Im English. I visited Germany and Austria a few years ago. Because I spoke a little German I found the people were so friendly and forward. I've noticed if you take the time and trouble to learn even a little of the language and culture it helps to break the ice and the people really respond favourably to it. I've also noticed this in other European countries too. Of course I have to say that most German peoples, English is pretty amazing so when you've reached the limit of your German most will happily converse in English. I can honestly say I never met anyone there who was closed off or unfriendly. Also I found they have a great sense of humour, contrary to some preconceptions. There is a German comedian called Henning Wehn who now lives and works in the UK. One of his jokes is......"German people love to have a laugh and fool about.....Only difference is we wait until the work is done."
Coincidentally, just yesterday I had a funny experience regarding the jay walking: so I´m on my bike, leaning on the traffic light waiting to cross the road. On the other side, an elderly lady is waiting. There´s hardly any traffic, and after the last car passed and the light is still red for pedastrians, I´m figuring I could just cross now, but somehow I thought it might upset the lady and decided to just be patient and wait for green light. A moment later the lady shouts "Sie können ruhig fahren, kommt ja keiner" ("just go, no one´s there") 😄It was the first time a complete stranger actively prompted me to jay walk/bike 🤣I just love it when I learn that I completely misjudgded someone 😄
It is changing. If there are children at the crossing, everyone will wait until it's green even if there are no cars in sight. Sometime the only people you see waiting are the Chinese exchange students.
I had a similar experience a while back. I was late for the train and started crossing on a red light as there wasn't a car in sight. Someone shouted at me and I stopped, thinking it may be a policeman. It was just another pedestrian and as I hesitated whether to continue or not an old lady, maybe around 80, muttered something to this middle-aged man and crossed the road on red. 😂
I lived in Germany for six years and loved it. We lived in Soest, Dortmund and Bielefeld and visited the Harzburg area and the Harz National Park many times.
Hope your sister had a great time visiting you Angela! I've seen a few of Walter's videos and it was interesting to get the perspective of someone who lives in the country he's talking about. Welcome back! :)
Check the comments under the videos. AFAIK, Germans are known for just taking over the comments sections of videos about Germany. And we are direct, as in pointing out errors without meaning to be mean. I'm still confused when somebody goes to pieces because I pointed out an error, without writing a paragraph about how awesome it is that she/he did this or that.
Great to see you again, hope you & the family are well and had a great Christmas. I've enjoyed the video on Germany and having your sister there to expand on what was being said was perfect. Thank you.
Curious to see if this guy knows more about Germany than he does about the UK... Wouldn't take much. Edit: Aaaah! The fact he's lived in Germany for a while explains A LOT about his experience of Europe and his perceptions of the UK and other bits of Europe. I thought he'd travelled relatively evenly throughout the continent, apparently with his eyes shut most of the time. This makes much more sense - when he talks about "Europe" he's skewed a bit towards Germany and central Europe. This video was cute. Your sister is a natural, didn't seem like her first time doing this kinda thing at all!
There are differences between restaurants and snack bars. During the day, and in downtown locations (tourist hotspots), you can just sit and wait for service, especially in the outdoor restaurants. Towards the evening, however, you have to ask when you enter the restaurant whether there is a free table, because you usually make a reservation. It is more polite to ask if there is a free table when you enter the restaurant. This is a nice gesture everywhere in the world.
the image of Hamburg you two talked about is in the harbour area. in the right upper corner you see the Elphilharmony. The pond you mention is the Alster in the city center.
The Harz Mountains, der Harz is the northernmost Mittelgebirge in Germany. Southeast corner of Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt. Fahr da ruhig mal hin, am Wochenende. Oder vielleicht zur Walpurgisnacht. I like your thoughts on what it is about the Germans that Americans could misinterprete as rude. 🌸👍🏻
I lived in Germany in the 70's and returned for a visit 30 years later, they have dispensing machines on random wall's, no were near anything and no-one tries to rip them off the wall, shop's have baskets outside the store because they know the chances of people stealing anything is low. We went to a restaurant in Berlin and sat at a table outside, no money changed hands untill we had finished our meal. You can buy a daily, weekly or monthly pass for transport that covers you gor the trains, buses, Trams and underground, no-one checks your ticket's and there is no barriers. Most of the shop's were closed on Sunday. It seemed like the German attitude to health and safety that it is your responsibility, there was a train station with bus stops outside, no fence, you could just walk off the train onto the bus. One town had a river running through it, there was a playground next to the river with a rope bridge spanning the river.
I'm fascinated by the fact that no money changing hands until you pay the bill is remarkable for sitting outside a restaurant :-) Slight correction: there are very few people checking tickets, but there are. In bigger cities or on commuter lines it is seldom to be checked, otherwise it is VERY seldom. On the H&S: Well, people have to be able to live without someone holding their hands. If someone needs help to not jump in front of a train, they should have help (as in be supervised). Fences don't serve any purpose in that regard. And if a child is not responsible enough to not jump into a river it has no business running around by itself (when not near its home). Obviously parents take care to educate their children, and if they feel the children arent ready yet they'll supervise them. But otherwise... again, they have to live without constant hand holding, sometime.
Hello Angela and sister. Happy New Year to your families. It seems rude not calling your sister by name after all the German correctness. I commented before about going to Germany on your channel. It is good to see someone you mentioned. I made red cabbage like that after having lots of pears to use up, but did not think of it as German, because of having sauerkraut. The German stereotype is often associated with British meeting them in numbers on Spanish holidays. The description here is at odds with queueing, waiting to see first and always saying please and sorry that is stereotypically British. This has made for several comedy sketches. I learned German in school and many words seemed like Yorkshire dialect, but the rules that even apply to word order seemed so different, though I did know there were dialects in Germany too and not all were so formal. When I was a child very little was open in UK on Sunday. I would go play football near a graveyard by my grandmother's, having made the several mile trip on this quiet day. I remember some German servicemen's graves. They were very well respected, despite being enemy soldiers and the visits of German officials had produced a kind of mutual admiration.
Great to have you guys back posting content. Your sister will have her own channel before you know it... it wasn't so long ago that "wifie" only made guest appearances and now you're so confident even without Ethan. Will he be posting tomorrow with your sisters husband? 🤔 Happy New Year. 😊
There were different campaigns a few decades ago against jaywalking in Germany, because it was said to set a bad role model for children: As an adult you may be able to assess the traffic situation correctly, but children often don't. This is now very ingrained in German minds: You don't jaywalk anywhere where some child could observe you. Or any person for that matter. And many people are inclined to remember others of it. Sundays: In 1891 an amendment to the trade law stated a ban of labor on Sundays for most trades. It was less a religious thing (except for choosing the Sunday as rest day) than a part of social reforms with the intention to take the wind out of socialist movements. It became a constitutional law after WW I in the Weimar constitution of 1919, and the current constitution states that this is one of a few articles of that constitution which are still valid. Therefore not to have to work at Sunday is a constitutional right in Germany. Bakeries, shops selling goods for travelers, restaurants and so on are allowed to open, but not any "normal" grocery stores or supermarkets. Traditionally many restaurants which are open at Sundays have a rest das either at Monday or Tuesday.
Happy New Year!!! 😉 So glad you are coming back and good to see your sister join the MwA's. Really interesting about Germany especially with your sisters knowledge. Looking forward to seeing the next. 😀
By law everything carbonated has Pfand, bottles that get reused often have also Pfand (but that's voluntary by the company). Of course lobbyists gonna lobby and there are exceptions. Usually it's 25 cent, beer bottles are 8 cent, cases are around 5€ (plus the bottles). "Berg" is mountain, "Burg" is castle or fort. The Harz is one of the mountain ranges in the middle of Germany, roughly between Hannover and Leipzig.
Thanks for tgr video. The pond in Hamborg is the Alster. TIt is in fact a small dammed river. he reason you find red brick buildings in the north and less half timbered houses here is because there are less forests. The Harz mountains are not in the south, but you can find them quite up morth in Lower Saxoni.
Pedestrians also pay if they cross the road when the light is red. Crossing a red light costs five euros, and ten euros in the event of an accident. Even for a red light violation on foot, the driver's license can be revoked. The authorities can determine this, for example, if a pedestrian becomes conspicuous and on record several times.
"Bei Rot musst du stehen, bei Grün darfst du gehen", that's what every German kid learns in Kindergarten. Makes perfect sense for kids, because they're not very good yet at estimating speed and distance. I've also seen signs here that say "Nur bei Grün - den Kindern zuliebe" (only walk on Green, take care of the kids). Not that I needed a reminder, I never jaywalk when kids may be watching me. On other occasions, yes, I do. The Pfand (deposit) system is something I really, really like about my country! I remember times before it was introduced, and streets were littered with drink cans and plastic bottles, but if you paid 25 cents deposit per can or bottle, you want to get it back. And if you want to give up on a bottle, leave it next to a public trash bin for the homeless to pick up. Except for one thing, like Walter said said: The christmas market cups. They charge you a deposit of three or four euros, that's true, but I have several of them at home because I always "forgot" to return them. And spending one hundred euros at a Volksfest or market, that won't last you a day with a family of five. Half a day if you're lucky and can persuade your kids into not taking the most expensive rides. And do NOT, NEVER, visit the Oktoberfest in Munich with kids, as you can be sure, they will insist on taking the most expensive, most adventurous, most thrilling rides, and you have to go with them on a crazy roller coaster. DO NOT do that! Bringing flowers when you're invited, I think Walter is a bit old-fashioned there. I never brought flowers to anyone. Used to be the customs to bring flowers to the "lady of the house" in, I think, the 19th century, but not any more. Wine, however, is always welcome, but don't bring a German one. Italian, Spanish, French, Californian, South African: Everything is better than the grapes that grow here. Also, taking off your shoes when you enter a home, that's polite, but more often than not I was told I could keep my sneakers on. The Jewish memorial in Berlin, that's controversial. You would not joke or jump around at the Dachau concentration camp, or in Mauthausen, Austria, which I both visited, but the Berlin memorial is just an assembly of ugly concrete blocks, and of course they invite young people to jump around on them. I was there, but honestly, I don't like it. I don't know where Walter has been, but I'm never in a hurry when I enter a restaurant, and neither are the waiters. They'll bring you the menu and ask, "May I already bring you something to drink?", but you can take all the time in the world to study the menu and choose what you like. If you don't have any clue at all, you can ask, "Can you recommend something?", or say, "I'm in a hurry, what's the fastest?". I almost never went wrong with that. "Apfelstrudel" is the name. Warm, with cream and vanilla ice cream, and maybe with some raisins in the apple filling. So delicious! But be warned, it's a calory bomb ("Kalorienbombe") and contains about three times of your daily recommended sugar intake as recommended by the WHO. (No, I'm not talking about the band.) "Rotkohl", I see, you don't live in the south of Germany, because we call it "Blaukraut" (blue cabbage). The reason is, we take different kinds of preservatives. The northerners use vinegar, which makes the cabbage turn red, and we southerners mostly use salt and plain water, which keeps it blue. Rotkohl, or Blaukraut, is the natural equivalent to litmus paper. "Don't experiment on the Autobahn", why not? I mean, don't experiment by overtaking on the right, not keeping your distance, and such, but why shouldn't you drive on the Autobahn? If you know the rules and (mostly) abide to them, that should be no problem. If you don't dare driving on the Autobahn, your driver's license wasn't worth the money. Sunday's closed, some people say it has a religious background, but no, not really. Workers' unions fought for having a day off, and when they succeeded, it was connected to the church because employers didn't just give in but said, we must give our workers the opportunity to go to mass on Sundays. That helped the church to keep up their pride, but the catholic church was never a part in that struggle. It always were workers' unions who fought for the rights of ordinary people. I love cash. I love the euro bills because they look good. The coins aren't bad either because you can tell by what's engraved on their backside which European country they're from. I think the ECB, the European Central Bank, took a wise decision to make them that way. However, I think it's about time we get rid of the one and two cent coins. Some countries, like Finland and the Netherlands, have already done that. And finally, he mentioned Regensburg. One of the most beautiful towns (if not THE most beautiful) in Bavaria. I strongly recommend a visit in summer, and take a cruise on the river Danube (Donau). There are guided tours in English, so don't you worry if you don't speak Bavarian. Regensburg is a university town, there are people from all around the world.
Very nice to see your sister (oh, and you 😊) … you didn’t say what her name was though! Great to hear her perspective on the video, and confirm/expand on stuff 👍
Nice to see your Sis Angela! I have seen some of Wolters video's on the Netherlands (where I grew up) and I was not very impressed.. but this one was decent in content. In my opinion (and making generalisations left and right ;-) ) Germans are very much liking rules and policies so that's why you usually would not cross streets on a red light. Germans also (more than the Dutch) like formal titles like doctor.. professor... etc. And Mr. and Mrs. (Herr und Frau) instead of an informal first name addressing. But any how: Germany is great to visit ( region by region.. don't rush your trip) ; there is a lot of interesting things to see! Berlin is the hip and alternative city (with a ton of history) and Munich (München) is posh and more glamorous. Frankfurt is very modern and fast paced, Hamburg has its own vibe. And then there are soooooo many castles! And beautiful little towns. You can easily spend 10 different vacations there and not see anything similar 1 year compared to the next.
The 'bring a gift when visiting' isn't a necessity. A small gift is appreciated but don't go over the top. Only do that if you're invited to some kind of formal event. If you know someone likes a good wine and you just found a really good wine at a restaurant bring that. Something you KNOW they would appreciate. Don't just go out and buy any old knickknacks just so bring a gift. It has to be sincere, not because it is an obligation. Edit: German from Hamburg here, btw. The Elbe river is fairly close to the North Sea and is tidally influenced. Thus at low tides the shallow canals run off to reveal the muck, but deeper canals will still be passable by boats. The harbor of Hamburg is one of Germany's largest container terminals so even the largest container ships are able to come here. Hamburg also has one of two floating docks worldwide that are large enough to house the Queen Elizabeth II cruise Liner for maintenance and repairs. Hamburg is said to be the Venice of the North, due to its large amounts of bridges. Funnily enough it should actually be reverse. Venice has only around 1500 bridges, Berlin has 1800, but Hamburg has over 4500 bridges. So Venice should be called the Hamburg of the South instead 😋😂
I haven't spent much time in Germany, but did find folk to be friendly and helpful. There still seems to be some mistrust amongst older Brits of Germans, which contributed somewhat to Brexit.
The Harz is an upland region in the mittle of Germany. Half timbered houses can be found in almost every village. In german they are called Fachwerkhäuser.
Regarding the Pfand: My family lived in Peru in the 1970s. At the time glass containers were hard to import and couldn't be made locally in large numbers, so for everything from milk to soft drinks you had to find a way to buy your own supply of bottles then go to the applicable story or factory to fill them. Wash, repeat. We lucked out because a diplomatic family was leaving just after we arrived so we bought their supply, but otherwise we would have been on a waiting list for months. Not quite the same thing as modern Germany, but it helps explain that kind on mindset. You the individual are personally responsible for the glasses/ bottles you want to use, they're not just there.
2:23 "they are honest, extremely honest" the first thing that comes to my mind is a saying along the lines of ""da kann man nicht meckern" ist das größte Kompliment eines Deutschen", which means: "i cant complain" is the biggest compliment you can get from a german. germans will rarely say "well done!" unless they think it REALLY is done well. not to be impolite, it moreso seems to be meant motivating i think. like a "i know you could do better, you probably know it too. but it is good enough", which is obviously to long to be "german efficiency" so it boils down to "well, cant complain" :D
Most of Germany's big cities in the Western half of the country were more or less destroyed by allied bombing in WWII, and many towns and cities in the East were devastated by the advancing Soviet Army, so a lot of German buildings in those places are more modern due to post-war reconstruction. One interesting example that doesn't follow this pattern is Dresden. It was almost completely destroyed but some of the buildings were rebuilt to look exactly as they had been before the war.
Thank you, my friends . Its been a pleasure watching you. Im freezing here in New Year London and got to find a way home lol. If you dont get a "like" from me tomorrow then I'm still looking for my house wherever someone has hidden it
Great reaction, I actually like that you just talk sometimes and forget to pause the video. A couple of things I noticed. “They don’t add sugar to whipped cream”. Why would they if you do that it isn’t just whipped cream anymore, now it’s “crème chantilly”. Also I think it’s Harzen he is talking about when he says Harz mountains.
But then like now: Gas stations and kiosks exist. Especially nowadays. Even if Kiosks are called Spätis now, they've been sprouting out of the ground in recent years.
@@beageler They do exist but you don't want to do your regular groceries there. You might just burn through your monthly grocery money in just one stop at a gas station or kiosk :)
@@derangemeldete Jo, das ist mir klar. Ich meinte offensichtlich wenn andere Sachen zu sind. Yes, I know that. I was obviously talking about for when other stores are closed.
@@beageler yeah, my comment was a bit cheeky wasn't it. I didn't think you meant that you should do your big groceries run in one of those, i was just trying to make a bad joke and warn people/tourists that shopping there will come with a considerable price hike!
Germany sound a lot like Wales in my youth as it too is very religious and everything is closed on Sunday's. A good tip by Walter to shop Monday and do museums on Saturday/Sunday. Sisters a natural. Like the ask for Bill, pay and go in restaurants. I remember comedian Henning Wehn saying about being over ? and somee brit saying just drive & Henning saying, "but you cannot drive" "why not" "becouse it's the rules" "no one will know" "but it's the rules"
We're not religious at all, at least not here up north. Although the closed stores on sundays originally came from a christian background, nowadays it has more to do with workers rights.
It comes from Christianity, but nowadays it's just tradition and most of us Germans don't give a fuck about religion. But that is a changing thing, and I'd guess in the 60's and 70's it was still very much a religious thing.
@@CarloRossi54523 Yes, I understood that recently, haha. So confusing that "romance" has these 2 different meanings in English. Thank you for explaining it though. On an unrelated note, I wouldn't say a language sounds harsh based on whether it's derived from Latin, and those are only a handful of languages.
Good to see you! So far your focus has been the UK, but I would suggest taking a peek at other countries and cultures. You liked the landscape in the UK, so I think you might like France as well, which has the most beautiful landscapes in Europe. It also has a lot nicer weather than the UK and the food certainly is. You can probably ask your sister about some of that.
My parents would often travel from UK to Italy. My mum hated crossing France because she said it was so boring and flat ..she would try to talk my Dad into flying to Germany or Switzerland to avoid France. But overland from Germany she absolutely loved
I was going to say two things, bit I forgot one of the things he mentioned. But you two have the same mannerisms to a point I was wondering if maybe you were twins lol.
Does Germany still close on Saturday afternoon? When I was there in the British forces close to the Dutch border it was easier to cross the the border on the weekend to shop.
I've seen plenty of €100 notes and are very common in Cyprus as even more so than Germany, Cyprus is very much a cash only place, the idea of using a credit/debit card even in large supermarkets is practically alien technology. But back here in Blighty I've only seen a £100 note once, and they are very, very rare. Britain is very much leading the way in Europe when it comes to card or contactless via phone payments, even more so since the recent Coof has shifted more people away from handling cash.
@@ianprince1698 Aye, it was an RBS note, a place I used to work at in Edinburgh got hand a few of them by a customer paying off their account. We were unsure about the note, but luckily there was an RBS over the road and they checked it for us. Although strangely the higher the note the less likely it is a forgery as they're usually more scrutinized than lower notes. The most likely to be takes are 5s.
Brits enjoy breaking the rules , as long as no-one gets hurt. I think I'm responsible for my own safety, and would get annoyed if someone told me that I shouldn't cross the road if it was perfectly safe to do so.
Well, streets and freeways are not the same. Irony is drinking cow milk but being disgusted by the milk of one's own species. Or someone being run over on the side of the street because he didn't jaywalk.
Well, the difference is there are not pedestrian crossing on any Autobahn, that would be insane and being on foot on the Autobahn is (afaik) illegal in itself. So it's quite safe to drive there, because there won't be any pedestrians there by default. I think the thing with jaywalking is (like many others have stated before) that you're supposed to be a role model for children and if there could be children around you just don't jaywalk. You might be able to judge the danger as an adult, but children sure can't.
I was wondering why you watch so many UK videos, when you have a sister already living in Germany who could help you easily with immigration here..? Explain, plz.
@@Kivas_Fajo I thought there was a rule that you can't take a job away from a local? I do not currently have an online job and my experience is in construction I just don't know the rules. It sounded like on Google without a work visa you couldn't stay there more than 3 months? If you know more about this I would be interested.
I'm angry with the Germans. My mum passed away in May in Germany I found her after 35 years. They want me to pay 5k for her un marked grave. I lived in Berlin was there before and after the wall came down. I can't go back to Germany until I pay. They killed all her cats. Mum left me at 7 years old. In East Germany she couldn't live with her female partner of 30 years cause they s
Im English. I visited Germany and Austria a few years ago. Because I spoke a little German I found the people were so friendly and forward. I've noticed if you take the time and trouble to learn even a little of the language and culture it helps to break the ice and the people really respond favourably to it. I've also noticed this in other European countries too. Of course I have to say that most German peoples, English is pretty amazing so when you've reached the limit of your German most will happily converse in English. I can honestly say I never met anyone there who was closed off or unfriendly. Also I found they have a great sense of humour, contrary to some preconceptions. There is a German comedian called Henning Wehn who now lives and works in the UK. One of his jokes is......"German people love to have a laugh and fool about.....Only difference is we wait until the work is done."
Coincidentally, just yesterday I had a funny experience regarding the jay walking: so I´m on my bike, leaning on the traffic light waiting to cross the road. On the other side, an elderly lady is waiting. There´s hardly any traffic, and after the last car passed and the light is still red for pedastrians, I´m figuring I could just cross now, but somehow I thought it might upset the lady and decided to just be patient and wait for green light. A moment later the lady shouts "Sie können ruhig fahren, kommt ja keiner" ("just go, no one´s there") 😄It was the first time a complete stranger actively prompted me to jay walk/bike 🤣I just love it when I learn that I completely misjudgded someone 😄
It is changing. If there are children at the crossing, everyone will wait until it's green even if there are no cars in sight. Sometime the only people you see waiting are the Chinese exchange students.
I had a similar experience a while back. I was late for the train and started crossing on a red light as there wasn't a car in sight. Someone shouted at me and I stopped, thinking it may be a policeman. It was just another pedestrian and as I hesitated whether to continue or not an old lady, maybe around 80, muttered something to this middle-aged man and crossed the road on red. 😂
I lived in Germany for six years and loved it. We lived in Soest, Dortmund and Bielefeld and visited the Harzburg area and the Harz National Park many times.
Sorry Karina, Bielefeld doesn't exist😔
@@_Yannex😂
This was really interesting- getting your sister's informed reaction to the video. It seems it was pretty accurate!
Great to see you posting reaction videos again and I love that you are presenting this one with your sister. Wishing you a great 2023.
Hope your sister had a great time visiting you Angela! I've seen a few of Walter's videos and it was interesting to get the perspective of someone who lives in the country he's talking about. Welcome back!
:)
Check the comments under the videos. AFAIK, Germans are known for just taking over the comments sections of videos about Germany. And we are direct, as in pointing out errors without meaning to be mean. I'm still confused when somebody goes to pieces because I pointed out an error, without writing a paragraph about how awesome it is that she/he did this or that.
Great to see you again, hope you & the family are well and had a great Christmas. I've enjoyed the video on Germany and having your sister there to expand on what was being said was perfect. Thank you.
Curious to see if this guy knows more about Germany than he does about the UK... Wouldn't take much.
Edit: Aaaah! The fact he's lived in Germany for a while explains A LOT about his experience of Europe and his perceptions of the UK and other bits of Europe. I thought he'd travelled relatively evenly throughout the continent, apparently with his eyes shut most of the time. This makes much more sense - when he talks about "Europe" he's skewed a bit towards Germany and central Europe.
This video was cute. Your sister is a natural, didn't seem like her first time doing this kinda thing at all!
My dad was based in the Harz mountains when he was in the British army. Wonderful place.
What a fun video! Great insight from your resident German!
There are differences between restaurants and snack bars. During the day, and in downtown locations (tourist hotspots), you can just sit and wait for service, especially in the outdoor restaurants. Towards the evening, however, you have to ask when you enter the restaurant whether there is a free table, because you usually make a reservation. It is more polite to ask if there is a free table when you enter the restaurant. This is a nice gesture everywhere in the world.
Great to see you and your sister. I also follow Deanna and Phil, a North Carolinian married to a German now living in Düsseldorf.
the image of Hamburg you two talked about is in the harbour area. in the right upper corner you see the Elphilharmony. The pond you mention is the Alster in the city center.
The Harz Mountains, der Harz is the northernmost Mittelgebirge in Germany. Southeast corner of Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt.
Fahr da ruhig mal hin, am Wochenende. Oder vielleicht zur Walpurgisnacht.
I like your thoughts on what it is about the Germans that Americans could misinterprete as rude. 🌸👍🏻
Sunday is a 'Day of Rest' also still in parts of the UK also.
I visited Germany many years ago and stayed in Rheinhausen in Duisburg. It was an amazing place and I often wish I'd moved permanently to Germany.
I love it how you say "Thames" :)
I lived in Germany in the 70's and returned for a visit 30 years later, they have dispensing machines on random wall's, no were near anything and no-one tries to rip them off the wall, shop's have baskets outside the store because they know the chances of people stealing anything is low.
We went to a restaurant in Berlin and sat at a table outside, no money changed hands untill we had finished our meal.
You can buy a daily, weekly or monthly pass for transport that covers you gor the trains, buses, Trams and underground, no-one checks your ticket's and there is no barriers.
Most of the shop's were closed on Sunday.
It seemed like the German attitude to health and safety that it is your responsibility, there was a train station with bus stops outside, no fence, you could just walk off the train onto the bus.
One town had a river running through it, there was a playground next to the river with a rope bridge spanning the river.
Used to be like that in the UK when i was a kid H&S killed off fun and common sense.
I'm fascinated by the fact that no money changing hands until you pay the bill is remarkable for sitting outside a restaurant :-)
Slight correction: there are very few people checking tickets, but there are. In bigger cities or on commuter lines it is seldom to be checked, otherwise it is VERY seldom.
On the H&S: Well, people have to be able to live without someone holding their hands. If someone needs help to not jump in front of a train, they should have help (as in be supervised). Fences don't serve any purpose in that regard. And if a child is not responsible enough to not jump into a river it has no business running around by itself (when not near its home). Obviously parents take care to educate their children, and if they feel the children arent ready yet they'll supervise them. But otherwise... again, they have to live without constant hand holding, sometime.
No need to say you were at home, I recognised the sewing machine. My sister lives in Munich and Dorset, England.
It’s great to have your sister’s thoughts and experiences too 😁
Hello Angela and sister. Happy New Year to your families. It seems rude not calling your sister by name after all the German correctness.
I commented before about going to Germany on your channel. It is good to see someone you mentioned.
I made red cabbage like that after having lots of pears to use up, but did not think of it as German, because of having sauerkraut.
The German stereotype is often associated with British meeting them in numbers on Spanish holidays. The description here is at odds with queueing, waiting to see first and always saying please and sorry that is stereotypically British. This has made for several comedy sketches.
I learned German in school and many words seemed like Yorkshire dialect, but the rules that even apply to word order seemed so different, though I did know there were dialects in Germany too and not all were so formal.
When I was a child very little was open in UK on Sunday. I would go play football near a graveyard by my grandmother's, having made the several mile trip on this quiet day. I remember some German servicemen's graves. They were very well respected, despite being enemy soldiers and the visits of German officials had produced a kind of mutual admiration.
At 11:00: Looks like an „ Apfelstrudel“😁
I’ve missed you!!!
Love this video. I know next to nothing about Germany so this is really interesting.
Great to have you guys back posting content. Your sister will have her own channel before you know it... it wasn't so long ago that "wifie" only made guest appearances and now you're so confident even without Ethan. Will he be posting tomorrow with your sisters husband? 🤔 Happy New Year. 😊
Great to see you back. Hope to see more reaction posts. Happy New year.
Yay to Germany content! Greetings from Hamburg!
Awesome, great that you had your sister on. Greetings from Hamburg.
There were different campaigns a few decades ago against jaywalking in Germany, because it was said to set a bad role model for children: As an adult you may be able to assess the traffic situation correctly, but children often don't. This is now very ingrained in German minds: You don't jaywalk anywhere where some child could observe you. Or any person for that matter. And many people are inclined to remember others of it.
Sundays: In 1891 an amendment to the trade law stated a ban of labor on Sundays for most trades. It was less a religious thing (except for choosing the Sunday as rest day) than a part of social reforms with the intention to take the wind out of socialist movements. It became a constitutional law after WW I in the Weimar constitution of 1919, and the current constitution states that this is one of a few articles of that constitution which are still valid. Therefore not to have to work at Sunday is a constitutional right in Germany. Bakeries, shops selling goods for travelers, restaurants and so on are allowed to open, but not any "normal" grocery stores or supermarkets. Traditionally many restaurants which are open at Sundays have a rest das either at Monday or Tuesday.
Wonderful video to you both! Really enjoyed watching this!
Happy New Year!!! 😉 So glad you are coming back and good to see your sister join the MwA's. Really interesting about Germany especially with your sisters knowledge. Looking forward to seeing the next. 😀
Am over 80 years old and never had to take off may shoes anywhere.
Happy New year from north Germany.. 🍻💃✌️
Jaywalking usually is about 20 bucks fine, but I haven't heard of it being enforced ever!
By law everything carbonated has Pfand, bottles that get reused often have also Pfand (but that's voluntary by the company). Of course lobbyists gonna lobby and there are exceptions. Usually it's 25 cent, beer bottles are 8 cent, cases are around 5€ (plus the bottles).
"Berg" is mountain, "Burg" is castle or fort. The Harz is one of the mountain ranges in the middle of Germany, roughly between Hannover and Leipzig.
Great video, nice to meet your sister, Happy New Year to you all 🎉
Thanks for tgr video. The pond in Hamborg is the Alster. TIt is in fact a small dammed river. he reason you find red brick buildings in the north and less half timbered houses here is because there are less forests. The Harz mountains are not in the south, but you can find them quite up morth in Lower Saxoni.
Pedestrians also pay if they cross the road when the light is red. Crossing a red light costs five euros, and ten euros in the event of an accident.
Even for a red light violation on foot, the driver's license can be revoked. The authorities can determine this, for example, if a pedestrian becomes conspicuous and on record several times.
In the event of an accident the rule breaker is usually seen at fault and would have to pay the bill. 10€ would be a dream.
I have been to Hamburg its great fun.
when he said "Harz-mountains" i think hes refering to the "Harz" region in central germany.
"Bei Rot musst du stehen, bei Grün darfst du gehen", that's what every German kid learns in Kindergarten. Makes perfect sense for kids, because they're not very good yet at estimating speed and distance. I've also seen signs here that say "Nur bei Grün - den Kindern zuliebe" (only walk on Green, take care of the kids). Not that I needed a reminder, I never jaywalk when kids may be watching me. On other occasions, yes, I do.
The Pfand (deposit) system is something I really, really like about my country! I remember times before it was introduced, and streets were littered with drink cans and plastic bottles, but if you paid 25 cents deposit per can or bottle, you want to get it back. And if you want to give up on a bottle, leave it next to a public trash bin for the homeless to pick up. Except for one thing, like Walter said said: The christmas market cups. They charge you a deposit of three or four euros, that's true, but I have several of them at home because I always "forgot" to return them. And spending one hundred euros at a Volksfest or market, that won't last you a day with a family of five. Half a day if you're lucky and can persuade your kids into not taking the most expensive rides. And do NOT, NEVER, visit the Oktoberfest in Munich with kids, as you can be sure, they will insist on taking the most expensive, most adventurous, most thrilling rides, and you have to go with them on a crazy roller coaster. DO NOT do that!
Bringing flowers when you're invited, I think Walter is a bit old-fashioned there. I never brought flowers to anyone. Used to be the customs to bring flowers to the "lady of the house" in, I think, the 19th century, but not any more. Wine, however, is always welcome, but don't bring a German one. Italian, Spanish, French, Californian, South African: Everything is better than the grapes that grow here. Also, taking off your shoes when you enter a home, that's polite, but more often than not I was told I could keep my sneakers on.
The Jewish memorial in Berlin, that's controversial. You would not joke or jump around at the Dachau concentration camp, or in Mauthausen, Austria, which I both visited, but the Berlin memorial is just an assembly of ugly concrete blocks, and of course they invite young people to jump around on them. I was there, but honestly, I don't like it.
I don't know where Walter has been, but I'm never in a hurry when I enter a restaurant, and neither are the waiters. They'll bring you the menu and ask, "May I already bring you something to drink?", but you can take all the time in the world to study the menu and choose what you like. If you don't have any clue at all, you can ask, "Can you recommend something?", or say, "I'm in a hurry, what's the fastest?". I almost never went wrong with that.
"Apfelstrudel" is the name. Warm, with cream and vanilla ice cream, and maybe with some raisins in the apple filling. So delicious! But be warned, it's a calory bomb ("Kalorienbombe") and contains about three times of your daily recommended sugar intake as recommended by the WHO. (No, I'm not talking about the band.)
"Rotkohl", I see, you don't live in the south of Germany, because we call it "Blaukraut" (blue cabbage). The reason is, we take different kinds of preservatives. The northerners use vinegar, which makes the cabbage turn red, and we southerners mostly use salt and plain water, which keeps it blue. Rotkohl, or Blaukraut, is the natural equivalent to litmus paper.
"Don't experiment on the Autobahn", why not? I mean, don't experiment by overtaking on the right, not keeping your distance, and such, but why shouldn't you drive on the Autobahn? If you know the rules and (mostly) abide to them, that should be no problem. If you don't dare driving on the Autobahn, your driver's license wasn't worth the money.
Sunday's closed, some people say it has a religious background, but no, not really. Workers' unions fought for having a day off, and when they succeeded, it was connected to the church because employers didn't just give in but said, we must give our workers the opportunity to go to mass on Sundays. That helped the church to keep up their pride, but the catholic church was never a part in that struggle. It always were workers' unions who fought for the rights of ordinary people.
I love cash. I love the euro bills because they look good. The coins aren't bad either because you can tell by what's engraved on their backside which European country they're from. I think the ECB, the European Central Bank, took a wise decision to make them that way. However, I think it's about time we get rid of the one and two cent coins. Some countries, like Finland and the Netherlands, have already done that.
And finally, he mentioned Regensburg. One of the most beautiful towns (if not THE most beautiful) in Bavaria. I strongly recommend a visit in summer, and take a cruise on the river Danube (Donau). There are guided tours in English, so don't you worry if you don't speak Bavarian. Regensburg is a university town, there are people from all around the world.
Very nice to see your sister (oh, and you 😊) … you didn’t say what her name was though! Great to hear her perspective on the video, and confirm/expand on stuff 👍
Whipped cream should never have sugar in it, that's an American thing. I love Red cabbage and I live in there UK
Jaywalking is very popular in Berlin when there's no danger. Only tourists stops at red.
Nice to see your Sis Angela! I have seen some of Wolters video's on the Netherlands (where I grew up) and I was not very impressed.. but this one was decent in content. In my opinion (and making generalisations left and right ;-) ) Germans are very much liking rules and policies so that's why you usually would not cross streets on a red light. Germans also (more than the Dutch) like formal titles like doctor.. professor... etc. And Mr. and Mrs. (Herr und Frau) instead of an informal first name addressing. But any how: Germany is great to visit ( region by region.. don't rush your trip) ; there is a lot of interesting things to see! Berlin is the hip and alternative city (with a ton of history) and Munich (München) is posh and more glamorous. Frankfurt is very modern and fast paced, Hamburg has its own vibe.
And then there are soooooo many castles! And beautiful little towns. You can easily spend 10 different vacations there and not see anything similar 1 year compared to the next.
To be fair, us Germans being sticklers for rules is like Dutch smoking weed and riding bikes. Yes, it's a thing but not an absolute.
The 'bring a gift when visiting' isn't a necessity. A small gift is appreciated but don't go over the top. Only do that if you're invited to some kind of formal event. If you know someone likes a good wine and you just found a really good wine at a restaurant bring that. Something you KNOW they would appreciate. Don't just go out and buy any old knickknacks just so bring a gift. It has to be sincere, not because it is an obligation.
Edit: German from Hamburg here, btw. The Elbe river is fairly close to the North Sea and is tidally influenced. Thus at low tides the shallow canals run off to reveal the muck, but deeper canals will still be passable by boats. The harbor of Hamburg is one of Germany's largest container terminals so even the largest container ships are able to come here. Hamburg also has one of two floating docks worldwide that are large enough to house the Queen Elizabeth II cruise Liner for maintenance and repairs.
Hamburg is said to be the Venice of the North, due to its large amounts of bridges. Funnily enough it should actually be reverse. Venice has only around 1500 bridges, Berlin has 1800, but Hamburg has over 4500 bridges. So Venice should be called the Hamburg of the South instead 😋😂
I haven't spent much time in Germany, but did find folk to be friendly and helpful.
There still seems to be some mistrust amongst older Brits of Germans, which contributed somewhat to Brexit.
The Harz is an upland region in the mittle of Germany. Half timbered houses can be found in almost every village. In german they are called Fachwerkhäuser.
Regarding the Pfand: My family lived in Peru in the 1970s. At the time glass containers were hard to import and couldn't be made locally in large numbers, so for everything from milk to soft drinks you had to find a way to buy your own supply of bottles then go to the applicable story or factory to fill them. Wash, repeat.
We lucked out because a diplomatic family was leaving just after we arrived so we bought their supply, but otherwise we would have been on a waiting list for months.
Not quite the same thing as modern Germany, but it helps explain that kind on mindset. You the individual are personally responsible for the glasses/ bottles you want to use, they're not just there.
2:23 "they are honest, extremely honest" the first thing that comes to my mind is a saying along the lines of ""da kann man nicht meckern" ist das größte Kompliment eines Deutschen", which means: "i cant complain" is the biggest compliment you can get from a german. germans will rarely say "well done!" unless they think it REALLY is done well. not to be impolite, it moreso seems to be meant motivating i think. like a "i know you could do better, you probably know it too. but it is good enough", which is obviously to long to be "german efficiency" so it boils down to "well, cant complain" :D
Most of Germany's big cities in the Western half of the country were more or less destroyed by allied bombing in WWII, and many towns and cities in the East were devastated by the advancing Soviet Army, so a lot of German buildings in those places are more modern due to post-war reconstruction. One interesting example that doesn't follow this pattern is Dresden. It was almost completely destroyed but some of the buildings were rebuilt to look exactly as they had been before the war.
I've never seen anybody so happy about Rotkohl before.
All the best to you both.
I was about to say from the preview "Why do you look like sisters"...
Thank you, my friends . Its been a pleasure watching you. Im freezing here in New Year London and got to find a way home lol. If you dont get a "like" from me tomorrow then I'm still looking for my house wherever someone has hidden it
@Mark Will ,....You Okay Mark? Just checkin'👍😆
Great reaction, I actually like that you just talk sometimes and forget to pause the video. A couple of things I noticed. “They don’t add sugar to whipped cream”. Why would they if you do that it isn’t just whipped cream anymore, now it’s “crème chantilly”. Also I think it’s Harzen he is talking about when he says Harz mountains.
Lovely to met your sister. 👌💕
Hi, could it be your sister acquired a slight german accent 😀?
btw.: her german pronunciation in turn is extremely good!
Not so long ago (80s + early 90s) shops used to shut at 2 p.m. on a Saturday. Imagine what a hassle that was if you'd been out the night before...
This still happened into the early 2000s. I left Berlin in 2005
But then like now: Gas stations and kiosks exist. Especially nowadays. Even if Kiosks are called Spätis now, they've been sprouting out of the ground in recent years.
@@beageler They do exist but you don't want to do your regular groceries there. You might just burn through your monthly grocery money in just one stop at a gas station or kiosk :)
@@derangemeldete Jo, das ist mir klar. Ich meinte offensichtlich wenn andere Sachen zu sind.
Yes, I know that. I was obviously talking about for when other stores are closed.
@@beageler yeah, my comment was a bit cheeky wasn't it. I didn't think you meant that you should do your big groceries run in one of those, i was just trying to make a bad joke and warn people/tourists that shopping there will come with a considerable price hike!
Germany sound a lot like Wales in my youth as it too is very religious and everything is closed on Sunday's.
A good tip by Walter to shop Monday and do museums on Saturday/Sunday.
Sisters a natural.
Like the ask for Bill, pay and go in restaurants. I remember comedian Henning Wehn saying about being over ? and somee brit saying just drive & Henning saying,
"but you cannot drive"
"why not"
"becouse it's the rules"
"no one will know"
"but it's the rules"
We're not religious at all, at least not here up north. Although the closed stores on sundays originally came from a christian background, nowadays it has more to do with workers rights.
It comes from Christianity, but nowadays it's just tradition and most of us Germans don't give a fuck about religion. But that is a changing thing, and I'd guess in the 60's and 70's it was still very much a religious thing.
Actually the meat is named after the city. So if you ever get a hamburger....
Certain words look alike burg = castle birg = mountain
good lord you two are similar
Just watched the We're Done video. UA-cam on its own doesn't pay much, have you thought of setting up a patrreon account as well as many YT's do?
Actually, most places accept cash or card in the UK. It is only in the minority that don't accept cash.
3:33 If you think German is not a romance language, you should read Goethe, Eichendorff or Walther von der Vogelweide. :)
Romance means derived from Latin
Yeah, my definition it's not a romance language, but I agree it can sound very romantic in some situations.
@@CarloRossi54523 Yes, I understood that recently, haha. So confusing that "romance" has these 2 different meanings in English. Thank you for explaining it though.
On an unrelated note, I wouldn't say a language sounds harsh based on whether it's derived from Latin, and those are only a handful of languages.
Good to see you! So far your focus has been the UK, but I would suggest taking a peek at other countries and cultures. You liked the landscape in the UK, so I think you might like France as well, which has the most beautiful landscapes in Europe. It also has a lot nicer weather than the UK and the food certainly is. You can probably ask your sister about some of that.
My parents would often travel from UK to Italy. My mum hated crossing France because she said it was so boring and flat ..she would try to talk my Dad into flying to Germany or Switzerland to avoid France. But overland from Germany she absolutely loved
I was going to say two things, bit I forgot one of the things he mentioned.
But you two have the same mannerisms to a point I was wondering if maybe you were twins lol.
At 5.46 it's the Siegessäule in Berlin
Hiya Angela, Show your sister the does and don'ts of visiting England, to see what we have to tolorate, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England
Don't use the bicycle-lane as an pedestrian.
I lived 3 years in Germany in the early 80 82-85
Ethan looks a little bit different in this video...
Well we mentioned there where some big changes about to happen lol😋
I know the east is a lot different to the west of Germany German sausages are worth trying beers good 😁😁
FYI: many of these things that are true in Germany, are also true in The Netherlands.
Does Germany still close on Saturday afternoon? When I was there in the British forces close to the Dutch border it was easier to cross the the border on the weekend to shop.
Looking at you both peas in a pod come to mind 😅😅
I've seen plenty of €100 notes and are very common in Cyprus as even more so than Germany, Cyprus is very much a cash only place, the idea of using a credit/debit card even in large supermarkets is practically alien technology.
But back here in Blighty I've only seen a £100 note once, and they are very, very rare. Britain is very much leading the way in Europe when it comes to card or contactless via phone payments, even more so since the recent Coof has shifted more people away from handling cash.
i don't think the Bank of England issues £100 notes only in Scotland
@@ianprince1698 Aye, it was an RBS note, a place I used to work at in Edinburgh got hand a few of them by a customer paying off their account. We were unsure about the note, but luckily there was an RBS over the road and they checked it for us.
Although strangely the higher the note the less likely it is a forgery as they're usually more scrutinized than lower notes. The most likely to be takes are 5s.
Largest Bank of England Note is £50. A couple of Banks in NI and Scotland still issue £100.
Brits enjoy breaking the rules , as long as no-one gets hurt.
I think I'm responsible for my own safety, and would get annoyed if someone told me that I shouldn't cross the road if it was perfectly safe to do so.
So Germany is now what parts of the East End of London was like 40 years ago, shops shut on Sundays, Shops preferring cash (i still do)
As a side note, surely by now you now it's not Tames, but Tems in pronunciation.
Schönes Video ♥
Liebe Grüße aus Baden Württemberg ⬛🟨
Dont sing the old german anthem Uber Alles its reference to the Nazies you can end up in the clink
You and your sister are very alike 😄
How about Christbaumloben???
Spitting image of each other
Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters
Never had to have a chaperon, no sir
I'm here to keep my eye on her….......
It's so ironic that Germans are concerned about jay walking safety, yet feel it is OK to speed at 100 mph on the autobahns !
Well, streets and freeways are not the same. Irony is drinking cow milk but being disgusted by the milk of one's own species. Or someone being run over on the side of the street because he didn't jaywalk.
Well, the difference is there are not pedestrian crossing on any Autobahn, that would be insane and being on foot on the Autobahn is (afaik) illegal in itself. So it's quite safe to drive there, because there won't be any pedestrians there by default.
I think the thing with jaywalking is (like many others have stated before) that you're supposed to be a role model for children and if there could be children around you just don't jaywalk. You might be able to judge the danger as an adult, but children sure can't.
Wow who's your sister.... nice.... P.s so are you. x 🤠😁👼
I don't like the sound of Germany. I subscribe to the dictum “rules are made to be broken”, and I never carry cash,
Do some Germans still like to drink beer at breakfast ?
But unfortunately you've got a fella. ... So who's your sister .. 🤠🤠😁👼
I was wondering why you watch so many UK videos, when you have a sister already living in Germany who could help you easily with immigration here..? Explain, plz.
We just haven't got to a point to do both, we have done a couple German videos. I am hoping to move there someday.
@@midwestamericans3806 What is stopping you? I mean, there are plenty of jobs, you have parts of your family here. All you need to do is do it!
@@Kivas_Fajo I thought there was a rule that you can't take a job away from a local? I do not currently have an online job and my experience is in construction I just don't know the rules. It sounded like on Google without a work visa you couldn't stay there more than 3 months? If you know more about this I would be interested.
@@midwestamericans3806 There is no such rule whatsoever.
You don't "take away" a job.
In the harz they invented Hartz4, very good! But now it is called Bürgergeld ! Like Hamburger but with the funny points... I Like Hamburger.
Seems like the car is put first in Germany and America!!!
Good grief you and your sister look so similar
Would of thought as the Germans are so efficient they would prefer card payment not cash
I'm angry with the Germans. My mum passed away in May in Germany I found her after 35 years. They want me to pay 5k for her un marked grave. I lived in Berlin was there before and after the wall came down. I can't go back to Germany until I pay. They killed all her cats. Mum left me at 7 years old. In East Germany she couldn't live with her female partner of 30 years cause they s