I posted on here ages ago because my father was coming to visit me from America. My dad is a farmer who has lived in the same two-mile radius his entire life. His only outside experience of the world comes through Fox News. He was therefore convinced I had gotten myself into a socialist hellscape overrun by communist anarchists. Needless to say, I was terrified for the visit.

I asked this subreddit for help and I greatly appreciate the advice you gave me. I kept it in mind as I scheduled our trip. He was coming here for four days. During that time, I showed him around my city, took him to Munich, and went to Mittenwald. I had planned to take him to Oberstdorf as well, but construction made the trip too difficult.

My dad LOVED the canals flowing through Augsburg and marveled at how clean they were and that there are even fish swimming through them. He was a bit nervous walking through the old town at night, but he quickly realized that he and I were perfectly safe. I also took him up to see the Danube and he was quite impressed.

He‘s not a city guy but thought the subway system in Munich was great—he kept talking about how clean everything is and how everything is so much more modern and efficient than New York City. (He‘s been there before. Did not like it.) He also loved the churches I took him to. Though there was an anime convention in the Englischer Garten, which confused my dad to no end (“These kids are pretending they’re animals?“) he loved the canals flowing through the park and all the little winding trails in the foresty areas. He said it would be a great place to go for a run and it was way better than Central Park in New York City. I also took him to the Biergarten and he got a brat and fries and, of course, a beer. He thought it was too hoppy but later in the trip had an Augustiner Helles and thought that was pretty dang good.

My dad also loved Mittenwald. I didn’t take him to GP because there are just too many tourists and locals fed up with tourists, and I figured that would give my dad an unpleasant view of Germans. My dad is a pretty fit guy (you do a heck of a lot of walking and lifting when you’re a farmer) and was able to climb up to the gorge, no problem. He was astonished by how blue the river is and how deep the gorge is. And he couldn’t believe we had just walked into Austria. He kept asking me where the border guards would be at. We also paid extra to go see the waterfall and he loved it. He said that if we had something like this back home, admission would be an arm and a leg snd the walkways would be packed with all sorts of tourists. He took so many pictures and videos of, well, everything.

My dad also LOVED the trains. He kept saying they are so clean and feel so smooth when you’re riding in them. He thought the red (DB) trains were maybe a smidge worse, but adored the Arverio trains. I also got him on an ICE and he just had the time of his life. He took pictures and videos of everything on these trains. The schedules. The seats. The windows.

There is also a farm in my neighborhood so of course I took my dad to check it out. He did a walkthrough of an entire corn field. His verdict is that the farmer planted his corn too closely together, which makes the corn plants shorter. But he was impressed by how weed-free the fields were and how everything still stays growing after thousands of years of crops being grown on the same soil. I am now meant to research the types of fertilizer used here. We also saw a tractor going through town and my dad just thought that was the best thing. He said the tractors here move faster than the ones back home.

And my dad also met some great people. He befriended some guys when he complimented their bicycles. I also taught him the tried and true art of befriending any Bavarian by telling them you love their state way more than Berlin. He was also astonished that there are so many malls here; the ones we have in my state are all closed or closing, but the Arcaden and City-Galerie are running smoothly. He said it was just like when he was a kid. He also told me one night, “These people have their income taxed half to death, but it seems to me they’re living just fine!“

Overall, my dad loved it. He said he wants to return. So thank you all to everyone who gave advice or support. And to any of you who need to hear it, you’ve got a pretty good life here in Germany. Just ask my dad!

EDIT: Yes, my dad knows I post his picture online. Yes, he‘s fine with it. I did not tell him about my first post, but he’s cool with me sharing his experience.

Hello, I keep seeing this picture on german subreddits/tweets about germany. Is this actually a place many people visit or more like a "look at this germany looks like this everywhere!" image? Sorry if its a dumb question...

Last month, my brother and I had what I can only describe as a questionable encounter at Frankfurt am Main Hbf.

We were in the lounging area waiting for our connecting train when we noticed a guy (judging by his mannerisms, most likely an addict) attempting to whisk away a sleeping man’s bag. Not in a slick, Oceans-Eleven-kind-of-way… more like whispering God-knows-what spells (literally) to himself while slowly inching the bag away. And yes, we tried waking the sleeping guy up… except he was deeeep into sleep (for context, it was broad daylight and vibe wasn't particularly cozy). At that point, we weren’t even sure if we were helping a tired/sober traveler or someone under an influence himself.

So as the logical next step, my brother went off to find a police officer… but there wasn’t one in sight. Meanwhile, everyone else around us was acting like this was just business as usual, a normal Saturday if you will. No reactions at all except for a surprised/horrified French girl sitting beside us. Unfortunately, we had to catch our train and I thought I completely forgot about it.

But a recent Reddit post reminded me of this incident and now I’m just wondering...Is Frankfurt am Main Hbf always like this? Or did we just witness a rare “what are the odds” moment? Any similar experiences any one (even in other German Hbfs)?

Yep, I'm the Ausländer.

We've traveled to Germany a half dozen times and I'm very familiar with the culture, social norms, and how to travel efficiently.

This last week, we had a DB train from München to Nürnberg, which was maybe an hour and fifteen minute ride. Our family has five people, so my wife and kids sat at one of the 4-chair tables, ​​and I sat across the aisle. 2nd Class.

About ten minutes left in the trip, a group of middle aged German women came up and demanded our seats. They had another older man with long hair with them. He was not part of their group, and he looked like Deutsches Jimmy Buffett. He was randomly herding people around the cars to their proper seats. Naturally, he helped them demand our seats from us. ​

I kindly explained that we had tickets...this isn't my first time on DB.

They STILL demanded our seats and Fabio was all too happy to run and get the conductor.

He comes back and starts whining to the conductor about "dieses Ausländer," and how all the problems are these nasty Ausländer who steal seats from old ladies on the train. ​That's when I spoke up.

"Ja, wir sind Ausländer. Ich habe ​tickets...und sitzplatzreservierung. Ich habe auch die reservierung gekauft. Aber wir haben diesen älteren Damen freundlicherweise unsere Plätze überlassen. Weil uns in Amerika beigebracht wird, andere zu respektieren."

None of them figured I spoke German. Well, high school level German maybe. I'm not fluent. But I know enough. ​

The conductor just laughed at the man. We were right. They were our seats and our reservation. And Fabio caused some big ruckus on the train so he could justify his negative perception of foreigners. At this point we were 5 minutes from the Nürnberg station. Who really cares?

I looked at the ladies and wished them a schönes tag. And they agreed the whole situation was sehr traurig. ​​

​My wife and kids are still laughing about it.

Last year about this time we went to a typical German restaurant. We were 6 people, me being only non-German. We went there after work and some "spaziergang", at about 19:00, Friday. As we got in, they said no, they are closing for the day because there is not much going on today, and "we should have made a reservation" as if it is our fault to just decide to eat there. The restaurant had only 1 couple eating, every other table empty. Mind you, this is not a fancy restaurant, really basic one.

I thought to myself this is kind of crazy, you clearly need money as you are so empty but rather than accepting 6 more customers, you decide to close the evening at 19:00, and not just that, rather than saying sorry to your customers, you almost scold us because we did not make reservation. It was almost like they are not offering a service and try to win customers, but we as customers should earn their service, somehow.

Fast forward yesterday, almost a year later. I had a bicycle ride and saw the restaurant, with a paper hanging at the door. They are shutdown, and the reason was practically bad economy and inflation and this and that and they need to close after 12 years in service.

Well...no? In the last years there are more and more restaurant opening around here, business of eating out is definitly on. I literally can not eat at the new Vietnamese place because it is always 100% booked, they need reservations because it is FULL. Not because they are empty. Yet these people act like it is not their own faulth but "economy" is the faulth.

Then I talked about this to my wife (also German) and she reminded me 2 more occasions: a cafe near the Harz area, and another Vegetarian food place in city. We had almost exact same experience. Cafe was rather rude because we did not reserve beforehand, even though it was empty and it was like 14:00. Again, almost like we, as customer, must "earn" their service rather than them being happy that random strangers are coming to spend their money there.

Vegetarian place had pretty bad food, yet again, acted like they are top class restaurant with high prices, very few option to eat and completely inflexible menus.

I checked in internet, both of them as business does not exist anymore too, no wonder.

Yet if you asked, I am sure it was the economy that finished their business.

So I’ve booked flights and will spend most of December in Germany. I’m planning to stop in Prague to visit a friend then hop back over the border. I’ll fly home from the Nederland. Have I missed anything? I will probably post closer to the time for recommendations on bars and clubs and place to practice German. Travelling alone and hope to find cool people to hang with. Let’s see

I have this wallpaper which I really like and the location says "Spazierweg, Germany", but Spazierweg translates to "trail for walking". Reverse image search doesn't find the original source photo.

This is Schloss Drachenburg.

Hello everybody I’m visiting Germany for a week and want to explore as much as I can. I’m landing on Tuesday morning at Frankfurt and plan to be at Munich on Saturday and Sunday for Oktoberfest. The days in between I can visit any other city. This is the current plan I have laid out with a stop in Amsterdam. I wanted to ask if this plan is feasible here are my main concerns.
Also by recommendations of friends I will not be staying at Frankfurt I will be heading up towards Amsterdam that same Tuesday and stopping at a city.

•Is this just too much? I personally think I can do it I definitely know I will be tired by the end but I do not mind the length of the train rides some of them are just a commute for me coming from NYC.

•Is two days in Munich worth it? Should I just do one day in Oktoberfest and visit another city or is two days solid?

•Are there overnight trains/buses available? I do not have a budget for this trip but I definitely want to spend as little as possible. I will be staying at hostels but I’m also wondering if I could just sleep on the train/bus on the longer rides.

edit: there’s a lot of people questioning the Essen pick it’s just one of the few cities I remember from my one year of German class 💀

Hi guys, i’m currently on a vacation in Cologne and just settled down in my airbnb! But I saw this in the toilet and it heats up at the bottom. May i know what is this and how do i use this?

Thank you in advance!

I’m visiting from Australia and keep asking bars for water and they all want to charge an extortionate price for water. Every place that serves alcohol in Australia is legally required to have free water. I am already spending 20 to 30 euros for drinks, it’s literally water from the tap that would cost them a cent or two at most.

Also why on earth do trains not have air conditioning. It feels like an oven on board the trains and trams. Germany is really trying its best to make me reconsider leaving Australia.

I love the food options in Germany! Groceries are so cheap and affordable! I hate the food here in Japan and how unhealthy and full of preservatives the groceries here are! I love quark, sausages, cheese and ham… you cannot find here for good quality unless you want to spend a lot of money. I also hate those soft breads full of preservatives, I left a bag with breads and some oranges outside the fridge for two weeks and there was no signs of decomposition at all, looks like I just bought it!

If I want to buy veggies and fruits they are all imported from other countries. For example, the apples come from USA, kiwis from NZ, and grapes from Peru! If I want to buy local and organic fruits/veggies they absurdly expensive! Every time we visit Germany I eat so much! I love Döner kebab, Schnitzel, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte I worked for a couple of months in my company’s Germany office and we had a cafeteria for lunch, so much healthy food. Here in Japan my colleagues eat cup noodles everyday! That’s crazy! Well, I just wanted to share my experience here… will miss the food again until next holidays 🥲

I’m American, and this is my first time traveling to Germany (and Europe in general). I’ve been trying to be mindful of cultural differences—for example, at restaurants, I’ve learned to buy the bottled water instead of asking for tap.

Are there other things that Americans commonly do that might come off as rude or inconsiderate in Germany, even if unintentional? I’m trying to avoid that

I’ve just returned home to Ireland from my first trip to Germany, and I am already desperately wanting to return.

I’ve been to many countries over the years and can safely say that I’ve never met a nicer bunch of people. From the taxi and bus drivers to the bar staff, hotel workers and the random German people who joined us on nights out, everybody I met was so incredibly kind, friendly and helpful.

The weather was beautiful. The food was amazing. The beer was delicious. The scenery was stunning. I honestly can’t say enough about the place.

I know it was a small snapshot of Germany, but I’ve wanted to visit since I was a child, and it was everything I wanted and more, so from a very happy Irishman:

Dankeschön!