Check YouTube and there are tons of videos about this.  German people like to stare.  Take a blue haired kid to the streets and you can expect more staring than usual.  Don’t start a conversation with a stranger though.  That would be considered odd behavior.  I like small talk and I miss it a little.  So to replace it, I started staring back.  I’m always kind of amused that the person will return and hold direct eye-contact with me for like 30 seconds before moving on. 

When passing people on sidewalks, we have found that people don’t yield.  They walk toward you like a game of chicken and often split their group (i.e. a pair of people will split up and walk around you) rather than walk single-file. 

Bikes rule here.   They go anywhere they want including busy sidewalks and pedestrian bridges riding as fast as if they are on the open road.  Be sure to carefully look both ways before crossing a road so you don’t get run over by a bike.   Cars and buses stop for pedestrians at crosswalks but bikes generally do not. 

It makes you think about all the social and societal rules we follow every day at home that we don’t even really think about. 

Speaking of buses, most people know that the public transportation system in Europe is way more developed than in the U.S.  People walk more here but the streets and sidewalks are more walker-friendly with frequent crosswalks and passages for walkers.  

While Midwestern Americans are generally friendly, welcoming and generous, we have also seen the same qualities in Germany and Austria.  They look out for each other, especially showing a lot of respect and care to the elderly and children.  The busy cities we have visited have a small town feel and  (mostly) everyone we spoke to has been not only tolerant of tourists but accommodating. 

The food here has been tasty.  I dare say they like cheese even more than we do in Wisconsin.  Bread is a big staple of their diet and you can’t walk 10 feet without finding someone selling some kind of sausage in the city.  The girls have bought things several times thinking they would like them but they did not have as much sugar in them as we are used to (chocolate milk, cereal, cheesecake, and more) however Germans seem to be completely obsessed with their gummy candy.  I guess if you’re having candy, it should be pure sugar if possible and if you’re eating anything else, it should be as devoid of sugar as possible.  We bought a bag of sugar to make pancakes at the apartment in Salzburg and found ourselves adding it to our chocolate milk and cereal.  But I guess if you’re eating bread three times a day, you have to cut carbs somewhere I guess. 

As is the case in every European country I have visited, free bathroom access and free water are hard to find.  I estimate that we have spent at least 60€ on water this trip.  Water can cost as much as 4€ at restaurants.  Bathrooms cost 50 cents or 1€ or sometimes free.  Google helps a lot when looking for bathrooms.  I just search “toilet” on Google Maps and find one nearby. 

Esme noticed that there are a lot more smokers here.  We noticed that on our visit to France several years ago as well.  When I was a teenager and visited France, I noticed a lot of kids smoking (think 9-12 years old).  Thankfully, we didn’t see any kids smoking our last 2 visits to Europe so hopefully that fad has passed. 

If this post comes off as negative, it’s not meant to be.  Differences are just that.  Different.  It’s what makes this world interesting.  As much as I love to travel, I’m not sure I could ever live in another country.  I think I would always miss the US where I feel like I can just be myself.  But maybe I could also be myself in a villa in the south of France some day. P

Pics from today as we travel from Salzburg to Frankfurt. 

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