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Germany in Dec/Jan Anonymous
I've always really kinda wanted to go to Germany and since my honeymoon will be happening in a year and a few months, I figured I'd ask.

I'm thinking five days to a week in Berlin, then we rent a car or take a train to go elsewhere. I'd be keen to see Ingolstadt to see the real Illuminati places if they still exist (no, I will not be packing a tinfoil hat because I do not own one).

Here's the tough points:

1) I gotta try driving on the autobahn.
2) I would really like to rent a nice car. I drive a Scion. I may never get to drive a really nice car again until I retire. I doubt we could fit luggage into a Porsche.
3) My fiancee and I are not clubbers. We don't mind going to a bar and having a drink, but we don't party all night.
4) One or more days we might just wanna laze around the hotel room.
5) I might drag her to the Jewish Museum in Berlin but no concentration camps. Yes, they are historic. Yes, they are important. No, I do not want to be depressed as fuck on my honeymoon.

So that being said, is Berlin doable in five days? What's the food like? We are both very culinary-adventurous and would kill to grab doner kebab from a cart just as much as we'd like to try a fine dining establishment. I like history and museums and art galleries and stuff, she'll tolerate a little but not too much. This would be for December when universities are on a break since she'll probably be a grad student at the time.

Any thoughts?
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>> Anonymous
i've been living in deutschland for the past 3-4 months now... i've been in baden this whole time, but maybe i can give some advice.

every single german here has told me that berlin is just alright. hamburg is supposedly the best city in the country. it's supposed to be very very nice.

travellers i've met say that check point charlie and the wall are both boring, though you obviously have to go there. everyone has told me that berlin takes maybe 3-4 days to see everything.

bar scene? i've been told that the bar scene there is super. apparently, the more sketchy a place is (a.k.a. the more it looks like a dive), the more happening it is. BARS not diskotheques.

also, i was told that the guided bike tours are a must. they are free, apparently (tips are an option, of course), and through this you will see everything, and really figure out what you want to do.

1) the autoban isn't as scary as the normal roads themselves... being a canadian used to wide-lanes and slower paced drivers, it's a bit much. parking is tricky in many places, but really when it comes to driving... the autoban isn't so bad. i see many drivers do 140 normally. though yeah expect to hit 200 km/hour.

the food? i think berlin is a little too modern to expect real german style. but fr germany in general, they love eating everything with bread or a bun on the side, and much of their food is loaded with fat (milk is normally 4%). this MAY taste a little too rich for you if you are north american. doner is turkish food... but actually yeah there are turks all over germany.

if you are there in december, go to some cafe and have some hot wine. some germans love it (at least in the south west)
>> Anonymous
I am german myself and life in bavaria, next to Bamberg, Schweinfurt and Nuremberg and can tell you, that german food is not all that loaded with fat. At least that depends on where you eat. And being a franconian i can say that we got propably the best food and defnetly the best beer in whole germany. And Ingolstadt, being a bavarian city, is a nice and old (over 1200yrs) city. Furthermore we got the nicer landscape and the best air :P
On the other hand... bavarians tend to have strange dialect (even i, as being born and raised in northern germany, have problems understanding them sometimes). So if you want to avoid great communicationproblems, you should go for berlin or any other city in northern germany.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Berlin is quite big but doable in 5 days if you just want to see the tourist traps.
The food is quiet special, but don't expect "typical" German food in Berlin. There are hundreds of different cultures in Berlin and so are their restaurants(compare it NYC). If you want some more "typical" stuff, go to the south. Nuremberg and Dresden are relatively close to Berlin and very nice cities.

To your other points:

1. http://germany.usembassy.gov/germany/services/driving_in_germany.html
Don't get yourself killed. Just because you can drive more than 100mp/h doesn't mean you have to!
If you rent a car, there is a Autobahn leading directly from Berlin to Ingolstadt.
It takes about 5 to 6 hours depending on traffic.

2. I hope you have a loooooooot of money.
Gasprices are very high compared to the US and so are the rental prices.
A Porsche Cayenne (you could easily fit your luggage in it by the way) costs about €189 a day.

3. There are plenty of clubs in Berlin, not so much in Ingolstadt.

4. Have fun

5. If you're into Museums, go to Munich when you visit Ingolstadt. Munich is just 40km south of Ingolstadt and definitely worth a visit (if you ask me, fuck Ingolstadt and go to Munich instead)

By the way, don't expect to meet people like in your pic. The typical Berlin inhabitant looks like this.
>> Anonymous
OP here. Nah, I don't expect to see guys wearing lederhosen and dancing with those benches and shit like in National Lampoon's European Vacation.

It really seems like it'd be good to just go to Munich, spend five or so days there, take a train to Hamburg, a few days there, and finish out with a few more in Berlin. Doable?

I can live without a car given the rail network. I figure it'd be fun but rather than risk getting killed on a stick shift car, plus tons of money and tons more for gas, I'll let it pass.

How much German should I learn? Can I get by on a few simple phrases or should I get some basic conversational skills? I already know what I feel to be the most important phrase: "ein bier, bitte."
>> Anonymous
Avoid heavily Turk infested areas.
>> Anonymous
>>44325
if want to see 3 big modern cities your plan sounds alright though if you ask me rent that car and drive to hamburg from munich, doesnt take more than 6-7 hours and is defiantly worth the experience if you are normally confined to 120 km/h.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>44325
You don't need a car. In cities like Berlin, Hamburg or Munich it is better to take the public transportation. Munich for example was no.2 in the worldwide public transport rating after Tokyo.
Also trains go from Munich to Berlin and from Berlin to Hamburg every hour. They are slower than by car, but you see a lot more scenery than on the Autobahn.

You don't need to learn German. Sure it helps a bit if you have some basics, but it's not necessary. Germans have to learn English in school and nearly 80% are capable to direct you or help you in any case.

For your tour I would suggest to start in Munich. Especially in Winter it is beautiful. Lots of museums and in Winter they have some traditional Christkindlmärkte(Christmas fairs)
Take day trips to the nearby Alps or Lakes.
In less than 1 hour you are in Ingolstadt, if you still want to visit it for 1 day.
Then go to Berlin, do the tourist tour and continue to Hamburg.
Unfortunately I can't tell you a lot about Hamburg or Berlin.
>> Anonymous
>>44325
german anon again.

Driving the Autobahn isn't all that suicidal and dangerous as it may seem. Most germans are good drivers and we less accidents than most of the other european countries. I wouldn't waste the chance, so go rent a car and start speeding on the autobahn :P
And besides ... the german rail network is kinda crappy, and/or expensive, depends on which train you take.
How much german you should learn depends on the area again. In Berlin or Munich you won't have any problems, but - as said before - bavarians are sometimes hard to understand and not everyone speaks or understands english, so in smaller cities you might have some problems.

Oh, and "ein Bier, bitte" is a good start, but you gonna get different kinds of beer deping on the region. In and around Munich you gonna get Weißbier (wheat beer), but in the greater part of bavaria and the rest of germany you'll propably get Pilsener (which i prefer)
>> Anonymous
driving the autobahn is actually very safe

deaths (on highways/autobahn) per one billion driven kilometers:
USA: 5,0
GER: 3,1

..and i don't think you need to learn german
>> Anonymous
german dude here.

Even if it looks like the germans have less accidents than other coutries i give u the advice better not rent a car in december and than make a funny tour with it. The reason is simple it could be snowing at that day or still raining and that would ruin ur car trip quite easily ......

As it goes for german language: of course it would be better the have some words stocked up but it really is not needed. In international cities like munich, berlin (hamburg, frankfurt,....) every "normal" or "better" hotel/motel should have good english knowledge so that they can help u with any of ur wishes. The same goes for museums and other international stuff, there should really be no problems with language at all. Maybe u could get some problems if u drive in a taxi, because some of these drivers are not that well-educated. Same goes for eating places. If its above average there should be no problems but under average u can expect some problems (still there should be some young ones which should understand u...)
.....
>> Anonymous
.....
If it goes for (traditional) german food, than bavaria (munich) should be the best choice in my eyes (i was one time in berlin but i think if it goes for food munich should really be the better choice).

If u want to go to the "Christkindlmärkte(Christmas fairs)" like one dude mentioned than this is no bad choice. But 3 things u should keep in mind 1. be sure to visit it before (hmm i think it was) december 26/27 because after that date it closes country-wide and u have no chances anymore to visit it until the next december. 2. It will really be crowded with lots of people there 3. if u drink to much "glühwein" (sort of hot wine) u can get drunk a little ;). ok, there is a 4th point to keep in mind: there is so much tasty food there that ur girlfriend could gain a little weight in the trip ;).
So that goes for my advices for u. unfortunately i dont have more tips for for other places but i think a guide will help you out at this point, just google it. So said, have a nice trip
>> Anonymous
Munichfag here.

If you're visiting Munich, you might consider visiting a smaller city in the outback. Instead of Ingolstadt, I'd recommend Dachau or Landsberg am Lech... really nice Old Town, can be reached by train in about 25 minutes (Dachau) or an hour (Landsberg). The public transport system is well developed, but sometimes (= one day a week) tardy.
December is a good time to visit a town in the Bavarian Alps, if you're fond of winter romantics. Bad Tölz, Garmisch, etc.
Munich - Hamburg by train would be around 122 EUR for two people. You can look by yourself: http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

Ah, concerning food in Munich: Probably look for restaurants not located in the city centre...
>> Anonymous
>>44482
Or just memorize "Sprechen sie englisch?"
>> Germans - a nation of paedophiles Armenian! (Suck it bitches!)
And not only pedophiles. For example 20% of germans had engaged in anal sex; oral sex - the usual practice. Germany is also known for being the birthplace of the technique called "ass to mouth" where anal and oral sex take turns (maybe that's why germans are called so - from "germs"). In regard to pedophilia it's a stable phenomenon in germany - every year germans molest 60,000 kids. It might appear that is because germany is a populous country - 79,000,000 - and many of those are turks (can't argue with that since germans are heavily mixed with hunns - look at the western borders of the hunnic empire and the western borders of germany - they fit!). However, in the US with it's 300,000,000 population, of which third are non-White, every year "only" 100,000 children are molested. Clearly a huge disproportionality.

This data is taken from a report on german sexuality by Rüdiger Lautmann, Ph.D., and Kurt Starke, Ph.D. (they tried to sweeten the pill by telling us that most germans have sex while in love - maybe it's actually so, however for about 10% of germans "expressing love" means anal sodomy and sometimes even a dusseldorf steamer for a change (look it up on Urban Dictionary!)).

So things about germans are clear - give them a pornographic DVD and watch the level of their "civilization". Good example - there is a wildly popular pornographic site. 10% of it's traffic is from germany (13% is from USA (remember that USA has 3.5 times more people?)). I swear to God - check out Alexa.
>> Germans - a nation of paedophiles Armenian! (Suck it bitches!) Anon
Haha that sounds like someone hadn't had fun in bed for ages ;-)
>> Anonymous
amerifag here w/ my $.02. Stay in southern Germany, Munich.. Then rent a car for for mini road trip for a couple days, drive to Austria, and Switzerland. Stay in bed and breakfast type places. Not much to see in Berlin (remember was flattened in WWII).
>> Anonymous
>I gotta try driving on the autobahn.

LAfag here. Driving on the autobahn was cool, until I decided to try and keep up with the locals and hit about 110 <lolfail. After about 2 minutes of that and still locals in the faster lane jetting past, I realized we're just not used to driving at those speeds (unless you're from some redneck area of USA).

Stick to the slower lane and chill.