Does anyone have advice for a trip to Germany?

Question

The trip is already mostly planned,centered around Berlin. I plan to make use of public transportation throughout the trip and stay at a hotel. I was just wondering if anyone has any advice concerning Germany, perhaps some must-see locations and maybe any special information concerning their cultures and laws that an American might have trouble with. I do speak a little German and am currently taking classes in it but any common slang or phrases that people in Germany might use could also be relevant. More or less any good informaton about Germany would be very helpful, anything from good food to good souvenirs, I'd love to know about it.

Answer 1

Try to use your German to speak when you can. The Germans mostly all take English in school,so they do speak English,especially in and around the tourist areas of interest. If and when you do need to speak English,Ask them in German if they speak English,it is more polite than to ask in English. They are generally proud of their language skills,so answering yes to your question will get your conversation started well. Be sure to eat in some traditional German restaurants and drink some beer. You'll be glad you did. I liked the Paprika schnitzel and pomme frits. The beer is cold if you go where the American service men  eat and drink. Germany is the best country in Europe to be comfortable in. They are the cleanest,have the best food (yes,it is) and the people have the highest standards of living.

Answer 2

Just hang onto your wallet!

Answer 3

Germany is very nice. Food is international. Most the people speaking English. They love Americans because we all here still. Everywhere you can find stores, where you get souvenirs. People are nice, and also there is some not friendly people there too. I think this type a people everywhere. Berlin is such a nice place, I was there already 4 times. Great. I don't know how long you will be here, but try to see much you can and go to another cities also.

Have fun.....

Answer 4

Berlin has most non-germans of any German city.

Answer 5

i just went to germany!! go to the olympic pool or the frau sn kierche!

Answer 6

I've been living in Germany for 10 years now, and it is great! I visited Berlin for the first time a few months ago, and to be honest, I didn't really enjoy it. I went to the wall exhibit previously mentioned, which may have been an enjoyable learning experience if I was better at reading German! The only sign in English was the first sign near the entrance. The Brandenberger Tör was nice to see, which took all of 10 minutes. Other than that, there weren't really any other sites to see (from our point of view. my wife is a German national by the way, so it wasn't from lack of finding information.). We did see Blue Man Group there, which was great. We also ate in a restaurant named "Block House", in which I honestly had the best steak I've ever eaten! It was excellent, not too pricy (not cheap, but not overly expensive), and the menus were in English as well as German. I would definitely recommend trying it out during your stay. I'll actually be traveling to Munich next week, and am trying to find a Block House restaurant there so I can hopefully get another outstanding steak! Enjoy Germany!

Answer 7

Berlin is a good starting point to go and explore. Two hours to Hamburg. Not far from Leipzig. Both of them are definitely worth a day trip. You could also go to the Baltic Sea and explore some of the old spa towns like Kühlungsborn or Heiligendamm (which was in the news recently because of the G8 summit held there).

Please ignore the comment above about not eating food from other countries. You get excellent doner kebap here, great sushi, tasty falafel, Indian cuisine is widespread - and don't forget the German stuff. There's one thing that is peculiar in Berlin: If you see a stand saying it sells Pfannkuchen, that would be pancakes anywhere else in Germany. Here, it means a type of pastry, much like a donut but without the hole in the middle.

Tourists drin Berliner Weiße (beer with sweet syrup), but really, stick to plain beer (from the tap, if you possibly can) if that's what you like.

Visit the Hackesche Höfe and the Heckmannhöfe and the Sophienhöfe. Berlin is the city of houses built around inner courtyards and there's a whole world to be explored in there.

Also, if you want to find out something about what it was like when the wall was still up: Skip the museum at Checkpoint Charlie (simplistic and awful) and go to Bernauer Straße where there's a very well-documented little exhibition about what the wall meant to people in Berlin. It's free, and you can wander about as you like, then climb a little tower and look at a small part of the "death strip" along the wall that has been restored as a memorial.

Answer 8

Berlin has a lot of g**s

Answer 9

Must see / do: Paddling a canoe for a day in the Spreewald. It is just an hour by train south of Berlin and very nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreewald

Answer 10

good food is hard to come by there.  you're basically stuck with bratwursts and those kinds of things.  i havent been to berlin. ive been to frankfurt and munich.  but we just drove through to italy.  munich is nice.  i have an italian uncle and cousins there. whatever you do...dont eat other cultures food there...stick with what they know...german food LOL

Answer 11

The best area to visit is the south of Germany (Bavaria). Munich, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau, Heidelberg, Regensburg, Nördlingen, Tübingen... many old cities with very old nice buildings.

The trains in Germany are cheap at the weekend when you buy a "Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket". You can travel with it the hole weekend excluding the fast ICE-trains.

Americans are sometimes seen to be loud and a little crazy, maybe you should be a little reserved.

Most differences are in restaurants, maybe you should inform about. You dicide yourself where you want to sit, so just take a table you want. If there is no vacant table you can also ask the people if you can sit at their table. It´s a good way to learn to know people.

There a no laws to can get in conflict with, police is very friendly and helpful.

You will get food from all over the world and will also find McDonalds or BurgerKing in every city. If you don´t like sausages or meat, you can also find many meals without meat which is also typical German food.

Never go where you find Japanese people. Where you find them you have tourist traps with high prices and no good food.

Ask an inhabitant where to go to eat or ask in the tourist information about a place where Germans go to.

If you want to know more, contact me:

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Answer 12

Berlin Rocks---You wil have a blast...First thing I would go to the tourist office near Europa Center and get a tourist discount book and maps...then go to the fernsehenturm--they have a great revolving restaurant up there so you can see the whole city while you are having lunch and get your bearings..then take a boat tour on the Spree with your camera and then guided bus tour of Berlin...Tour the Reichstag then go to KaDeWe they have a restaurant on one othe upper floors and a ton of shopping...then you can stroll down Ku'dam and sample german beer while all the people head home from work...then gee I'm worn out for today..tomorrow we'll...zzzz