As we prepare to return home after 3½ weeks in Europe, I wanted to reflect on the differences in cultures that we experienced. Most of our trip was in Germany, which is very similar culturally to America in so many ways, probably more-so than the rest of Europe.
- Closed on Sundays – This used to be common in the U.S., but our generation finds it unfamiliar, if not strange. Most places are closed on Sundays. Restaurants, Hotels, Museums, and Gas Stations remain open, but shops close. This is especially a problem when you clog someone else’s only toilet on Sunday morning and they don’t own a plunger. In addition, trucks are not allowed on the road on Sundays, which makes Sunday traffic on the autobahn even lighter than we’d expect in the U.S. We’re told that while Sunday shut-downs used to be for religious reasons, now the justification is to give people time with their families. If stores were open, poorer people would be more likely to work than stay home with family on Sunday. If this is really the reason trucks can’t be on the road on Sundays, then it’s a very dumb law. We found many trucks parked at travel stops on Sundays, camped out waiting for Monday morning to come. Were they allowed to be on the roads, they’d be able to finish their deliveries and return home to their families. Instead, they sit by the side of the road all day. In addition, since Germany is in the middle of Europe, a lot of trans-European shipments go through Germany, so drivers from other countries that find themselves in Germany on Sunday have to camp out as well.
- Pay Toilets – This is probably the most annoying thing for Americans to encounter. Most restrooms charge for use. It’s usually €0.50. If you’re at a travel center on the freeway, there’s a good chance that the payment is made via a turn-style, and you’ll get a coupon good for €0.50 off your charges at the convenience store or restaurant (most have a McDonalds, Burger King, and/or some other place to eat). The worst are toilets that have attendants that take your money. It is said that the charge is there to pay for the cleaning, but the big question is whether the attendant is paid to clean, or just paid to take your money. You don’t get a coupon when there is an attendant.
- Sitting on the Toilet – We’re told this custom is uniquely German, but the men sit when they use the bathroom in someone’s home. They do it out of respect for the homeowner, specifically the person in charge of cleaning the bathrooms (much like the U.S., it’s just assumed the woman of the house is in charge of this). We learned of this custom after the second of our three (plus) weeks in Europe. Jessica loves this custom, and wants to import it to America. I think she’ll have a hard time getting it into our home, nevermind our country!
- It’s All Expensive – Right now the exchange rate works in our favor. The Euro has been falling in response to the budget crisis in Greece, and a Euro costs about $1.25. It had been closer to $1.50 in the recent past. Despite this, everything is still expensive by our standards. Things seem to cost about 25-50% more than in the U.S. at the current exchange rate, and sometimes more. Drink refills are not free, or even reduced, with few exceptions. Some McDonalds’ have soda machines you can use yourself, like back home, which means refills are free (yes, they intend it that way). Also, we ate at several Hard Rock Cafes. HRC is as close to an American restaurant as you’ll find in Europe. They speak English from the moment you walk in the door (they assume you’re American), and they give free soda refills when you order a meal (no free refills if you only order a soda). Of course they cost a lot though. In Paris it was about €5 for a Pepsi at the HRC. Munich was about €3.50 if I recall correctly. Also, McDonalds and Burger King charge for ketchup packets. The first one seemed to always be free, but after that they were €0.20 each. At least they are about twice the size of ketchup packets back home, to give them a little credit. The supermarkets also charge for bags. The first time we went in and bought stuff, we looked like clueless foreigners when we paid and had no way to get the stuff out to the car. Fortunately our friends rented a shopping cart that we could put them in. That’s another thing, in order to get a shopping cart, you have to put a €1 coin in to unlock it. You get it back when you return the cart though. This means you don’t find shopping carts abandoned in the isles or the parking lot, a nice benefit to this foreign custom.
The only exception to the expensiveness of things that we’ve encountered is pizza and beer. A pizza that would probably cost around $8-10 in the U.S. is about €4. Being pizza lovers, you’d think that would mean we would have eaten a lot of them, but that’s not the case. While we had a few, it didn’t take long for me to tire of European pizza. They use a different kind of cheese, and the sauce is different (more like liquefied tomatoes, not spicy like we know it). I didn’t care for it much. They also have much different toppings. I pretty much exclusively eat pepperoni. In Germany, pepperoni is a vegetable (peppers?). The closest thing they have is salami (no thanks!). We bought a box of beer today that had 5 bottles and a glass to drink it in (they say the type of glass is important) for €5, which would have been, in my estimation, closer to $15 back home, even if it were domestic (which it is in Germany).
- Speed Limits – In Germany, this is my favorite difference between our countries. The Autobahn is world-famous for having NO speed limit. This isn’t entirely accurate, but still fun. There are places where there are limits. If it is near custruction, it can be as low as 60Kph (~35mph), but in other parts it is sometimes 120Kph (~75mph) or 130 Kph (~80mph). We also found out the last week that when you’re pulling a trailer, you can’t exceed 80Kph (~50mph). We needed to pull a trailer for a while, so the drive took longer. When you’re outside of town and there is no construction, there is no speed limit. I had fun with this (and I am thankful Jessica gave me no grief about it). In one rental car, an Opel Ziffira, I hit 170 Kph (~105mph); and in another, a Ford Focus wagon, I hit 180Kph (~110mph). I often kept my speed around 140Kph (~85mph). If I can ever buy my dream car, a Porsche 911 Turbo, I think I’ll pick it up at the factory in Stuttgart and have some fun with it in Germany before shipping it home to the U.S. After all, if you’re going to spend $150,000 on a car, why not spend a few thousand more and have some fun with it!
Outside of Germany, speed limits are closer to what we’d expect in America. In the Netherlands, main freeways (our interstates) are typically 120Kph (~75Mph), and smaller highways are 100Kph (~60mph). We drove a little in Austria, and I think it was similar there.
- Saunas – Not all hotels have pools, but every hotel we stayed in had a sauna. The use of saunas is very different for Germans. They require that people using the sauna be nude. Being uncomfortable with this, for both cultural and ecclesiastical reasons, we never used the saunas. They also presented problems in using the hot tubs, whirlpools, and pools as well though. While bathing suits are common, if not required, in these places, often they were in the same room or close proximity to the sauna, meaning that seeing nude people was a possibility we’d have to face. The only place it happened though, was our hotel in Munich, a Marriott. We wanted to use the whirlpool, and it was next to the sauna. There were a couple men who used the sauna, which created a few moments of awkwardness as they exited the sauna. In other places, we came across older women and men wearing towels as the entered or exited the sauna areas, but no one completely nude.
- The Demeanor – People are much friendlier, in general, in Germany. Not that they are unfriendly back home, but we never saw people get upset, and car horns were rarely honked. Considering it bears the same meaning in Germany, I would have expected to see the middle finger displayed at least once or twice on the trip (I should clarify, not necessarily directed at me), but this never happened.
- Amazing Patience Toward Families – Being typical of Europe, Germany has a low birth-rate. This concerns Germans a lot, and as a result, along with the friendly demeanor I just noted, they have a very high level of patience and accommodation toward families with small children. Nearly everywhere we went with our friends, who have a 7-month-old son, they would hand wait staff bottles of baby food, which would be promptly heated and returned to them. They told us it is very normal in Germany to be accommodated in this way. While we didn’t do the same since our kids are not at the age that they eat baby food, we did find in hindsight that the level of patience and accommodation we received throughout Germany over the course of our stay was very nice.
- Time in Restaurants – Speaking of restaurants and wait staff, the experience of eating out is much different in Germany, and Europe in general as we understand it. It takes a long time to get in and out at restaurants in Germany. A perfect example was our stop at the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich. It took nearly a half hour before we were even asked what we would like to order. Drink orders are done quickly, much like in the U.S., but ordering the meal takes time. Once we got the meal ordered, it was more than a half hour for the food to come, and we didn’t order much either (I got a burger, Jude got some chicken strips, and the rest didn’t eat). Then, once Jude and I were done eating, it took more than a half hour to get the bill and pay. What we hoped would be a quick stop took almost two hours. The Germans say that most people would be offended if it went much quicker. They would see it as the restaurant just wanting to get our money and then have us leave. Since the Hard Rock chains, as I mentioned above, are very American, I think it may have only been because our Germany friends were with that this particular restaurant took so long. When we ate in Paris and Prague, they were much more in line with what we consider normal.
Aside from these differences, it was fun to talk about some of the differences in our legal systems with our German friends. There are some things that are much stricter in Germany, and others that are much more relaxed. I don’t recall specific examples, but it was still interesting.
It was also an interesting experience for Jude. We’d like to bring him back to Germany in a few years, maybe when he’s 6-8 years old. He has done well picking up German words, and had fun experiencing German culture.