My Travels to Germany

As some of you may already know, I am traveling aboard until October 1 on business. I am currently in Germany and will be flying to Italy tomorrow evening. It is 2:05 a.m. on Wednesday, but I am unable to sleep. Even doing school work did not put me to sleep. So I figured this is has good as time as any to update everyone with pictures that I've take on my phone. I took some really good pictures of Germany on my camera, but then found out that my new laptop (not even a month old) doesn't have a SD card slot. Of course I can't complain too much because my laptop is for work, but why I couldn't get a SD card slot is beyond me. Going forward on this trip, I will remember to only use my blackberry to take all the pictures.This is the German word for off-ramp. Sound out the words carefully. How do you think it's pronounced?
I've fallen in love with this German beer. I hope it's available back in the States.


Not sure why I took this picture. At the time it looked like it would be a cool picture.

So some things I've learned about Germany:

1. No matter how well they speak English here, there are no English TV channels available.

2. The toilet flusher is not a handle on the side of the commode, but a button on top of it.

3. Drinks in a glass are served without ice.

4. Side parking is not in the street, but on the sidewalk.

5. BMWs and Mercedes are nothing fancy here; even the taxi's are a Mercedes brand.

6. Instead of a chocolate on your pillow in hotels, gummi bears are placed on your pillow.

7. My top speed on the autobahn was 190 KM. I would have tried to go faster, but the VW Golf rental peaked out at 190.

8. Germany really does have good beer.

9. Everything here is tiny and narrow (example - roads, elevators, parking spots, cars)

10. Germany caters to bikers and pedestrians. America finds them annoying because they are always in the way. Germany actually makes way for them.

11. You cannot proceed to turn right on a red light...big NO-NO!

12. Germans actually let those who are yielding in front of them.

13. Germans obey the road rule of not passing anyone on their right. If you want to pass, you must pass on the left.

14. On the autobahn, stay out of the fast lane if you don't plan on going fast. If not you will become road kill.

15. A manual transmission has the "reverse" to the left of 1st gear not below 5th.

16. Public bathrooms at a rest stop or gas station cost 50 cents in Euros to use.

17. Beer is served at McDonald's.

18. Driving on the autobahn takes an entire tank of gas for a VW Golf.

19. If it's 1:30, Germans say 13:30.

20. Coke is referred to as Cola.

21. A value added tax of 19% is added onto to just about everything.

22. Don't ask for your hamburger to be customized with certain condiments as it confuses the server and they no longer can understand what you want.

Funny, but stupid story - my boss and I stopped in Weisbaden to do some shopping. The good news is that I found Steve a beer stein. The bad news is that we didn't have EUROS on us to get ourselves out of the parking lot. We ended up going back to the store where I bought the beer stein and they exchanged US dollars for us. But before that we walked into a bank nearby to see if they can convert money for us. We walked up to some gentlemen on the phone who proceeded to speak to us in German. Me being a dummy said the first thing that came to my mouth, "We are Americans". We are Americans? I said it as if I were running towards the U.S. embassy for protection. At the point I was freaked out that we weren't going to be able to get the rental out of the paid parking lot. I actually pulled the American card.