Posted: 14 July 2010 at 8:27pm | IP Logged

More questions?  How about good places to holiday in Germany, eg for lovely scenery, walking, historic architecture, the best schloss, good local food, interesting textiles ... are these things a seagull would have observed?

Posted: 14 July 2010 at 8:31pm | IP Logged

Hello, I see you're here Seagull!

Waiting with bated breath for your tourist guide!  Hope it doesn't get spammed!

Posted: 14 July 2010 at 9:23pm | IP Logged

Well, I was there, but then I wasn't, and now I'm just looking in, but I'll consider your question, Jennie.

I don't know much of Germany though.  What do you mean exactly by textiles? We used to pass a flag factory when I drove my wife to work - does that count?

Posted: 15 July 2010 at 3:54pm | IP Logged

Not to worry, Seagull.  I just find it interesting to look at local artisan-made stuff, sometimes, that's all.

Perhaps you should tell us interesting/quirky things you have discovered about Germany whilst living there...

Posted: 15 July 2010 at 8:56pm | IP Logged

Text = text message, Tile = roof tile, ie. Text messages on roof tiles !! 

Posted: 17 July 2010 at 12:00am | IP Logged

"Check it out": Life in the fast lane!

Back in '97, the German supermarkets were largely 20 years behind the luxurious superstores of England - I sought in vain for anything comparable. Small trolleys (no baskets), narrow aisles, often blocked with bargain pallets, and an average of two checkouts, one of which would be closed, were the norm. At the checkout, the priority seemed to be to transfer  the goods from trolley to conveyor belt and back to trolley again in as few breath-taking seconds as possible. Tough, if you couldn't match the speed of the assistant. You had no time to pack, and certainly no one would offer to pack your bags for you. All bags had to be paid for anyway (& in this respect they were way ahead...)

You'd better be ready with your CASH, and you'd be lucky to catch your change and receipt before the next customers goods were piling down upon you. Woe betide the person who had failed to self-price their green groceries, cause that wouldn't be done at the till, and the delay would set the queue of native housewives bristling with impatience. So in this respect all checkouts were express checkouts, and cash only was an irrelevance!

Well life has thankfully moved on, and the Aldis and Lydls have also since arrived and drastically improved in their own ways. Card payment is practically universal now, although some supermarkets stubbonly hang back on pricing fresh goods at the till, and that can really catch you out. However, the express checkout culture seems deeply ingrained in the German psyche, so you's better be on your toes still if there's a queue. My idea of having dedicated slow checkouts, with coffee and pretzels while you wait, is still waiting for its time to come!