants, don’t expect any type of drink to be served with ice, and there is no such thing as free refills.
There are no free refills in the USA. Sure, there is no additional charge for a refill. But that doesn't mean refills are free. It just means that the price of the refills is already included in the price of the food.
@@AlexGys9Of course, I realize that there is still a COST to the refills that may be embedded in the original price. But it is quite common for the customer not to be charged extra for refills (typically of sodas) in the US.
Leaving for Germany tomorrow. We have enjoyed many of your videos!! We’ll be visiting many areas of Europe that you’ve visited, or lived. Really have appreciated the info you’ve shared!! Especially the train info!!!
Good morning from southern Poland. Thanks for the video. We just spend three weeks driving through Germany and it was an experience we’ll never forget.
Years ago, at a food stall near a tourist trap (I think it was Neuschwanstein) we heard a story from a worker there about how an American tourist ordered four Bitburgers for his family, thinking they were burgers. I'm not sure if that actually happened or whether it was an ice breaker used by the worker (himself an American) but it gave everyone a chuckle.
@@SteveInNEPA1 As a German I never heard the word head cheese and had to look it up. But even the German translation "Presswurst" did not ring a bell. Must be a really rare regional thing.
And yes, I ran into the zones in Munich - I had to make sure the group tickets we bought when we went to dachau (which we could use the next morning to get to the airport) covered all the zones. The MVV app made it ridiculously easy.
I got screwed over with the zone crap when buying a ticket in Munich from a kiosk. ....I had selected english for the language but it still wasn't clear.
Most of the points you mentioned are exactly true (I`m Bavarian and thus I know what I`m talking about). In some points, however, I think you exaggerate a little bit. For example, the "Stammtisch" issue - if one wants to sit at that place, just ask the server if that certain bunch of Stammtisch guys will show up on that certain day. In most cases, those Stammtischs are a thing like "once a week", like e. g. every friday. On all the other weekdays, that certain table is just a table like all the others, so no problem to sit down there. I like your videos a lot, go on with the great work! Greets from Landshut/Bavaria!
They can be friendly but when you´re not from Hamburg you never make it to the inner circle. I am German and had to spend 8 years there. I hated every day of it.
My husband and I just returned from Germany and we went to Freiburg because of your great videos about the city. 😊. In fact I used your Love and Hates of Freiburg and Strasbourg, as well as the eats of both during my trip research. Thanks for making such great, helpful videos. They really make the difference. Congrats again on the million subs!! 😃🎉
3:48 Have to make a minor correction here. Not EVERY city or town has its own brewery. Especially not in the northern half of Germany. There are quite a few here, sure, but for the most part it's a regional thing up north. That said, there are a LOT of small breweries all over the place and it can be a journey in itself to check them all out. Just make sure to have proper food a little while BEFORE having beer - to mitigate the effect of the alcohol if all you are used to is what Americans call "light beer".
Oh man, we were just in Freiburg a month ago on a 10 trek that ended in München for Oktoberfest. I wonder if we had any overlap; would have been fun to see you guys.
My big tip is is don’t be asking a bunch of questions to someone who’s not working in that area, like the DB lady isn’t going to know about the buses for example. My mom is so bad for that, asking cleaners about the trains….they probably won’t know. People really stay focused on their role & they don’t want to be giving you half-hearted advice about something they don’t have knowledge about so they might refuse
When I go to a restaurant, I don't go there to spend time with the waiters, I want them to take my orders, be polite and then give me my space to spend time with the people I'm with and actually want to spend time with. Nothing worse than waiters who just won't leave you alone.
Thank god someone said that! I would even say that this extends to any kind of human interaction required in purchasing a service or a product. Basic human politeness, know the answer of my questions (95% I won't have any) and just let me be. Irrespective of the fact I am solo or in a group its EXTREMELY rare that I would want to interact more than what I mentioned with a probably tired, overworked, underpaid and irritated (by customers and management) service staff person. I don't want to burden them with extra work of interacting with another guy and just use as less of their energy as possible.
Being married to a German and living three years in Munich, this video is very accurate! Definitely want to get those reserved tickets on the long trips. We reserved a private wagon from Berlin to Munich all to ourselves with our two children. Worth every penny. Likely will be doing so again now that we have three children this summer, as we are going to Euro 2024 in Munich and Berlin!
Point 1 is correct, and you said it before in an old video. In the US, it is very easy to become an acquaintance, but hard to be a real friend. In Germany it’s the other way round. At first they may be a bit distanced, but once you get to know them, they become good friends Point 2 is also correct. I speak very fast and loud. When i’m on the phone while in the US, people look at me shocked 😀 The point with the professional service is also true. In Germany they are professional, but not always as nice as in the US. In the US, they are really, really nice, but often they don’t know the answers to the simplest questions. They don’t “think outside the box”, and only know things, which have directly to do with their direct job/task
Oh man the train thing reservation thing is so right lol. I had a rail planner ticket to travel around Europe, which meant I could get like 10 rail travels anywhere I wanted to but I couldn't reserve seats with it. I got asked to move like 4 times when travelling through Germany :D
Your problem is resolved with a little lateral thinking! My wife and I use Interrail/Eurail all the time to travel between the UK and Bodensee but NEVER use the reservation facility on the app. For half the price of the app, one simply makes reservations through either the DB or OeBB websites (both of which allow you to make reservation only, no ticket purchases) which also frequently let you also chose your seat. Note, you cannot make reservations on regional trains.
Don’t expect first come, first serve if a new register opens at any shop. After 30 years in Germany, I know enough to say that I was waiting before the Johnny come latelies & will check out before them.
When I lived and worked in Zurich, Switzerland, where the culture is similar to Germany) one of my staff person described their personalities like a coconut - so the same analogy as your M&Ms. Love it!
This is great information. Last month in Germany we experienced the Stamtisch and had never heard of this. We managed to take a table between reservations and were served, ate and left before the next group arrived. It worked out well but was quite confusing at first. We felt sorry fir the server who seemed to have to be the defender or guard of the Stamtisch tables while trying to serve.
People make the mistake of thinking that the German language is uniformly harsh-sounding (I'd also made this mistake for a long time). But there are many dialects of German and varying sounds to it, depending on the region and locale. In Perugia (Italia) I met a group of ladies from a city in southern Germany and the way they spoke had a beautiful sound.
In Germany, we learned the hard way, that we had to be by the train door with our luggage by us when the the train stopped. In some of the smaller towns the trains literally stop only about 10 seconds. 😮
Another mistake tourists might make is not at least learning a little German so they can ask a question without worrying about the language barrier, such as "Where is the nearest train station" or something similar.
My family and I (Americans) went to Germany over the summer. We've been wanting to go for a while and I actually plan on moving over there sometime within the next few years. I was the only person in my family who could really speak German, however my sister, mother, and father also learned quite a bit and they were glad for it. Learning even just a bit of a language can make your experience visiting a country so much better.
One thing I observed is that in Germany, they appreciate it if you make an effort to speak their language…doesn’t have to be perfect, but put in an effort.😊
In say, the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, there are permanent Stamtisch tables reserved for regulars. Also, in a station where there are stand-up counters for buying a sandwich or pretzel or whatever, the sales peopel will not hand you your change. They will put it in a dish on top of the counter where you pick it up.
Not every German eats sausages, ham and cheese at breakfast. There is also the sweet variant with nutella, honey or jam. Typically a hotel also serves that as well.
A friend of mine went to a hotel in Germany for his work. He was actually an intern at the time. They chilled the orange juice with snow. The next time, the company booked a cheaper hotel.
The Stammtisch is essentially the regulars table.. they are there all the time so they always have a specific table reserved for them it usually has a sign stating "Stammtisch" on it.. but thats not really a thing at chain- or "fancy" restaurants but at local pubs, beerhalls, biergardens and such
*Train Seat Reservations* : Same here in Czech Republic. I'm ruthless. The seat reservation costs a couple of euros, literally. So I'm sorry Granny. You know it, and I know it. So yes, you're in my seat Granny, so I'm sitting there. Someone else can give up their seat if they so choose. But on train seat reservations, I'm ruthless. 99% of Czechs are also.
Another thing I would like to add, is to learn at least a bit of the language. Learning some of the language will make your experience so much better. I am an American who is fluent in German, and the rest of my family knows the language to some degree. We had a good time in Germany because of it. The locals (might) will respect you more for it even though most younger aged Germans speak alright English. I will be moving to Germany for University soon, to Heidelberg, very excited lol.
A big mistake would be, especially when you are in Southern Germany in the Freiburg area where this video is taken, to not visit Europapark. It has won the best themepark in the world award many years in a row and for good reason. Imagine Disneyland but at half the entrance fee, affordable good food and drinks and just better rides and coasters over all. There is a free fastpass sytem that comes with your ticket that you can use in the app too and they even have a beergarden to keep things more local and still have that German experience. Very good shows as well, also included, I myself really enjoyed the ice skating show and the medieval knight spectacle. There is just so much to see and do that you can easily spend 2 or 3 days there.
I can relate to this. i have an aunt from Vitten Germany staying with me for 3 weeks and yes, she does talk loud and fast. Sometimes we have to tell her as she doesn't realise she is doing it, bless her. Your right about the culture shocks.
The funny thing is when you go to a kneipe (or pub) in Germany, they’re usually dog friendly and the dogs are very well behaved. I petted a retriever while there and the owner got upset at the dog for not laying low and not responding to other peoples cues. Poor dog wanted to say hello and greet guests, but I found it kind of hardcore not to allow the dog to do so
As a German language teacher told us at the beginning of the school year, French sound like they're making love while at war and the Germans sound like they are at war while making love.
I'm very excited to be coming to Germany this December (Oberderdingen in Baden-Wurttemberg, and Berlin). It will be my wife's first time. This trip was postponed by the Covid crisis and hopefully it doesn't get postponed again by a U.S. gov't shutdown - we need the air-traffic controllers.
Often tourists clog the escalators. At least here in Munich it is customary to stand on the right-hand side so that others can pass on the left, no matter whether in a department store or underground, etc. Often (especially English-speaking) tourists think that no one understands them because they don't understand anything themselves either. But 90% of the people understand what you say! 😈
That is interesting, because I just got off a lufthansa flight in Seattle, and the German tourists take up the entire escalator and hallway on the way out of the terminal. Not to mention some of the most obnoxious airplane travellers... serious, it was a disaster.
I’m traveling soon on a river cruise touring Christmas markets and will be mostly in Germany and I’m so nervous because I can only speak very simple German, with my first language being English. I want to be respectful if culture as well as language, so I hope I don’t mess it up! Wish me luck.
Many speak English. If they don’t, smile, point and you’ll be fine. One of my favorite memories was trying to order from a German menu using Google translate. Try the gluehwein and local sausages 😀
This will be a nice vacation. Christmas markets in Germany are magical. English is not a problem, especially in tourist areas, as Juergen already said. A little tip: a US bathroom is a toilet, or WC watercloset. A bathroom is where the shower is 🛁 in Europe. 😉
no worries.. almost everyone here speaks english. Even my 85 year old father knows some basic english. most of us will switch to english if they see you are struggeling with the german language. It might help to know the german word for harbor, just in case you need a taxi to get back to your cruise ship.
I'm German and I like the mistake you point out at 2:32 but I think it depends on whether you live in a rural or urban area. I lived all my life in a rural area where people usually let people get off the public transport before they go in. Once I moved to a big city the people really don't care anymore and people often push in as soon as the train arrives or stand in the way of the people getting off. I hate that behavior of my fellow germans!
Love your videos. 😍Just FYI: riding a bike on the sidewalk: everybody does it, especially in Berlin, but it is illegal. It's just that enforcement is a joke.
I’ve definitely forgotten to bring back my beer cup. 😂 I’d also recommend adding a callout that some hotels do not have AC but the windows are quite easy to open!
Only mistake I saw today was you having Ganter Beer. 😁 Try Rothaus or even better Waldhaus where available. Waldhaus so far has won 38 international taste and quality awards and 182 gold medals in regional challenges. You‘ll actually taste the difference and you‘ll be able to identify them from there on. 🍻
One point about beer: Dont drink a mass (glass with 1 liter) unless you are really thirsty and don't go for a second mass even if you plan to get drunk. Switch to "halbe" (0.5 liter) to avoid the stale last gulps in the masskrug.
Thanks for a great video. I'm from the UK but have German friends and it's great to learn more about Germany. I would love you to have shown us how and where to get the train tickets validated. I know I made that mistake in Italy and didn't get the ticket validated and there was a machine somewhere to do that, but I only went once so I'm still guessing! Thanks again. 😃👍
The DB is a mess. May have been functional in years past but they have not invested in it for decades. Oh and avoid Hamburg it is basically a building site.
Danke schön für diese schönen Videos 🖐diese sind sehr gut erklärt ,für Amerikaner die uns besuchen möchten!!Bitte mach weiter damit!!!👏habe alle Ihre Videos gesehen.
Funny that you mention Wolters (most horrible beer I had in Germany) and then you moved to Freiburg and had Ganter (second in my list of no gos as to beer) 😅. Greetings from Freiburg ❤
Using public transport tickets in Germany involves a transubstantiation problem, since they must be validated by being entwerted, thus transferring its German Wert into an Anglo value.
Do not expect your hotel room to provide an iron and board. They also will likely not have a laundry... they will have an insanely overpriced laundry service. Downy/similar fabric relaxer + steam while you shower = best plan.
Hey, do you only visited the south of Germany and the Capital? You must visit the north for example Cologne and Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf have for example a different Beer, it called „Altbier“. It is the oldest traditionell breewing.
An other thing is crossing a street (by foot). As a Dutch person we are used to ignore red lights most of the time. But the Germans are strict in crossing the street at a zebra. Wait for green. And crossing the street diagonal not far from a zebra is totally not done!
