|
Zurich15315 Posts
Things that are cheap / expensive in Germany
A couple of years ago Chill asked me about the cost of living in Germany compared to say Canada. When I thought about it I figured total cost of living will probably be very similar - only that you pay for different things a lot more and for others a lot less. So, here is my list of what is comparatively cheap and what is expensive in Germany.
Things that are cheap in Germany
Food. Especially groceries and your usual supermarket basket. It's almost embarrassing how cheap food is in Germany. Or better, how content Germans are with cheap food. It's all a demand thing: Food is about the last thing Germans want to spent money on. You'll find people feeding their family car with ultimate 102 octane race sport gas, but stuffing their face with €5 a kilo meat. When I was in the US I was kind of shocked that the cheapest frozen pizza was something like $8. I am used to getting 3 pizza for €1 from the local discount store. "Discounter" has become a commonly used term in Germany for cheap stores. And when it comes to groceries in many areas discounters have largely replaced traditional supermarkets. I actually have to drive to the next city to go shopping in one of the better ones.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B5Ron.jpg) German bread - outstanding and affordable
Alcohol. Even though taxed, alcohol is ridiculously cheap in Germany. Even the very best beer costs only about €0.75 a bottle. Cheap "discount" beer is €0.25 a can. And we are talking 0.5l cans here. There is absolutely no point of ever buying whiskey or vodka at an airport duty free shop in Germany: Just outside the door you will get the same stuff for less! Germany is probably the cheapest place on earth for brand liquors.
Rent. This is a difficult one to assess, since there are huge differences in rent pricing within Germany. But even the by far most expensive city in Germany, Munich, is still considerably cheaper than say Paris or London. Our capital, Berlin, is actually famous for its very low rents ("poor, but sexy"), although that is changing currently and prices are rapidly rising as Berlin is in an economic upswing.
Still, unless you live in one of the rather expensive spots like the entire Munich or Stuttgart area, rent will be considerably lower than in other high income countries.
Fast food. Well duh, fast food is cheap everywhere. However I am not talking only about the big American burger chains. If you include the range of Asian, Italian, and Turkish "fast restaurants", you'll actually get decent, tasty food at cheap prices (all in the €3 to €8 category for a simple meal).
Dining in a quality restaurant is not cheap obviously - but also not really more expensive than in other countries. One difference that I have noticed though is that you are expected to order drinks with every meal.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wPaRt.jpg) Munich - beautiful and pricy
Tips. You basically only have to tip in restaurants and bars. Most people are dirt cheap and just round up, or tip to something like 5%. 10% is considered a generous tip, for anything more the waiter might ask you if you are sure about leaving so much money. It's slightly higher in upscale places, but again 10% is a perfectly good tip. Other service personnel like cab drivers, hair dressers, or hotel staff won't expect tips (although it is customary to at least round up).
Nightlife. This goes mostly along with the cheap alcohol prices. Bars and clubs are really affordable for the most part. Sure there are expensive upscale places too, but your average night out in Germany is most likely far less than in other countries. €5 to €10 is a standard cover, and €5 for a drink is considered expensive.
Things that are expensive in Germany
Gas. Holy shit is gas expensive. Standard euro 95 gas was €1.78 yesterday. That is $8.5 on the gallon. Since it's subsidized (or rather, less heavily taxed), diesel fuel is actually less expensive than regular gas - but it's still at something like €1.65 a liter. That is the prime reason why so many people drive diesel engines though in Germany, and why German car makes are at the front when it comes to developing efficient diesel engines.
Water. This is a pet peeve of mine, especially bottled water on the go. Carbonated or not, a small bottle of water on the go will cost €2 or more. Drinking water fountains in public places are non existent. Also beware of ordering water in a restaurant: You will likely get charged more than for beer, unless you specifically ask for tap water. Even worse in clubs: Ask for water and they'll give you a tiny glass bottle for €4. Often enough they'll even refuse to give out tap water for free and insist you buy expensive bottled water.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OQ0p4.jpg) German trains - Highly efficient, but not cheap
Transportation. I already mentioned gas, but unfortunately if you want to take other means of transportation it's likely not going to be cheaper. Taxis are just stupidly expensive. For the price of a 5 minute cab ride in my tiny home town I can cross the entirety of Seoul.
Trains, subway, and trams too are rather expensive. Sure, for everyone of those you can get discounted monthly tickets, loyalty cards, buy way in advance, etc to lower the price. But if you just get a single one way ticket you might as well blow that $8.5 on gas and drive yourself.
Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
Craftsmen. Hiring anyone from electricians, plumbers to carpenters can really set you back. Most notorious are locksmiths, who like to charge you several hundred Euro for a 10 minute door opening job should you have locked yourself out of your apartment. Of course, it should also be said that the quality you get is probably the best in the world. But still, the very high prices contribute to many Germans becoming do-it-yourself handymen as a hobby. It's no accident that Germany has the highest rate of hardware and home-improvement stores in the world. Often enough you can find one even right in the center of major cities.
All pictures from one of my favorite places on the internet: http://fuckyeahgermany.tumblr.com/
Random bits of knowledge about Germany
Ep8: Autobahn
Ep7: Barbecue
Ep6: Gun ownership
Ep5: Lines
Ep4: Bild and Fear
Ep3: Stereotypes
Ep2: Sauna
Ep1: Small Talk
 
|
I always enjoy your informative blogs Zatic.
|
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
|
great blog!
although it boggles my mind how you mention transportation and gas prices and miss out on cars. cars are still the number one status symbol and german brands sell for up to 30% higher in their domestic than on foreign markets. there's a big gray and black market with reimports of mercedes, audis, volkswagens etc. where dealers buy up contingents in denmark or the netherlands (legal ~ gray market) or non-eu countries (illegal ~ black market), reimport them to germany and sell them there.
|
Yay another zatic Germany blog! As always really accurate and a good read. Bottled water in supermarkets is really cheap as well though. Cheap brand 12x1L with gas = 3 Euro.
I hate the attitude towards food and obsession with expensive cars. It's exactly as zatic says. A BMW 740 in front of the cheapest supermarket (Aldi) is a total normal sight. Just yesterday a guy in front of me in the supermarket bought that terrible 5€ Vodka (0,7L) and drove away with his Porsche Cheyenne. WTF!?
Had a colleague who made something like 1400 euro a month and drove a freaking S600. I thought he was dealer, but in reality he saved all his life to buy it and used nearly all his money to maintain it (living with his mom at the age of forty...) It's crazy. A lot of foreigners will be amazed of the general car standard over here. New BMWs and Mercedes everywhere.
I'm glad my family is different. Cheap car, good food is the way to go. I remember when i was a poor student i told my mom i bought pre packed meat and she was shocked and regularly gave me money for the butcher. Which also isn't that expensive honestly...
|
Those photos make Germany look like some kind of elite paradise.... of eliteness.
Urgh, why do I live in the United States?
|
On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized...
On October 11 2012 18:56 Newbistic wrote:
Those photos make Germany look like some kind of elite paradise.... of eliteness.
Urgh, why do I live in the United States?
And these pics are totaly normal. Every normal bakery looks like this. And Germany is the cleanest country i've lived in or been to, haven't been to Scandinavia though. 50% top tax is the price to pay, which i gladly do. Also as i mentionend high class cars everywhere.
|
Germany767 Posts
+ Show Spoiler +Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
I have to say, eventhough it's because of my number 1 hated, super evil lobbies, the pharmacy companies. I really like that drugs aren't too cheap. People consume way too many drugs for minor aches. And if it's serious, healthcare should cover it.
Good blog as always though.
|
Very interesting zatic, keep em coming.
|
On October 11 2012 19:10 r00ty wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized...
kassel… that reminds me of the one thing that's outrageously priced and hasn't been mentioned yet: parking. i paid 20 euros for a few hours some weeks ago while visiting the documenta.
the closer you want to park to a POI the higher the fees, culminating in astronomical fares at airport terminals around €2 for 1/4 hour.
|
Haha, I moved to Germany for study a week ago and I've noticed all of these already. So true.
I'm paying £20 (€25/$32) a week less for my room (in Hamburg) than I was last year, and it's better equipped and better maintained. I bought a shit tonne of food for €40 that would have cost me probably double that in the UK.
Without a student transport card from my University I'd be paying a lot for travel on public transport, but even then it's not terrible and costs roughly similar to what I'd pay back home for similar travel, and things are way more punctual than in the UK. The only time a train has arrived late, the board on the platform said it'd be 5 minutes and it arrived exactly 5 minutes late.
Germany is awesome.
|
On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place...
|
Russian Federation823 Posts
On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place...
I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
|
On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/4379.98.html
translated with google
|
9070 Posts
I think electronics in Germany are very expensive, other than that I pretty much agree on the food and booze stuff. Rents are reasonable too, but night life is absurdly expensive imo, or Im just drinking too much. My first years in Germany I was restricting myself to 20€ for a night out which is fair enough if you are drinking beer, which Im not a big fan of. Going to a decent bar and having a good time sets me back 50€ and I pretty much hate myself in the morning.
|
Germany767 Posts
+ Show Spoiler +On October 11 2012 19:48 zuqbu wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible. http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/4379.98.htmltranslated with google
that merely compares pesticides,which isn't really enough for a general statement about quality.
|
On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
The report I read was from 2007, here it is:
http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/uploads/media/greenpeace_ratgeber_pestizide_2007_01.pdf
Just discovered there is a 2012 edition, have not read through it yet:
http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/gpd/user_upload/themen/chemie/Essen_ohne_Pestizide.pdf
It's in german, but in the 2007 report there is a graphic on page 12 that you can take a look at.
|
I love the picture of the bread, it's one of the things I most strongly associate with Germany. I grew up pretty poor in a smallish town in America, so "bread" to me meant Wonderbread until I was in my teens. My first time abroad was to live in Japan for a year, and I was blown away by finding actual bakeries everywhere and ended up going to the panyasan almost every day for rolls and bread. And then I moved to Germany. Holy shit. I've been living here for seven years, and I still can't get over how wonderful the bakeries are. Every bakery has a huge selection of really excellent breads, and I don't know how I ever lived without Brötchen.*
Now if I could just find a deli somewhere in this bloody country where they know what pastrami is...
* fist-sized rolls, usually white bread with a thin, flaky crust and a chewy texture - they're commonly eaten here with meat and cheese for breakfast or dinner.
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 11 2012 18:50 zuqbu wrote:
great blog!
although it boggles my mind how you mention transportation and gas prices and miss out on cars. cars are still the number one status symbol and german brands sell for up to 30% higher in their domestic than on foreign markets. there's a big gray and black market with reimports of mercedes, audis, volkswagens etc. where dealers buy up contingents in denmark or the netherlands (legal ~ gray market) or non-eu countries (illegal ~ black market), reimport them to germany and sell them there.
Funny enough, the car reimport business was exactly what gave me the idea for this blog. However, after some research, you really can't say that cars are generally more expensive than in most other developed countries.
First is the reason there is car reimporting in the first place: Higher sales and luxury taxes in other countries (Netherlands, Denmark). New German cars are actually not cheaper there at all, the reimporting is only profitable because importers get the luxury tax back.
German cars are equal or more expensive in most Nordic countries, all of Asia, and stupidly bazillion times more expensive in Australia.
The more important reason though is that you get a whole different product when you buy a new car in Germany compared to other countries that sell significantly lower (say, the US). In Germany cars are all order-to-make, meaning the customer configures their car out of a wide variety of options, and the manufacturer will produce that exact individual car a couple of weeks or months later. Obviously that is a different product than just going to a sales rep, looking what's on the parking lot and driving off with your new stock car 1 hour later.
You can see the difference also in used car market prices - here again Germany is not considerably more expensive, because the individually made German cars (that were initially more expensive than stock cars) lose resell value much more rapidly, so it evens out.
Bottom line: German cars are certainly not cheap in Germany, especially compared to stock car markets like the US. But still there are a number of countries were German cars are equally or even more expensive, so that is why I didn't include it in the list.
|
Could you write about German cuisine? I've read somewhere that Germans mix Sprite/7-Up with some beer as a refreshment after sports.
|
I just started working in a bottleshop in Australia and have discovered the wonder that is Hofbrau. It's a lot cheaper than most of the imported stuff we have and it tastes SO GOOD compared to aussie beer
|
I agree with most of the stuff, but you can buy water for 25 cent/litre almost everywhere.
Public transportation is expensive indeed, if you buy single tickets. On the other hand I can use all of Hamburgs public transportation Systems for 50 Euro/month, which is a fair and reasonable price compared to the average income. Also, dont forget that people who still cannot afford those tickets because they are unemployed or students, get even cheaper tickets.
|
Most of that analysis was like reading about the uk.. lol Suprising how similar we are! Like where I live it is cheaper to drive then use public transport... Shocking..
|
On October 11 2012 20:18 zul wrote:
I agree with most of the stuff, but you can buy water for 25 cent/litre almost everywhere.
Public transportation is expensive indeed, if you buy single tickets. On the other hand I can use all of Hamburgs public transportation Systems for 50 Euro/month, which is a fair and reasonable price compared to the average income. Also, dont forget that people who still cannot afford those tickets because they are unemployed or students, get even cheaper tickets.
I'm living in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) where a single ticket for a short bus ride is like 1,60. If I had to pay for my way to uni and back, I'd be around 4,5€ a day, or 135€ a month. Thankfully I'm a student, so I get to ride the bus for free.
I really liked this blog, you described the costs of living in germany very well.
|
I think inner-city transport is pretty cheap. €5 for a day ticket in Dresden, and it's for both tram and bus.
Maybe it's because I'm Irish and used to being ripped off.
Also, rent in Saxony is very cheap. Lovely accent too, right? 
|
On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place...
Yes maybe its the case if u compare fruits and vegtables from German supermarkets. Compared with fruits and vegtables u can get in a french or italian supermarket, the quality is bad (in most cases). And don´t forget most of the very cheap stuff is comming from spain, cousing there huge enviromental and social problems.
However í´m pretty happy with the development we have in germany (at least in stuttgart). Nowadays you will find a lot of wholefood shop´s where u can buy good Meat and good Fruits and Vegtables.
|
On October 11 2012 20:03 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Could you write about German cuisine? I've read somewhere that Germans mix Sprite/7-Up with some beer as a refreshment after sports.
it's called Radler (cyclist) and it's a mix of beer and sprite. You can also get Diesel which is a mix of beer and cola.
I guess some people might get it after sports but I think it's not that common but you can certainly see people drink these two on a hot summer day.
On October 11 2012 20:39 Atom Cannister wrote:I think inner-city transport is pretty cheap. €5 for a day ticket in Dresden, and it's for both tram and bus. Maybe it's because I'm Irish and used to being ripped off. Also, rent in Saxony is very cheap. Lovely accent too, right?
Saxony is great especially the Dresden / Leipzig area. Though some germans have some kind of superiority complex about saxons because of their accent. While at the same time those people might speak with the most horrible bavarian accent you can think of *shudder*
|
On October 11 2012 19:29 zuqbu wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:10 r00ty wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized... kassel… that reminds me of the one thing that's outrageously priced and hasn't been mentioned yet: parking. i paid 20 euros for a few hours some weeks ago while visiting the documenta. the closer you want to park to a POI the higher the fees, culminating in astronomical fares at airport terminals around €2 for 1/4 hour.
If you ever visit Kassel again you can just park in the Karlsauen. It's very near the central district and it's free. Though finding a parking spot somewhere else is just pure horror.
I don't think I agree fully with the public transportation thing. Of course if you buy single tickets it's expensive like hell, but if you are a regular driver (with Bahn card or Semesterticket) it's cheap. My sister can drive in all of Hesse as well as to every city near it with everything up to IC for ca. 35 Euros per month. And I can drive in almost all of Hesse with everything up to RE for ca. 20 Euros per month. If I'd visit my family in Northern Hesse with a car, I'd pay the same amount of money for just one trip. =D
|
ouch on the 1 euro for aspirin! here you can get 12 for about 20pence if you go for something like Asda/Tesco own brand. The "better" brands like Nurofen will set you back about £2-3 however.
How much are prescription drugs in Germany? I was under the impression that like the UK you have a national health system, here we pay currently £7.65 per prescription and if you are lucky (like myself) and have a family member who works at your doctors surgery (my mother is Practice manager at mine) or just a nice doctor, you can get prescribed double or triple quantity prescriptions that will cost you the same as the normal amount (i.e normally they prescribe 14 pills on one prescription but I often get up to 48 on a single prescription).
The only expensive thing in the UK healthwise is dentistry and even thats a bargain, I recently had a bunch of fillings and a few of my wisdom teeth out all for £48.50. If you need crowns or replacement teeth you will pay about £120 but thats still pretty cheap really. If you go private having 1 tooth removed will cost you £50......
I think the UK is quite similar in some regards to Germany and different in others. Food can be very cheap or very expensive, depends which super market you go to. We have Aldi/Lidl at which you pay virtually nothing, Asda/Tesco/Sainsbury's (where the vast majority of people shop) that are cheap but also fairly good quality and then Waitrose who are for the posh people!
Petrol and Diesel are fairly equally priced these days but a litre will set you back £1.40-1.50 varying by region and even varying within the same town, everyone knows where the cheapest fuel is in their town and generally use that place if possible.
Rent, well its not cheap anywhere in England but in Wales its fairly good. In anywhere London you will pay minimum £500 for a 1 bedroom flat unless you get really lucky while in the outskirts Cardiff (Wales capitol) my friend rents a 3 bedroom house for £450 per month.... I'm moving to Wales soon lol. Back home in Essex (near London) I was paying £600pm for a 2 bed flat, add on top of that council tax of around £100pm and amenities (Water, Gas, Electric) of another £60-100pm and it all adds up!
Trains are definitely cheaper and faster in the UK than driving, especially if you live in london. You can get a travelcard that allows you full travel on all buses and trains for 1 day within London for about £7-8 with discounts it can be under £5 per day. Which if you take in to account the cost of fuel, wear and tear on your car, extra travel time (London is a bitch to drive around on weekdays), the congestion charge (something like £8 per day last time I had to pay, someone correct me if im wrong) and the cost of car insurance and it all adds up to public transport being the cheaper option for most people.
|
On October 11 2012 20:03 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Could you write about German cuisine? I've read somewhere that Germans mix Sprite/7-Up with some beer as a refreshment after sports.
That's called a "Radler" it is very refreshing and has the advantage that you don't get hammered if you are really thirsty and down 2 or 3 half litres of it in a short time.
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 11 2012 19:53 disciple wrote:
I think electronics in Germany are very expensive, other than that I pretty much agree on the food and booze stuff. Rents are reasonable too, but night life is absurdly expensive imo, or Im just drinking too much. My first years in Germany I was restricting myself to 20€ for a night out which is fair enough if you are drinking beer, which Im not a big fan of. Going to a decent bar and having a good time sets me back 50€ and I pretty much hate myself in the morning.
It used to be the case that electronics were cheaper in the US, but I don't think this is the case anymore. Go to amazon.com and compare electronics prices to amazon.de. There is still a difference, but it's small. And electronics in Germany are again cheaper than in most other European countries.
Night life you are just wrong though: It's significantly cheaper in Germany than pretty much any other developed country. Hell, an entire night out in Germany is a club entrance cover in other countries.
|
On October 11 2012 21:01 Kahurz wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 20:03 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Could you write about German cuisine? I've read somewhere that Germans mix Sprite/7-Up with some beer as a refreshment after sports. That's called a "Radler" it is very refreshing and has the advantage that you don't get hammered if you are really thirsty and down 2 or 3 half litres of it in a short time.
Here its called a Shandy lol. Its just lemonade and beer.... been around for a very long time!
|
On October 11 2012 21:04 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:53 disciple wrote:
I think electronics in Germany are very expensive, other than that I pretty much agree on the food and booze stuff. Rents are reasonable too, but night life is absurdly expensive imo, or Im just drinking too much. My first years in Germany I was restricting myself to 20€ for a night out which is fair enough if you are drinking beer, which Im not a big fan of. Going to a decent bar and having a good time sets me back 50€ and I pretty much hate myself in the morning. It used to be the case that electronics were cheaper in the US, but I don't think this is the case anymore. Go to amazon.com and compare electronics prices to amazon.de. There is still a difference, but it's small. And electronics in Germany are again cheaper than in most other European countries. Night life you are just wrong though: It's significantly cheaper in Germany than pretty much any other developed country. Hell, an entire night out in Germany is a club entrance cover in other countries.
In the UK most clubs are cheap to get in to, maybe £10 for a really stupidly expsenive club in london. But the drinks are EXPENSIVE, a round of 4 drinks can cost over £20!!!!!!!!!
I've been to a few clubs that charge massive cover fees but they are usually exclusive places meant for the famous and the rich, you average nightclub here doesn't charge an entry fee before 11pm and is about £4-5 after that time.
Oh to live in Germany!!!!! Better beer and cheaper to boot!
|
On October 11 2012 19:53 Liquid`TLO wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On October 11 2012 19:48 zuqbu wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible. http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/4379.98.htmltranslated with google that merely compares pesticides,which isn't really enough for a general statement about quality.
you are right obviously, still i think this was the study in question. i would go out and say the average quality of fresh vegetables and fruits in german supermarkets is not very good. whenever i have the time i will go to a small afghan or turkish store which offer much tastier stuff 
On October 11 2012 20:00 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:50 zuqbu wrote:
great blog!
although it boggles my mind how you mention transportation and gas prices and miss out on cars. cars are still the number one status symbol and german brands sell for up to 30% higher in their domestic than on foreign markets. there's a big gray and black market with reimports of mercedes, audis, volkswagens etc. where dealers buy up contingents in denmark or the netherlands (legal ~ gray market) or non-eu countries (illegal ~ black market), reimport them to germany and sell them there. Funny enough, the car reimport business was exactly what gave me the idea for this blog. However, after some research, you really can't say that cars are generally more expensive than in most other developed countries. First is the reason there is car reporting in the first place: Higher sales and luxury taxes in other countries (Netherlands, Denmark). New German cars are actually not cheaper there at all, the reimporting is only profitable because importers get the luxury tax back. German cars are equal or more expensive in most Nordic countries, all of Asia, and stupidly bazillion times more expensive in Australia. The more important reason though is that you get a whole different product when you buy a new car in Germany compared to other countries that sell significantly lower (say, the US). In Germany cars are all order-to-make, meaning the customer configures their car out of a wide variety of options, and the manufacturer will produce that exact individual car a couple of weeks or months later. Obviously that is a different product than just going to a sales rep, looking what's on the parking lot and driving off with your new stock car 1 hour later. You can see the difference also in used car market prices - here again Germany is not considerably more expensive, because the individually made German cars (that were initially more expensive than stock cars) lose resell value much more rapidly, so it evens out. Bottom line: German cars are certainly not cheap in Germany, especially compared to stock car markets like the US. But still there are a number of countries were German cars are equally or even more expensive, so that is why I didn't include it in the list.
fair enough! i didn't know about the luxury tax refund, thanks for the explanation!
On October 11 2012 20:43 Zetter wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:29 zuqbu wrote:On October 11 2012 19:10 r00ty wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized... kassel… that reminds me of the one thing that's outrageously priced and hasn't been mentioned yet: parking. i paid 20 euros for a few hours some weeks ago while visiting the documenta. the closer you want to park to a POI the higher the fees, culminating in astronomical fares at airport terminals around €2 for 1/4 hour. If you ever visit Kassel again you can just park in the Karlsauen. It's very near the central district and it's free. Though finding a parking spot somewhere else is just pure horror.
well, i just visit Kassel once in every five years so i'm not that familiar with the parking situation. i will look out for it next time – but i fear during the documenta it's near impossible to find a parking spot without fees.
|
what about internet and phone billing? i would think we have fairly cheap internet compared to say the u.s. but id think scandinavia is even cheaper.
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 11 2012 21:22 flexgd wrote:
what about internet and phone billing? i would think we have fairly cheap internet compared to say the u.s. but id think scandinavia is even cheaper.
Germany used to be really good in terms of internet and phone about 8 years ago, just when DSL lines were really widespread and the competition started pushing prices down.
However, most countries have caught up, and now Germany is probably somewhere average in terms of Internet and phone availability and pricing.
|
Fuel prices also depend on where you live. Yesterday at the gas station I frequently visit they had Diesel for 1.43€/l and it's pretty consistently around that mark, I've seen it nowhere but between 1.41€ and 1.49€. To be fair, that's pretty cheap and the gas stations in my town are usually around 1.52€ or 1.53€ but it's nowhere near what you described.
Those prices seemed like Autobahntankstellenpreise!  Or I guess big cities, but I'm usually taking the train to go there, so I haven't seen much there.
|
On October 11 2012 21:22 flexgd wrote:
what about internet and phone billing? i would think we have fairly cheap internet compared to say the u.s. but id think scandinavia is even cheaper.
I pay 150 SEK to the infrastructure owner and 170 SEK for 100/100 Mbps line to provider per month. I could pay 700 SEK for 1000/1000 Mbps but I've yet to fabricate the need for this...YET!
In total that is 320 SEK ($47.5) per month for 100/100 Mbps with no limits on data.
(10/10 is $42/month)
There are no plans with limitations to data traffic.
Phone is tricky, not a lot of people have land line any more. IP-telephone (which is what land line in Sweden is mostly nowadays) is $7.5/month from my ISP and the rates are:
Connection: $0.1
Within Sweden: $0.015/min
To cellphone: $0.15/min
Free to people with same provider.
|
+ Show Spoiler +On October 11 2012 21:36 Cuddle wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 21:22 flexgd wrote:
what about internet and phone billing? i would think we have fairly cheap internet compared to say the u.s. but id think scandinavia is even cheaper. I pay 150 SEK to the infrastructure owner and 170 SEK for 100/100 Mbps line to provider per month. I could pay 700 SEK for 1000/1000 Mbps but I've yet to fabricate the need for this...YET! In total that is 320 SEK ($47.5) per month for 100/100 Mbps with no limits on data. (10/10 is $42/month) There are no plans with limitations to data traffic. Phone is tricky, not a lot of people have land line any more. IP-telephone (which is what land line in Sweden is mostly nowadays) is $7.5/month from my ISP and the rates are: Connection: $0.1 Within Sweden: $0.015/min To cellphone: $0.15/min Free to people with same provider.
thats somewhat comparable except for the upstream. its really hard to find upstream >10mbps in germany. i got my internet combined with my cable contract and its 44,95€ for 120mbps/10mbps + cabletv
|
9070 Posts
On October 11 2012 21:04 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:53 disciple wrote:
I think electronics in Germany are very expensive, other than that I pretty much agree on the food and booze stuff. Rents are reasonable too, but night life is absurdly expensive imo, or Im just drinking too much. My first years in Germany I was restricting myself to 20€ for a night out which is fair enough if you are drinking beer, which Im not a big fan of. Going to a decent bar and having a good time sets me back 50€ and I pretty much hate myself in the morning. It used to be the case that electronics were cheaper in the US, but I don't think this is the case anymore. Go to amazon.com and compare electronics prices to amazon.de. There is still a difference, but it's small. And electronics in Germany are again cheaper than in most other European countries. Night life you are just wrong though: It's significantly cheaper in Germany than pretty much any other developed country. Hell, an entire night out in Germany is a club entrance cover in other countries.
what do you mean by developed country? I can compare the prices with places like Porto and Prague which being tourist cities and all had a mark up of 150-200% on the drinks in the bars, markup in Germany is beyond 300% - 20€ on a 4cl decent single malt whiskey is just not happening there. Sure Germany clubs and bars are cheaper compared with Scandinavia and the UK, and relatively speaking having the income here in mind its ok, but its certainly not something to impress a tourist or a foreigner with, unlike the other things that you mention which make quite an impression to an outsider initially
|
Zurich15315 Posts
Nightlife is cheaper than in the UK, Ireland, the Nordics, France, Spain, North America, Austria, Netherlands, Japan, Australia.
I don't know about Italy and the smaller ones like Luxemburg or Belgium, but I would assume they are equal or more expensive.
Sure, once I start comparing with countries further east it gets cheaper - but that is not exactly Germany's tier group, and relative to GDP those places all have more expensive night life. Heck even going out in Budapest was more expensive than a typical night in Germany.
|
Man I'm going to be reading each and every one of these blogs a second time before I go to Germany (hopefully 2013, maybe 2014). Don't go away zatic~
|
Currywurst #1 fast food eva.
Nice blog dude.
|
Bisutopia19183 Posts
Great blog. I have German blood and can't wait to visit there one day soon. Reading the water paragraph made me thirsty.
Is the tap water good in Germany. So if I fill up bottles at my hotel room, would that be fine?
About your transportation paragraph, are you suggesting that in the end, renting a car would be the best idea for a week vacation? Or is there any one city in Germany so great a week should be spent just exploring that place?
|
what. What? WHAT? You consider bread good and cheap in Germany? What the hell are you smoking? Probably something cheap i guess?
Really, the main thing I ever hated on going to Germany is, how it is impossible to get any edible piece of bakery without getting a mortgage of to pay for it! Just to put things into perspective: you can buy a kilogram of fantastic, cruspy, long-lasting fresh bread for about an Euro in Czech Republic. Even better, we have these small pieces of baked material (I have no idea how to call them in english, in german, maybe brotchen can be near) that you buy for less than 0.1 Euro apiece, everywhere. That my friend is called cheap food!
On the other hand, sure, compared to your earnings, you surely have one of the cheapest fodd in the world. But honestly, that is true for almost everything. You are just some lucky bastards for being German, admit that! With this optics, you may reconcider your idea that for example gas is expensive in Germany. It is not really that much cheaper anywhere in Europe (the differences are tens of per cent, max), but we earn about a third of what you do. This is very much the same for electronics etc... where the prices are basically homogeneus across Europe (or you can just buy from another country without hassle).
I very much agree on the transportation. It is a very big shame to me that so many Germans I know just ride a car, not because it is more convenient, but because it is cheaper. I heard that the main reason is the longstanding monopoly of DB on inter-city transport (if you wanted to make a bus line to compete with the train, it would first have to be approved by DB).
But I believe the main thing that makes Germany to look like a very expensive country to the visitors, is food in normal restaurants. I was invited for a dinner in Munich and I just got something quite simple and it was like 25 Euro ....
|
Just to save you all from a real shock:
NEVER ever enter a Taxi in Switzerland... Just sitting in allready costs about 5€. If you think German Taxis are expensive your in for one hell of a ride in Switzerland :p. It's at least double if not triple...
Nightlive is pretty cheap in Germany, at least when compared to France/Ireland/Switzerland.
|
On October 11 2012 22:21 BisuDagger wrote:
Is the tap water good in Germany. So if I fill up bottles at my hotel room, would that be fine?
tap water in germany is subject to much stricter supervision than bottled water. depending on the region, it may be a bit harder or softer, but in general drinkable without hesitation.
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 11 2012 22:21 BisuDagger wrote:
Great blog. I have German blood and can't wait to visit there one day soon. Reading the water paragraph made me thirsty.
Is the tap water good in Germany. So if I fill up bottles at my hotel room, would that be fine?
About your transportation paragraph, are you suggesting that in the end, renting a car would be the best idea for a week vacation? Or is there any one city in Germany so great a week should be spent just exploring that place?
Tap water is drinkable everywhere, but only enjoyable in some places. Where I currently live it tastes so disgusting that I can't even cook or make coffee with it, and rather go thirsty for a weekend if I forgot to by bottled water.
It really depends on what you want to do during that week. If you want to visit 2 or 3 major cities, use the train. If you also want to check out some more remote landmarks, get a car. Generally the places you would want to visit as a tourist should be well connected by public transport, but a car might still be more convenient.
You can easily spent a week in a city like Berlin or Munich alone. I would suggest traveling though, Germany is quite diverse and you would miss out on a lot.
|
Damn does a Radler sound delicious.
|
Tap water is usually not bad, but a bottle of water doesn't cost much and I like its taste more, so I prefer that. At Lidl you can get a 1,5l bottle for only 19cent
|
On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious.
You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^
|
I am from Germany , and everytime i went abroad , i was horrified at how bad the local bread was. For example , there is something called Vollkornbrot (Complete-corn bread) which is as the name suggests made out of the whole corn , with little ground down flour used. insanely tasty compared to regular white bread .
What you forgot to mention is how cheap higher education is here, I am at University , and for 260 Euros you pay for half a year of studying and get to use all public transportation for free , statewide. Not to mention all the other benefits that University students get , like discounts on rents and government subsidized loans that you only have to pay back up to a certain limit, stuff like that.
|
If you think transport is expensive in Germany then you must have never been to Austria lol
We are jealous of your cheap transport!
|
holy crap that train station looks nice and everything's so shiny (without graffiti). Where's that from? :p
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 11 2012 23:39 Irratonalys wrote:
What you forgot to mention is how cheap higher education is here, I am at University , and for 260 Euros you pay for half a year of studying and get to use all public transportation for free , statewide. Not to mention all the other benefits that University students get , like discounts on rents and government subsidized loans that you only have to pay back up to a certain limit, stuff like that.
Sure, I thought about including education too. It's not cheaper than in most of Europe though. All in all education is cheap, but if you compare it among other European countries Germany is only about average. Especially the high cost of child care / education prevents a higher ranking in my opinion.
|
I do love German bread. I stayed in Pfullingen and each morning my hosts made a delicious breakfast with a soft-boiled egg, homemade apple juice, cold cuts and bread. Way better than my american breakfast of cereal and a banana.
|
On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^
Still no German beer though!
|
On October 11 2012 23:58 Temerarious Trout wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^ Still no German beer though!
Depending on the brand, Radler doesn't taste a lot like beer anyways. =D
|
On October 11 2012 22:21 BisuDagger wrote:
Is the tap water good in Germany.
Tap water in germany is the mostly controlled food there is, it has the most test hardest regulations and everything, u can give it to your new born baby without question
|
On October 11 2012 23:49 Toadesstern wrote:
holy crap that train station looks nice and everything's so shiny (without graffiti). Where's that from? :p
looks like berlin hauptbahnhof.
|
On October 12 2012 00:10 Zetter wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 23:58 Temerarious Trout wrote:On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^ Still no German beer though! Depending on the brand, Radler doesn't taste a lot like beer anyways. =D
Hah! What's the tastiest brand of beer there, and considering the price:taste ratio, which is your favourite?
|
On October 11 2012 17:54 zatic wrote:
Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
This is so true, me & my girlfriend always take the drive to the netherlands. Her anti-baby-pill costs 13euro there for 6 months, in Germany you pay like 60 or 70...
|
On October 12 2012 00:23 Temerarious Trout wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 00:10 Zetter wrote:On October 11 2012 23:58 Temerarious Trout wrote:On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^ Still no German beer though! Depending on the brand, Radler doesn't taste a lot like beer anyways. =D Hah! What's the tastiest brand of beer there, and considering the price:taste ratio, which is your favourite?
Augustiner Edelstoff
![[image loading]](http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/2/8/0/7/augustiner_edelstoff_flasche_glas.jpg)
|
On October 12 2012 00:31 heynes wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 00:23 Temerarious Trout wrote:On October 12 2012 00:10 Zetter wrote:On October 11 2012 23:58 Temerarious Trout wrote:On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^ Still no German beer though! Depending on the brand, Radler doesn't taste a lot like beer anyways. =D Hah! What's the tastiest brand of beer there, and considering the price:taste ratio, which is your favourite? Augustiner Edelstoff
Nice.
|
On October 12 2012 00:31 heynes wrote:Augustiner Edelstoff
Damn, now i'm thirsty =/
|
On October 12 2012 00:23 virpi wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 23:49 Toadesstern wrote:
holy crap that train station looks nice and everything's so shiny (without graffiti). Where's that from? :p looks like berlin hauptbahnhof.
Yes, it's Berlin Central Station: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolomargari/4907801314/
Here's an easy way to find where a picture comes from, I find it quite useful.
1. Right click the image and choose to Copy Image URL
2. Go to Google.com and choose Images, on the top bar
3. Paste the URL and search. Google will say "For matching images, try search by image"
4. Click the link and you'll get the search results for similar images, like this.
|
I'm not sure where you went that had frozen pizzas for 8 bucks, but that's extremely high for where I live. Cheapest you can get is probably 2-3 bucks. 4-5 bucks is pretty normal. Also, am I reading this right- aspirin is about one euro per pill? O_o
|
really nice blog, would like to visit Germany at some point
|
On October 12 2012 00:23 Temerarious Trout wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 00:10 Zetter wrote:On October 11 2012 23:58 Temerarious Trout wrote:On October 11 2012 23:38 Flip9 wrote:On October 11 2012 23:30 Temerarious Trout wrote:
Damn does a Radler sound delicious. You can easily mix it yourself, just use like 50% sprite 50% beer. ^^ Still no German beer though! Depending on the brand, Radler doesn't taste a lot like beer anyways. =D Hah! What's the tastiest brand of beer there, and considering the price:taste ratio, which is your favourite?
It's a regional beer, called Schorsch's Haustrunk, it's really good. It has a really unique taste and I can't recall ever drinking a beer which tastes comparably. And as every beer in Germany the price is cheap. (There's still beer that's a lot cheaper. The best price:taste ratio would probably be Oettinger wheat beer)
If you ever get your hands on a wheat beer, you should try it. I haven't tried a wheat beer yet which didn't taste good.
To me most german beer tastes good, there's actually not a whole lot you can do wrong when buying german beer. Except Beck's and beer from cologne perhaps, those taste very much like water. :p
|
oh god please dont ever recommend Oettinger to someone. It's bottled piss, dirt cheap but if you drink it you know why.
For Radler you have to use Pilsner, so you get a good mix of the bitter beer and the sweet lemonade. If you take Weizenbier it'll get a very sweet taste.
|
On October 11 2012 23:11 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 22:21 BisuDagger wrote:
Great blog. I have German blood and can't wait to visit there one day soon. Reading the water paragraph made me thirsty.
Is the tap water good in Germany. So if I fill up bottles at my hotel room, would that be fine?
About your transportation paragraph, are you suggesting that in the end, renting a car would be the best idea for a week vacation? Or is there any one city in Germany so great a week should be spent just exploring that place? Tap water is drinkable everywhere, but only enjoyable in some places. Where I currently live it tastes so disgusting that I can't even cook or make coffee with it, and rather go thirsty for a weekend if I forgot to by bottled water. It really depends on what you want to do during that week. If you want to visit 2 or 3 major cities, use the train. If you also want to check out some more remote landmarks, get a car. Generally the places you would want to visit as a tourist should be well connected by public transport, but a car might still be more convenient. You can easily spent a week in a city like Berlin or Munich alone. I would suggest traveling though, Germany is quite diverse and you would miss out on a lot.
I'm feeling you with the tab water. In the village i grew up the tab water was amongst the best nationwide. Can't drink it anywhere else... They even build a pipeline to some spa town "Bad xxxxxxx" because it's just so good and theirs did not meet the requirements for the "Bad" title anymore. Bitches stealing ma water. -,-
From a health perspective, you can drink it everywhere though. If there's a problem it's most likely the piping in your house.
To the question about the best beer:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uzPOr.jpg)
A little on the expensive side (20x0,5L/15€), but worth every cent! The difference is, it's completely selfmade. Most beers are made with industrial hop pallets, yeast etc. They still do everything themselves and you can taste it.
|
On October 12 2012 01:40 Skilledblob wrote:
oh god please dont ever recommend Oettinger to someone. It's bottled piss, dirt cheap but if you drink it you know why.
For Radler you have to use Pilsner, so you get a good mix of the bitter beer and the sweet lemonade. If you take Weizenbier it'll get a very sweet taste.
From that post I can pretty much conclude that you never drank Oettinger wheat beer. It's not much worse than other wheat beers. Generally speaking the quality is not proportional to the price.
|
On October 11 2012 22:30 opisska wrote:what. What? WHAT? You consider bread good and cheap in Germany? What the hell are you smoking? Probably something cheap i guess? Really, the main thing I ever hated on going to Germany is, how it is impossible to get any edible piece of bakery without getting a mortgage of to pay for it! Just to put things into perspective: you can buy a kilogram of fantastic, cruspy, long-lasting fresh bread for about an Euro in Czech Republic. Even better, we have these small pieces of baked material (I have no idea how to call them in english, in german, maybe brotchen can be near) that you buy for less than 0.1 Euro apiece, everywhere. That my friend is called cheap food!
I have lived three years in Prague and have to say: Czech bread is rubbish. The only bread of somewhat acceptable quality in Prague can be found in Kaufland (which is German). There are some nice things to be found in bakeries for cheap prices, but bread is not one of them.
and @whoever was asking: German tap water is most excellent (usually better than bottled stuff), I'm drinking very little else.
I dare anyone to eat a bread like this (top right), still warm out of the oven, with butter and not jizz his pants
http://www.brot-haus.de/aus-der-backstube/holzofenbrot.html
edit: Whenever my Czech friends come visiting, they are very eager to go to German bakeries.
|
Except Beck's and beer from cologne perhaps, those taste very much like water.
well , i am from cologne , and you coulve just admitted that you cant handle the awesomnes that is Kölsch. By the way , the first law that was passed in the world concerning the quality of food was about Kölsch released in 1429 which states that beer brewed in cologne can only contain 4 ingredients.
personally , theres just nothing better than an ice cold Reissdorf
![[image loading]](http://www.saulustig.com/e107_files/public/1327484021_2770_FT39721_reissdorf-koelsch.jpg)
|
On October 12 2012 04:06 Irratonalys wrote:Show nested quote +Except Beck's and beer from cologne perhaps, those taste very much like water. well , i am from cologne , and you coulve just admitted that you cant handle the awesomnes that is Kölsch. By the way , the first law that was passed in the world concerning the quality of food was about Kölsch released in 1429 which states that beer brewed in cologne can only contain 4 ingredients. personally , theres just nothing better than an ice cold Reissdorf
come on he's right about the koelsch..
imho becks doesn't taste like water but has a bitter taste. like a lot of the northern pilsener (flensburger (recommended!) ![[image loading]](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS_dKsWiymf26jxmJaT0HGdMDpAaTR83XcqpAYzpqe_zGeFebtDyQ)
or jever (you love it or hate it, really bitter) ![[image loading]](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR_B5ATcr1KhP_38JnPZMZkO9kZCUPLPVEzXaewUm2V7-H10zdECw)
last night I actually had a few augustiner edelstoff AND tegernseer hell, what a nice surprise to seee them both recommended! :D
to all visitors: if you like german beer, go to a small brewery and take a tour, maybe you have to book in advance via internet/phone (the big brewerys offer tours too but I didn't have the same fun or food or amount of beer I expected, last time I went to the becks brewery and it was more like a marketing event... :-( ) but normally it's really worth it
nice blog btw! love it
for more information pls visit also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_beer
EDIT: on topic: public transportation can be really expensive or relatively cheap.
for train their exist a few possibilities to get cheap prices sometimes and if you get lucky they are really good. (check out the l'tur website for that for example)
EDIT2: tipping: I know that people sometimes (better rarely) don't tip at all if the waiter/waitress was not sufficient to the expectations. but thats depending a lot on very many factors. I don't like that behaviour. if I can afford it,I tip. BTW: tipping in pubs is a thing for itself, isn't it?
|
Are you seriously not tipping your hair dresser or cab driver, zatic? I'd feel very awkward if I didn't. Yes, tipping in Germany is generally voluntary (even in restaurants and bars, mind you), but I never heard of anyone not tipping in restaurants, at the hair dressers', the cab drivers, or the pizza delivery guys. Even if you just round up, the thought counts.
When you mentioned water prices being high, at first I thought you were talking about the housing amenity. Because that, along with electricity, is really expensive in Germany I find. And you really ought to buy your bottled water at a discounter (and not go for shiny Perrier, Evian, or volvic).
And I agree, one of the best things of Germany is its bread. Sure, there are few places in Prague where you can get good bread, too, but mostly I find it to be inferior. Caraway seeds in bread? Seriously? Who ever thought that was a great idea?! :r
Freshly baked sour-dough bread, rich spongy humid middle with a nice brownish golden, slightly floured crust, preferably still fairly warm from the oven... you'd kill for it.... yum.
|
They make Radler (beer+lemonade) with all kinds of lemonades nowadays. Beside the classic with Sprite, there are also kinds with actual lemon juice, elder blossom, Almdudler, raspberry, almost anything you can imagine. My personal favorite is grapefruit, whose bitter taste goes well with the beer while still making it fruity and refreshing.
|
On October 12 2012 02:38 Zetter wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 01:40 Skilledblob wrote:
oh god please dont ever recommend Oettinger to someone. It's bottled piss, dirt cheap but if you drink it you know why.
For Radler you have to use Pilsner, so you get a good mix of the bitter beer and the sweet lemonade. If you take Weizenbier it'll get a very sweet taste. From that post I can pretty much conclude that you never drank Oettinger wheat beer. It's not much worse than other wheat beers. Generally speaking the quality is not proportional to the price.
thanks but I will stick with my Franziskaner Dunkel
![[image loading]](http://www.kegworks.com/images/blogpost/franziskaner/hefe-weisseDunkel.jpg)
|
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide?
|
*reads article* - > *reads 3 more in the series*
Great writing.
|
On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide?
it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets.
The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language
|
On October 12 2012 11:29 Skilledblob wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide? it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets. The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language
Dude Germany sounds awesome.
Btw, if I was to go spend a few months in Berlin, would it be easy for me to live there while only having a rudimentary (like 1 year of Uni) understanding of German?
|
On October 12 2012 16:14 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 11:29 Skilledblob wrote:On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide? it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets. The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language Dude Germany sounds awesome. Btw, if I was to go spend a few months in Berlin, would it be easy for me to live there while only having a rudimentary (like 1 year of Uni) understanding of German?
Definitely. Most ppl speak English and for your daily grocery stuff, just grab a pocket dictionary. Hell you can even do your theoretical drivers licence test in your mother language....
Should be especially easy in Berlin as it has attracted quite a lot of ppl from foreign countries due to being a "stylish, hip, art and creative city".
|
On October 12 2012 16:14 Shady Sands wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 11:29 Skilledblob wrote:On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide? it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets. The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language Dude Germany sounds awesome. Btw, if I was to go spend a few months in Berlin, would it be easy for me to live there while only having a rudimentary (like 1 year of Uni) understanding of German?
You can get by in Germany with even less understanding of German than that. Pretty much anyone here with a college education speaks English at least fairly fluently, and you can communicate at least basic ideas to nearly everyone.
|
Funny how the blog about Germany turned into a discussion over beer brands.
Also I feel that the importance/deliciousness of bread is not stressed enough in this great blog.
German bread deserves a dedicated blog of it's own. Just ask every German living abroad (sup Dario).
|
As soon as someone asks about the "best" german beer, he'll get like a million different responses.
There are like 5000 different brands of german beer and depending on where you live and what you've grown up with, you'll have a totally different taste. Beware if someone says that Kölsch is the best beer though, he might be insane.
If you ever talk to a group of germans and ask them about the "best" beer, prepare yourself for a really long discussion.
|
Hmm what is the average wage in Germany?
I look at food items prices but they look on par with Australia which is notorious for high living costs but we do have slightly higher average income compare to US.
|
On October 12 2012 20:32 haduken wrote:
Hmm what is the average wage in Germany?
I look at food items prices but they look on par with Australia which is notorious for high living costs but we do have slightly higher average income compare to US.
GDP is comparable AU vs. DE.
Some produce is laughably cheap in AU and expensive in Germany (squash for example)
Dairy products cost multiple times more in AU - in Germany, you can get a litre of milk at 40 cents. But rent is completely different, as AU is sprawling, everyone has his 1 story house made from wood with a garden around it.
Your internet is famously shitty and expensive. The price for bottled water in Australia is a ripoff, never saw it for less than 50 cents per liter, even if buying bulk.
|
What a great thread topic. Now I want to travel to Germany and I have the heads up on whats going to hit me in my pocket. Whats the internet speed/costs like there?
|
These blogs are always so cool.
|
On October 12 2012 22:35 GohgamX wrote:
What a great thread topic. Now I want to travel to Germany and I have the heads up on whats going to hit me in my pocket. Whats the internet speed/costs like there?
on average I'd say 25 to 30€ for a 16k download flatrate per month
|
On October 12 2012 20:32 haduken wrote:
Hmm what is the average wage in Germany?
I look at food items prices but they look on par with Australia which is notorious for high living costs but we do have slightly higher average income compare to US.
Local vs local is going to be a more apt comparison. I live in Los Angeles and prices here for some things are stupidly expensive. On the other hand, some places in the deep south in the US are almost like being in a third world country.
As for a price comparison, a very large pizza in Costco is around $10. Aspirin is $14.49 for 400 tablets. The Costco brand for Ibuprofen (the generic of Advil) is $9 for 1000 tablets. Can't believe aspirin is that expensive in Germany. It's over the counter here in the US.
|
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true?
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true?
I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect.
In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect.
|
On October 12 2012 16:51 Argoth. wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 16:14 Shady Sands wrote:On October 12 2012 11:29 Skilledblob wrote:On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide? it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets. The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language Dude Germany sounds awesome. Btw, if I was to go spend a few months in Berlin, would it be easy for me to live there while only having a rudimentary (like 1 year of Uni) understanding of German? Definitely. Most ppl speak English and for your daily grocery stuff, just grab a pocket dictionary. Hell you can even do your theoretical drivers licence test in your mother language.... Should be especially easy in Berlin as it has attracted quite a lot of ppl from foreign countries due to being a "stylish, hip, art and creative city".
Thanks! If I go it will probably be to work with the Samwer Brothers in the Rocket Internet incubator. Really admire the work they've done in speeding up execution across the consumer internet space
On October 12 2012 16:53 AmericanUmlaut wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 16:14 Shady Sands wrote:On October 12 2012 11:29 Skilledblob wrote:On October 12 2012 10:57 targ wrote:
hey zatic, I'm curious about something which is abit off topic.
so a few years back many of my friends went to Germany to do their undergrads. according to them studying there was free/very cheap (cannot remember which) as long as they passed some German exam. I wonder why Germany is so generous as to offer such cheap education to foreigners, as I've never heard of America/the UK giving such offers. is it to promote usage of the German language worldwide? it's simply to give all kinds of people a shot at higher education regardless of the depth of their pockets. The Goethe Institutes all around the world were founded to promote the german language Dude Germany sounds awesome. Btw, if I was to go spend a few months in Berlin, would it be easy for me to live there while only having a rudimentary (like 1 year of Uni) understanding of German? You can get by in Germany with even less understanding of German than that. Pretty much anyone here with a college education speaks English at least fairly fluently, and you can communicate at least basic ideas to nearly everyone.
Got it. Thanks a ton =)
|
On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect.
Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.?
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.?
They are dialects. Minor differences in vocabulary, but major differences in pronunciation to the point that people have trouble understanding strong dialects from different regions.
|
On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.?
the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south
|
On October 13 2012 02:17 Skilledblob wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south
That's just plain wrong.
Language families
German dialects.
|
I think you shouldn't worry too much about dialects. High German is way more common amongst young people (+ they'll understand you way better than the older ones).
I'm from Munich and Bavarian is something like a first foreign language here (almost a 100% of the city people learn High German first or are able to express themselves in High German).
|
On October 13 2012 03:54 Monsen wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 02:17 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south That's just plain wrong. Language familiesGerman dialects.
oh no I didnt use perfect scientific english, clearly I have to be completely wrong 
just look at that map and you'll see what I meant.
+ Show Spoiler +
|
On October 12 2012 23:06 Skilledblob wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 22:35 GohgamX wrote:
What a great thread topic. Now I want to travel to Germany and I have the heads up on whats going to hit me in my pocket. Whats the internet speed/costs like there? on average I'd say 25 to 30€ for a 16k download flatrate per month
If you got a cable connection you actually get 50mbit/s and phone flat for 25€ (Unitymedia)
|
Germany2687 Posts
Germany is catching up on fast internet for a fair amount of money. Especially cable (100mbit for 25€) and fiber (about the same, but small cities might don't have it yet) are very reasonable priced. Scandinavia should still be better though.
|
On October 13 2012 05:11 Skilledblob wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 03:54 Monsen wrote:On October 13 2012 02:17 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south That's just plain wrong. Language familiesGerman dialects. oh no I didnt use perfect scientific english, clearly I have to be completely wrong just look at that map and you'll see what I meant. + Show Spoiler +
Germany is actually like ... one of the most popular examples to bring up when linguistics courses talk about a dialect continuum. I guess he was just pissed off at your terminology, but your overall point was correct, lol.
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the continuum are no longer mutually intelligible. -- Source: Wikipedia.
|
Dang, that still blows my mind every time I see how cheap beer is in Germany in comparison to water. I used to live over there not too long ago, and I still remember seeing those "Kenn dein Limit" posters everywhere, and then thinking how ironic it was that beer was so easily obtainable compared to bottled water. Still absolutely love the place though. =D
|
you have the violence, we have the tits^^
thats regarding media
i dont know if it was mentioned, and i dont know the actual prices in most western countries, but i think cigarettes are expensive in germany, too. about 5€ for a pack of 20. _much_ cheaper in other countries i know..
|
love your blogs, thanks a lot. Beer being cheaper than water is ridiculous
|
German train efficient? SRSLY?
|
On October 14 2012 16:46 JieXian wrote:
love your blogs, thanks a lot. Beer being cheaper than water is ridiculous
well that part isnt really true.
as previously mentioned tap water is amazing here. when someone says the tap water is bad in their town they dont mean its not drinkable but just that its not as perfect as others since thats the worst case.
for bottled water it depends. there is expensive water you can buy for 5-6€ /9liter package but there is also cheap brands where you pay like 1.5€ for the same amount.
beer can be dirt cheap tho. the most common cheap brand "oettinger" costs around 34cent per half liter bottle, less if you buy a whole box (5.99 for 20 bottles = 10 liter). good brands are usually around 70-90cent/ bottle and 12-16€ on the box.
still beer is super cheap cause we fucking love beer but in general its not really cheaper then water :>
in restaurants it gets much closer with a 0,4l glass of water around 1.80-2.40 and 0.5l beer 2.40-3.80.
|
On October 14 2012 20:26 Aunvilgod wrote:
German train efficient? SRSLY?
only at 20°C below that the trains freeze and above that the air conditioning fails :D
|
On October 14 2012 21:31 BeMannerDuPenner wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2012 16:46 JieXian wrote:
love your blogs, thanks a lot. Beer being cheaper than water is ridiculous well that part isnt really true. as previously mentioned tap water is amazing here. when someone says the tap water is bad in their town they dont mean its not drinkable but just that its not as perfect as others since thats the worst case. for bottled water it depends. there is expensive water you can buy for 5-6€ /9liter package but there is also cheap brands where you pay like 1.5€ for the same amount. beer can be dirt cheap tho. the most common cheap brand "oettinger" costs around 34cent per half liter bottle, less if you buy a whole box (5.99 for 20 bottles = 10 liter). good brands are usually around 70-90cent/ bottle and 12-16€ on the box. still beer is super cheap cause we fucking love beer but in general its not really cheaper then water :> in restaurants it gets much closer with a 0,4l glass of water around 1.80-2.40 and 0.5l beer 2.40-3.80.
that's much nicer to hear haha
On October 12 2012 00:30 schaf wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 17:54 zatic wrote:
Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
This is so true, me & my girlfriend always take the drive to the netherlands. Her anti-baby-pill costs 13euro there for 6 months, in Germany you pay like 60 or 70...
I'm willing to bet that that what it actually is in German hahahahahaha it sounds to funny in English
|
On October 15 2012 00:17 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2012 21:31 BeMannerDuPenner wrote:On October 14 2012 16:46 JieXian wrote:
love your blogs, thanks a lot. Beer being cheaper than water is ridiculous well that part isnt really true. as previously mentioned tap water is amazing here. when someone says the tap water is bad in their town they dont mean its not drinkable but just that its not as perfect as others since thats the worst case. for bottled water it depends. there is expensive water you can buy for 5-6€ /9liter package but there is also cheap brands where you pay like 1.5€ for the same amount. beer can be dirt cheap tho. the most common cheap brand "oettinger" costs around 34cent per half liter bottle, less if you buy a whole box (5.99 for 20 bottles = 10 liter). good brands are usually around 70-90cent/ bottle and 12-16€ on the box. still beer is super cheap cause we fucking love beer but in general its not really cheaper then water :> in restaurants it gets much closer with a 0,4l glass of water around 1.80-2.40 and 0.5l beer 2.40-3.80. that's much nicer to hear haha Show nested quote +On October 12 2012 00:30 schaf wrote:On October 11 2012 17:54 zatic wrote:
Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
This is so true, me & my girlfriend always take the drive to the netherlands. Her anti-baby-pill costs 13euro there for 6 months, in Germany you pay like 60 or 70... I'm willing to bet that that what it actually is in German hahahahahaha it sounds to funny in English
lol yeah, german as a language is actually very similar to chinese/japanese/korean how they will put together simpler words to describe new concepts
|
On October 13 2012 02:10 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? They are dialects. Minor differences in vocabulary, but major differences in pronunciation to the point that people have trouble understanding strong dialects from different regions.
Yes, the differences in pronunciation are the problem. I can get around pretty easily in, say, Baden-Wurtenberg, but please don't make me visit Dresden. Is that even German what they speak in Sachsen?
But it very much depends on how you learn German. If you just come without preexisting knowledge, then it does not matter I guess, but when you are already used to some form, it gets rough on the other side of the country.
|
On October 11 2012 17:54 zatic wrote:
getting 3 pizza for €1 from the local discount store.
Bullshit...
Dr. Oetker Pizzas are at least 2.20 € a piece at steep discount rates, the non-brand-names are at least 1.50 € a piece.
I've lived just about everywhere in Germany and the prices you name are fabricated.
|
1kg of tortillas costs around 12c (0.12€) in Mexico. It's so weird. I won't ever see German bread as cheap every again. Not that I ever thought it's cheap. Especially more extravagant bread stuff. I live in Berlin, maybe that's why. Fucking capital.
|
On October 14 2012 07:16 babylon wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2012 05:11 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 03:54 Monsen wrote:On October 13 2012 02:17 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south That's just plain wrong. Language familiesGerman dialects. oh no I didnt use perfect scientific english, clearly I have to be completely wrong just look at that map and you'll see what I meant. + Show Spoiler + Germany is actually like ... one of the most popular examples to bring up when linguistics courses talk about a dialect continuum. I guess he was just pissed off at your terminology, but your overall point was correct, lol. Show nested quote +A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the continuum are no longer mutually intelligible. -- Source: Wikipedia.
Is this actually true? Is the dialect in Nuremberg closer to Boarisch than the dialect in Würzburg?
|
On October 23 2012 21:38 MoltkeWarding wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2012 07:16 babylon wrote:On October 13 2012 05:11 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 03:54 Monsen wrote:On October 13 2012 02:17 Skilledblob wrote:On October 13 2012 01:58 andrewlt wrote:On October 13 2012 01:08 zatic wrote:On October 13 2012 00:34 archonOOid wrote:
I'm thinking about visiting Germany but I've heard that the south of Germany has an easier dialect in terms of pronunciation and speed for foreigners with basic German as opposed to the north. Is it true? I guess this is dependent on where you come from. As a foreigner you should learn High German though anyway, not a dialect. In terms of understanding, any dialect will be difficult or impossible for a foreigner. Heck, many Germans have trouble understanding each others dialect. Are these dialects just different accents and minor variations in vocabulary or are they completely different languages like in say, China, India, the Philippines, etc.? the dialects can be very different because some of them are based on different germanic language subfamilies. THe devide is north and south here. While northern germany speaks dialects closer to what we call "high german" the dialects of the southern parts of germany belong to another language family, which makes it hard for northerners to understand people from the south That's just plain wrong. Language familiesGerman dialects. oh no I didnt use perfect scientific english, clearly I have to be completely wrong just look at that map and you'll see what I meant. + Show Spoiler + Germany is actually like ... one of the most popular examples to bring up when linguistics courses talk about a dialect continuum. I guess he was just pissed off at your terminology, but your overall point was correct, lol. A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the continuum are no longer mutually intelligible. -- Source: Wikipedia. Is this actually true? Is the dialect in Nuremberg closer to Boarisch than the dialect in Würzburg?
I guess both belong to the frankish dialect region so I doubt it.
|
Zurich15315 Posts
On October 23 2012 08:51 DownOnMyNiece wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 17:54 zatic wrote:
getting 3 pizza for €1 from the local discount store. Bullshit... Dr. Oetker Pizzas are at least 2.20 € a piece at steep discount rates, the non-brand-names are at least 1.50 € a piece. I've lived just about everywhere in Germany and the prices you name are fabricated.
Well... When I made that comparison (about 2006) that was how much a pizza 3 pack was.
And yes, since then there has been an outrageous pizza price surge (Personally, I blame E10 fuel). So, to settle this "bullshit", here, from the actually most expensive supermarket in my area:
+ Show Spoiler [Check out the date tag] +
Yeah. Who can possibly afford frozen pizza in Germany.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Continental_West_Germanic_languages.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OhcwM.jpg)
