So aside from the games on the field what do we like/dislike/hate about Germany??

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Like:
1 The food is great,and reasonably priced compared to much else
2 The country outside the cities is beautiful
3 Even the cities have some interesting old buildings
4 Most of the people are nice and very welcoming to Americans
5 When the trains run on time they are useful
6 The US fans are rocking the place

Dislike
1 The people you talk to seem to assume you don´t really know soccer
2 When the trains are late it really screws you up because you miss all your connections
3 Real price gouging going on, paid 15 Euro for a Tshirt at the game,then bought 6 for 4 Euro each elsewhere for the same shirt
Hate
1 The 1960s attitude toward smoking everywhere in public really sucks
2 Stadium egress/transport is inefficient at best and very dangerous at worst. If I was elderly or handicapped I could never go to a game here......

[roadkit]

1. Smoking
2. Smoking
3. Smoking

And I live in Virginia. ;)

[wolfp10]

Like:
Food. Delicious
Beer. All great, and each regin has their own brew.
Train system. Truly puts amtrak to shame.
People. All have been friendly. Great hosts
Ktown fan camp. Creative idea in lack of hotel rooms. Watching 30 guys gawk as an attractive lady walked by the kitchen reminded me of scout camp.

Dislike
Gelsenkirchen. Getting in and out was a nightmare, and just getting to the stadium was a major pain in the ass. No hotels either. Beautiful stadium, but poor choice for the WC.
Kaiserslautern. Only problem here is no luggage lockers therefore I had to leave my bag in the office, which closed at 1am. It sucks walking around town with a backpack. Also, being crushed as we walked from the stadium next to a roqd blocked off for VIPs sucked too. Could have been a dangerous situation.

[SnakeEyes]

Like:
Beer
Food
People
Rail system

Dislike:
Cant serve the beer and food at more reasonable speeds.

[Roehl Sybing]

Like: food/drink, people, sightseeing, weather

Dislike: prices, everything being closed on Sundays and early evenings

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Like: food/drink, people, sightseeing, weather

Dislike: prices, everything being closed on Sundays and early evenings

BTW,Roehl,I saw your video on CNN in my hotel!!:D

[Roehl Sybing]

BTW,Roehl,I saw your video on CNN in my hotel!!:D
I knew us Yanks had a place in the Fan Zone!

[mdfc]

Dislike: I just think Lehmann looks nervous in goal...

oh, you mean the country, leaving tomorrow, don't know yet! ;)

[Palermo10]

The smoking is worse in Spain and Italy. It sucks here but its a nice change from southern Europe.

Like:
Doner kebabs are cheaper than anywhere I've ever had them.
When the train says itll be there at 11:01, it will be there at 11:01.

Dislike:
It gets cold in the winter
German is an ugly language.

[Roehl Sybing]

When the train says itll be there at 11:01, it will be there at 11:01.
That hasn't been my experience, but if you're comparing to America, then yeah, I guess so.

[bmurphyfl]

I had a great week. No complaints.

[Shibb]

The smoking is worse in Spain and Italy. It sucks here but its a nice change from southern Europe.

Like:
Doner kebabs are cheaper than anywhere I've ever had them.
When the train says itll be there at 11:01, it will be there at 11:01.

Dislike:
It gets cold in the winter
German is an ugly language.

I generally love the public transport system here, BUT, I was stranded with about 100 other people travelling out of Kaiserslautern on a cold, desolate platform in Bad Kreuznach from about 12:30 until just before 3 am. Didn't get back to Frankfurt until around 5 am, catching one of the early U-Bahn trains with a couple of other USA supporters. That was just unconscionable, especially as there was at least two families with small children. This was typical of the German lack of going beyond the most basic in the way of communication (Yes, this is the right train and it's leaving now, but I'm not going to tell you about being screwed once you get there). I'm fairly sure that they knew, or should have known, in advance that we'd have a ridiculous layover in a town with nothing there. They should have advised people to take another train, or just wait it out and party in Kaiserslautern.

That is not the way "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden". :(

Otherwise most things have been fine.

Oh, and on German being an ugly language: it's not as ugly as Dutch (so just wait for South Africa) ;) Also, in Switzerland, where I am now, it's just silly, not quite as ugly. Think Muppet Show Swedish chef. I speak a reasonable amount of German and I have a very hard time being understood on the most basic stuff here. Folks are relatively nice, though.

[benztown]

Dislike
Gelsenkirchen....
Kaiserslautern...

Those cities really suck, Germany has much better cities to offer. The Stadium in Gelsenkirchen is one of the best though.

[Mainer5]

Munich
likes
easy to get around, clean subway system, good food, crazy ass aussies

Dislikes

smoking, but this is europe and like someone else said, it is much better than italy

Trains
likes

Railpass, especially the twin pass - travelling with a companion- 400 euros first class =total, for 4 days of unlimited travel. so two round trips to anywhere. extra days only 50 dollars more. we are saving mega bucks with this pass, but you have to buy it in the states before you leave check aaa, fast quiet

Dislikes

food and drinks on train are very expensive bring your own and share

Berlin

likes

revitalized city, new hauptbahnhof (train station), great activities everywhere

dislikes

we are staying with friends in the old east germany part of Berlin and it is still a very depressing environment. but it is free housing so we can't complain

Fifa

likes
They came through with our conditional tickets to germany ecuador, and were very polite at the Berlin ticket center

Dislikes

Access to the stadiums are harder because they have taken parking lots for all there vip tents

Munich stadium

likes - beautiful, high pitched seating, good site lines, felt like you were right on the field

dislikes
warning - the access to the stadium by sbahn is efficient, but go two hours min ahead of time. The crush of people even 1 1/2 hours early was very difficult

Brasil playing like crap and still winning the game

Berlin Olympicstadia

Find out in a few hours\

general

The fan fest area in Munich could have been bigger, but the old olympic stadium area is interesting and the scots in kilts, playing pop up and trying to keep their liter of beers from spilling was great fun to watch

smoking but I already mentioned that

At the Europa Center in Berlin you can call the states for 15 cents a connection and 10 cents a minute in a sound proof phone booth. Real bargin, even called my wife - but didn't tell her about the women of wc 06

[Beantowner]

Oh, and on German being an ugly language: it's not as ugly as Dutch (so just wait for South Africa) ;) Ah, but Afrikaans will be more interesting than Dutch for visitors. It evolved from 17th century Dutch and is sometimes better sounding (especially when spoken by a South African hottie), yet it's often equally challenging to decipher. Afrikaans is the primary language of under 15% of South Africans. English, under 10%. Good thing the WC committee will have plenty of English speaking volunteers/staff.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Some more for me:
Likes
1 The late night TV is interesting. Last night there were girls dressed out in WC team unis playing soccer,when one scored she did a Brandi Chastain. But they had left the sports bras at home.....
2 All the window boxes with flowers

Dislike
1 The country has a horrible graffitti problem
2 Never enough A/C or Ice for me.

Hate
1 Bicycles on the bloody sidewalks.

[LeperKhan]

Some more for me:
Dislike
2 Never enough A/C or Ice for me.


I just got home, and these were 2 things that bugged me, along with it being really hard to find plain, cold water. I really don't get the attraction of water "mit gasse".

And I agree that the stadium area transporation has been less than ideal. Especially getting from Gelsenkirchen station out to the stadium - we were packed cheek to cheek in a car for 30 minutes or so, and it was really hot and unpleasant. I also saw some parents with children trying to get on the trams at the station, and it looked pretty dangerous to be a small child in that crowd.

But all in all, I had an excellent time in Germany. And I wish I was still there rather than back at work today.

[MattR]

Getting a non-alchoholic cold drink is the Holy frickin' grail of Europe.

Ask for "leitungsvasser" Lie - tung - vasser or "tap water" or "ohna gas"

[Eliezar]

Snitzel Keller was very good.

Graffitti everywhere made things look poorly upkept.

The view from Heidelberg Castle was awesome.

The idea that they needed 10 packages of lunch meat for breakfast was odd.

The ability to get from city to city was great.

Having to pay 1.10 Euros for a toilet was not so great.

Cheap German wines were much better than Cheap US wines.

The speed of service everywhere and especially at games sucked!

The Fanfests were awesome especially Stuttgart for the Holland game (the
Dutch there were amazing).

German people are not friendly at all. Sadly I met several foreigners who live in Germany and all had the same story that Germans are typically rude and xenophobic which they tended to be to me (foreigners being two Americans, 1 Argentine, and a South African). Don't get me started on the actions at the train station like the time there was only me and my wife and 1 other lady at the train station and before the train got there she stepped 1 foot directly in front of us (after we were there before her and standing basically at the don't stand closer line).

German people around Kaiserslautern were very friendly and helpful towards Americans.

German hotels tend to lie on their advertisements as in Have Hair Dryer (nope), Provide Airport Shuttle (if you pay), Have bus schedules (if you walk to the bus stop and read it yourself), Speak English (some of the people some of the time), etc.

Germany is extremely scenic, their parking lots look like forests for instance.

I even went to a place that could not give me anything but carbonated water. Water with gas? Its called a tap...turn it on?

The food was average...their meats are a bit subpar compared to say Argentine or Texas meats, but their food wasn't excessively bland like some parts of the US.

The English need to learn to keep their shirts on.

Got to hang out, watch games, and have drinks with really cool people from Ethiopia, Germany, England, Brasil, T&T, and of course the US. The people were great.

World Cup Shirts...I saw some really really cool shirts that were not at either US game nor at the Fan Fests in Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, nor Kaiserslautern. Where did these come from?

For the record I chose the Kaiserslautern red/white/blue city shirt (had the games and dates on the back with blue letters, blue sleeeves and red trip) and a generic World Cup symbol shirt (I wanted the one with the single stripe on each sleeve that said FIFA World Cup 2006 on the back) while my wife got the US vs Italy game day shirt and the girl's logo shirt (two tone, girl cut).


Oh yeah, I also met at least 4 groups of Americans that were there and have tickets and have been to Europe for games before, but do not read or post on bigsoccer. Just something to keep in mind.

Oh and Joe from Sam's Army. Thanks for the tip on the secret unlisted train!

[Eliezar]

Dislike
1 The country has a horrible graffitti problem
2 Never enough A/C or Ice for me.

Hate
1 Bicycles on the bloody sidewalks.

Switzerland was a bit worse than Germany on the graffitti and both were terrible.

A/C was hit and miss. Some hotels had it, some did not. Some trains had it, some did not.

Bicycles on the sidewalks weren't bad at all as long as you stayed out of the bicycle lanes. There were a lot, but often we were walking around with all of our luggage and did not have much trouble navigating the side walks. In fact, in Zurich (not Germany, doh) there was this main street with heavy and fast traffic, but the traffic had to yield to bikes and foot. heh.