Street Lamps! Plus view from the hill where we live.
Roundabouts. We live near Calw (pronounced Calv)
So yes. I will type off my Presidential elections woes and try and explain the differences between here and the US. By the way didn't Joe live here for a couple of years too? Alright so I haven't gotten out much so I'm sure I will learn more as I go but here are some of the basics in no particular order.
1) Germans are VERY conscious of the environment. They recycle everything. There are 4 different dispensers for disposal of waste. Paper, compost, glass, and one other. We take our trash to base. It saves us money!
2) There's no pizza hut or papa johns. That's right we're savings about 80 bucks a week because we can't order pizza.
3) You have to pay a Euro to use a shopping cart. You get it back when you return the cart. Not a bad idea. It would make more people return their carts!
4) There is a designated quiet time. It's from 10pm to 7am (I think) then there are a couple hours in the afternoon because(5)! Germans eat lunch together every day and ALL DAY Sunday. If you mow your lawn you are getting a ticket!
6) There are no free refill at restaurants.
7) No air conditioning. Seriously not in the hotel not in the homes. On that same note the furnace shuts off for several hours in the night while you are sleeping this is to help conserve energy. Everything is about conserving energy. The refridgerator and freezer have alarms that go off if you leave the door open too.
8) They do have roundabouts here. They are nice.
9) The driving rules are common sense based. Basically that's what applies if there is an accident is "Did you use common sense?"
10) Along the driving rules on the autobahn (freeways) You can get a ticket for running out of gas. Also if you need a tow truck it can only go as far as the next exit. No slow tow trucks on the autobahn yay!
11) No closets. The reason Ikea has all the creative storage items they have is because over here they are necesary. We we very fortunate to have to uhm bureaus? Two big storage things that we use as closets. I can't believe everything I had taking up 4 closets in California fits into 1 bureau.
12) Everyone walks and bikes everywhere. I almost hit a biker a week ago. They are considered legal road traffic. Argh!
13) Everyone has metal shades on their windows. You lower them at night and open them in the day time. We aren't sure if they are for security, privacy, or extra insulation to keep the place warm at night.
Alright that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Hopefully that answered some of Grandma's questions. Feel free to post specific questions and I'll try and answer them. Plus I'll edit this post as I think of more.
1 comment:
Those are some interesting things that I never knew. That is kind of weird that you would get a ticket for running out of gas. Maybe they got tired of the police being called for people running out of gas and decided to put a stop to the annoying phone calls. I know the police here get some crazy and annoying phone calls. Grandma will be glad to hear the differences. Thanks.
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