Germany has quite a decent network of public transportation and usually can get you from point A to B. However, understanding all of the various options, how they work, and even when they work is not always the easiest.
I've been using the system for more than five years and I am constantly learning new things about it. For those who are new to living in Germany, it's a steep learning curve.
Live Work Germany wrote a guide about using the trains, buses, subways, and street cars of Germany. It's very useful to help unravel the mysteries of the transportation system; you can read it here.
Showing posts with label Transportation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transportation. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Deutsche Bahn gives some mixed signals
On a recent train journey, the display on the train showed the message below as we were approaching the final stop.
Ha! It's very confused.
It says "Wir reinigen, - einsteigen!" -- We're cleaning, enter!
via: bitte nicht -- via please not
Ha! It's very confused.
It says "Wir reinigen, - einsteigen!" -- We're cleaning, enter!
via: bitte nicht -- via please not
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Finding a good fare on local German Train Travel
My friends invited me on a day trip to Karlsruhe and I wanted to avoid spending a crazy amount of money on train tickets. (I definitely didn't want to drive there.)
We worked it out that I'd take the train from Kaiserslautern to Neustadt and ride with them in the car to Karlsuhe since they were driving anyway. We'd spend some time there together and then I'd take the train back because they were staying for a concert.
I wanted to find out: how could I best buy the train tickets to minimize the prices? I'll share the steps I took in hopes that it might be useful for someone. Do you have tips to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments section; maybe you know an even better way to buy tickets.
-The first thing to know is that train tickets can be rather costly and prices have recently climbed. There are ways to buy cheaper tickets, such as by linking different regions through creative ticket buying.
-If you are only traveling in one or two regions instead of taking a long distance trip, it can make more sense to buy tickets from each regional traffic association instead of buying an overall ticket from Deutsche Bahn. However, it can be a bit confusing that if buying tickets at a train station, one uses the ticket machines that are labeled DB but also sell local tickets.
-When I searched the DB website, bahn.de, I found that a default setting is "schnelle Verbindung bevorzugen," which means "prefer fast connection." This means that Inter-City Express and Regional Express trains are more likely to be chosen. You'll get there faster but there's a possibility you'd pay more. I unchecked this option so I could see both the high speed and the cheaper local trains.
-If you have a reduction card, such as the BahnCard, be sure to select that option. After all, why not save money?
-The DB website can usually give a price for distance travel (i.e. the whole trip from Karlsruhe to Kaiserslautern), but for local travel, it'll often give a message "Preisauskunft nicht möglich," which means "price information is not available" because travelers must visit the individual regional transportation websites to determine the prices. Grr! Why this isn't integrated is beyond me.
-If you want to save money, you'll want to check the regional train sites to "hack" your trip.
-I ended up buying a VRN all-day train ticket. VRN is the transportation association that covers Kaiserslautern to Mannheim, and many other cities too. That got me to Neustadt to meet my friends.
For the return trip, I bought a ticket from Karlsruhe to Bad Schönborn-Kronau, which is the end of the Karlsruhe region and only cost me 3,50 euros with my Bahncard. From there, I used my VRN day ticket to get me to Mannheim, where I transferred to another train to get me back to Kaiserslautern.
Let's compare prices.
Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket
We worked it out that I'd take the train from Kaiserslautern to Neustadt and ride with them in the car to Karlsuhe since they were driving anyway. We'd spend some time there together and then I'd take the train back because they were staying for a concert.
I wanted to find out: how could I best buy the train tickets to minimize the prices? I'll share the steps I took in hopes that it might be useful for someone. Do you have tips to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments section; maybe you know an even better way to buy tickets.
-The first thing to know is that train tickets can be rather costly and prices have recently climbed. There are ways to buy cheaper tickets, such as by linking different regions through creative ticket buying.
-If you are only traveling in one or two regions instead of taking a long distance trip, it can make more sense to buy tickets from each regional traffic association instead of buying an overall ticket from Deutsche Bahn. However, it can be a bit confusing that if buying tickets at a train station, one uses the ticket machines that are labeled DB but also sell local tickets.
-When I searched the DB website, bahn.de, I found that a default setting is "schnelle Verbindung bevorzugen," which means "prefer fast connection." This means that Inter-City Express and Regional Express trains are more likely to be chosen. You'll get there faster but there's a possibility you'd pay more. I unchecked this option so I could see both the high speed and the cheaper local trains.
-If you have a reduction card, such as the BahnCard, be sure to select that option. After all, why not save money?
-The DB website can usually give a price for distance travel (i.e. the whole trip from Karlsruhe to Kaiserslautern), but for local travel, it'll often give a message "Preisauskunft nicht möglich," which means "price information is not available" because travelers must visit the individual regional transportation websites to determine the prices. Grr! Why this isn't integrated is beyond me.
-If you want to save money, you'll want to check the regional train sites to "hack" your trip.
-I ended up buying a VRN all-day train ticket. VRN is the transportation association that covers Kaiserslautern to Mannheim, and many other cities too. That got me to Neustadt to meet my friends.
For the return trip, I bought a ticket from Karlsruhe to Bad Schönborn-Kronau, which is the end of the Karlsruhe region and only cost me 3,50 euros with my Bahncard. From there, I used my VRN day ticket to get me to Mannheim, where I transferred to another train to get me back to Kaiserslautern.
Let's compare prices.
Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket
- 40 euros for a day of travel; does not include high-speed trains
- Buy a one-way ticket from Kaiserslautern to Neustadt (7,10 euro regular price; 5,30 euros with BahnCard)
- Use Deutsche Bahn to buy a ticket from Karlsruhe to Kaiserslautern (cheapest price I saw without BahnCard was 19 euros but it went up to 33 euros depending on the time and if it was a high speed train; with BahnCard it was as low as 14,25 euros)
- I wasn't sure exactly when I'd be done in Karlsruhe and the longer one waits to buy the ticket, the more likely it is to be more expensive.
- Using this method, I would, at minimum, paid about 26 euros without the BahnCard or as low as 20 euros with it. However, depending on the time, the average prices I saw for some of the various options were about 25 euros or so in total because I was working on this last-minute.
- 17,50 for the VRN day pass
- 3,50 to get me from Karlsruhe to the beginning of the VRN's coverage area (it would've been 5,70 without the BahnCard)
- Total = 21 euros
- Buy a single trip ticket to Neustadt (7,10 euro regular price; 5,30 euros with BahnCard)
- 3,50 to get me from Karlsruhe to the beginning of the VRN's coverage area (or 5,70 without the BahnCard)
- Buy a single trip ticket from Wiesloch-Walldorf, which is the beginning of the VRNetwork, to Kaiserslautern (10,20 regular price or 7,70 with BahnCard)
- Total = 22,60 euros without BahnCard or 16.50 euros with BahnCard
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
In honor of the Blitzmarathon tomorrow...
Rheinland-Pfalz, the German state where I live, is conducting a Blitzmarathon tomorrow. No, it's not a lightning race; it's a speed camera day where police plan to set up almost 300 cameras. It's intended to reduce speeding and increase awareness (as well as increase the coffers of the state, I'm sure!).
In honor of the marathon, I am posting this photo of a sticker I saw on a car.
The left side states "Polizeikontrollen" and the right side has a picture of a traffic camera.
In honor of the marathon, I am posting this photo of a sticker I saw on a car.
The left side states "Polizeikontrollen" and the right side has a picture of a traffic camera.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Biking hardcore in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, bikes are all over. They're parked out in front of shops, they're being ridden all over, and they're even in the canals (oops). There are kids, adults, adults with kids, adults with adults, and even people with dogs on bikes.
We saw many interesting combinations, including the mother and son below. He was standing up behind her on the bike. I just about had a heart attack for him, considering that he wasn't wearing a helmet. Heck, I only saw a few people wearing helmets the whole weekend. It must not be an Amsterdam-ish thing to do.
I used to avoid wearing a helmet while bicycling myself. I'd never ride
my horses without a helmet, but biking I would leave it off. However, I
recently saw a guy catapult himself head over his handlebars and under
his bike right in front of my face when he tried to brake too hard, and I
now wear my helmet.
We saw many interesting combinations, including the mother and son below. He was standing up behind her on the bike. I just about had a heart attack for him, considering that he wasn't wearing a helmet. Heck, I only saw a few people wearing helmets the whole weekend. It must not be an Amsterdam-ish thing to do.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
The anger & frustration of the suburban trains to Amsterdam
[Here's a website with some good information about the issue I'm writing about below. I had done some quick research into public transport before my trip, but apparently not enough and I wish I had read this first! Keep in mind that this article is about using the trains outside of Amsterdam. At the Centraal Station in Amsterdam, we had no problems buying tickets for transport within the city at kiosks where we could use our credit cards or pay with bills.]
During our trip to Amsterdam, there was one absolutely aggravating issue: using the suburban trains to get into the city center. We stayed in Weesp, a suburb that was a short 17 minute train ride to the center. The town itself was adorable and our accommodations pretty much perfect. However, getting to Amsterdam put us into a rage.
Why is that? I've traveled plenty of other places and have never had such an issue. I've even been to Amsterdam before, in 2008 and had no problems then. This time, though, it was a frustrating experience (I'm getting grumpy all over again, just writing about it!).
It was awful because of the system for buying tickets. Imagine this: we've finally arrived to Weesp and have to pick up a friend at the Centraal station in Amsterdam. We are equipped with cash in the form of bills as well as our giro chip credit cards that work in Germany (but are from an American bank - with the chip, that's all that matters, at least in Germany). It's 11 p.m. but this shouldn't be a problem because of our cards and the cash, right?
Oh no, my friend, it was a major problem. Here's why: the train ticket machines would not accept bills! There were no change machines around. Okay, so then we tried our credit cards with the chip. We were denied; the machine only took Dutch PIN/Maestro/V-Pay. Cruuuuuud! It was also 11 at night and it's a suburb. What would be open to get change? Well, we lucked out: there was a small bike kiosk and the guy was kind enough to give us change. If it weren't open, we would have been hosed.
So, we get the change and try to buy a ticket. The whole thing was confusing; it appeared that we had to buy some sort of card for 7,50 euros. Ah, that seemed reasonable! My friend chose that option, thinking it was a travel card for the duration. It then told her that she had to put in 20 more euros. What the heck!? At that point, we were going to run late so she just put in the total amount, in change only. She wasn't happy about having to shove almost 30 euros' worth of coins into the machine, and I don't blame her at all.
We later found out how this worked (and it's still crummy, in my opinion): the card she got is called the OV-chipkaart. It's possible to either have an anonymous one (like what my friend bought) or one can buy a personal one with the owner's photo and lost card protection. The latter option is more likely for Dutch residents. The card itself is a non-refundable 7,50 euros and there must be an additional 20 euros of credit on it. If my friend wanted to turn in the card and get the remaining credit (less than 30 euros) off it, she would have been charged 2,50 euros for the "privilege." Oh, and if you don't have a Dutch bank card, you better as heck have a boat load of change to buy the dang card at the machine.
The other option we later found was the single-use cards, which were more reasonable. For 3,20 euros, I bought a one-way ticket from Weesp to Amsterdam Centraal. At the time, I had a printed ticket. I later found out that a few days after our trip ended, the system was changing over to single-use OV chip cards (enmalige chipkaart) and that there would be a 1 euro surcharge on each single-use card purchased.
The whole thing was entirely frustrating and the system is not at all friendly to people who are not going to be using transport very often (i.e. the hordes of visitors to Amsterdam). I think that the worst thing is the payment situation; the machines won't take most credit or debit cards and there are no change machines. If the train office or stores aren't open, how is one to get change to buy tickets? Many of the stores around the trains aren't always amenable to giving change, either; on our second day, we went to the convenience store in the train station in Weesp and they refused to give us our change from our purchase back all in coins. I understand that they need the change too, so it's extremely frustrating to have to scramble for coins to pay for train tickets.
The Netherlands are otherwise pretty cool, but buying train tickets outside of Amsterdam is an exercise in frustration.
During our trip to Amsterdam, there was one absolutely aggravating issue: using the suburban trains to get into the city center. We stayed in Weesp, a suburb that was a short 17 minute train ride to the center. The town itself was adorable and our accommodations pretty much perfect. However, getting to Amsterdam put us into a rage.
Why is that? I've traveled plenty of other places and have never had such an issue. I've even been to Amsterdam before, in 2008 and had no problems then. This time, though, it was a frustrating experience (I'm getting grumpy all over again, just writing about it!).
It was awful because of the system for buying tickets. Imagine this: we've finally arrived to Weesp and have to pick up a friend at the Centraal station in Amsterdam. We are equipped with cash in the form of bills as well as our giro chip credit cards that work in Germany (but are from an American bank - with the chip, that's all that matters, at least in Germany). It's 11 p.m. but this shouldn't be a problem because of our cards and the cash, right?
Oh no, my friend, it was a major problem. Here's why: the train ticket machines would not accept bills! There were no change machines around. Okay, so then we tried our credit cards with the chip. We were denied; the machine only took Dutch PIN/Maestro/V-Pay. Cruuuuuud! It was also 11 at night and it's a suburb. What would be open to get change? Well, we lucked out: there was a small bike kiosk and the guy was kind enough to give us change. If it weren't open, we would have been hosed.
So, we get the change and try to buy a ticket. The whole thing was confusing; it appeared that we had to buy some sort of card for 7,50 euros. Ah, that seemed reasonable! My friend chose that option, thinking it was a travel card for the duration. It then told her that she had to put in 20 more euros. What the heck!? At that point, we were going to run late so she just put in the total amount, in change only. She wasn't happy about having to shove almost 30 euros' worth of coins into the machine, and I don't blame her at all.
We later found out how this worked (and it's still crummy, in my opinion): the card she got is called the OV-chipkaart. It's possible to either have an anonymous one (like what my friend bought) or one can buy a personal one with the owner's photo and lost card protection. The latter option is more likely for Dutch residents. The card itself is a non-refundable 7,50 euros and there must be an additional 20 euros of credit on it. If my friend wanted to turn in the card and get the remaining credit (less than 30 euros) off it, she would have been charged 2,50 euros for the "privilege." Oh, and if you don't have a Dutch bank card, you better as heck have a boat load of change to buy the dang card at the machine.
The other option we later found was the single-use cards, which were more reasonable. For 3,20 euros, I bought a one-way ticket from Weesp to Amsterdam Centraal. At the time, I had a printed ticket. I later found out that a few days after our trip ended, the system was changing over to single-use OV chip cards (enmalige chipkaart) and that there would be a 1 euro surcharge on each single-use card purchased.
The whole thing was entirely frustrating and the system is not at all friendly to people who are not going to be using transport very often (i.e. the hordes of visitors to Amsterdam). I think that the worst thing is the payment situation; the machines won't take most credit or debit cards and there are no change machines. If the train office or stores aren't open, how is one to get change to buy tickets? Many of the stores around the trains aren't always amenable to giving change, either; on our second day, we went to the convenience store in the train station in Weesp and they refused to give us our change from our purchase back all in coins. I understand that they need the change too, so it's extremely frustrating to have to scramble for coins to pay for train tickets.
The Netherlands are otherwise pretty cool, but buying train tickets outside of Amsterdam is an exercise in frustration.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The mobile chef in Hamburg
We took a trip to Hamburg this past weekend. I saw the van below and thought it was super cute with a pot on the top of it. As I was grabbing my camera and giggling about the van, the driver came out and grinned at our goofiness. I think it would be awesome to drive a van around with a pot welded to the top of it!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Storing luggage at Kaiserslautern Hauptbahnhof
For those who are visiting a city for just a day on a trip, the question might right arise: what is one to do with one's luggage? Well, if one is arriving by Deutsche Bahn, many of the train stations in Germany offer lockers in various sizes where one can store luggage for a short time.
Even my own local main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in Kaiserslautern offers lockers. When entering the train station from the main entrance that faces downtown, go down the stairs and turn left. The lockers are located there and offer various sizes and rates; the largest lockers could accommodate most suitcases. The locker pictured below is 3 euros to rent. The time limit on use is 72 hours.
The German word for luggage is "Gepäck," pronounced something like "geh-peck." The word for suitcase is "Koffer."
Even my own local main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in Kaiserslautern offers lockers. When entering the train station from the main entrance that faces downtown, go down the stairs and turn left. The lockers are located there and offer various sizes and rates; the largest lockers could accommodate most suitcases. The locker pictured below is 3 euros to rent. The time limit on use is 72 hours.
The German word for luggage is "Gepäck," pronounced something like "geh-peck." The word for suitcase is "Koffer."
Monday, March 24, 2014
A Visit to the Kuseler Handels & Handwerksmesse
On Sunday I was in the Kusel area so I decided to stop by the Kuseler Handels & Handwerksmesse. What is such an event? Well, it's a trade show and craft show held in downtown Kusel. It reminds me of a small version of the Maimarkt held in Mannheim, which I attended last year but haven't even gotten around to writing about yet (oops!).
It was a nice little diversion. The trade fair was hosted in three tents and featured booths by local businesses and organizations. One tent was filled with happy attendees listening to music, drinking beer, and eating sausages.
In the other tents I saw heating and cooling companies, window companies, banks, and even the tourist bureau for the Pfalz (the region in which Kaiserslautern and Kusel are located). The latter was my favorite booth because of all the free flyers and maps of things to do in the region. I grabbed some information about biking, camping, and hiking in the area.
Even better yet than the flyers? There was a "Draisine" in the booth:
As I was walking around, I could smell what reminded me of burning hair. I was wondering what on earth it could be. As I turned the corner, I found out: a farrier demonstrating shaping horse shoes for a patiently waiting horse. I felt a bit silly that I didn't recognize the smell as I had been an avid equestrienne. However, in all fairness, I stopped shoeing my own horses more than a decade ago as I have found many benefits in doing so.
To clarify about the smell: it results from the process of hot shoeing. In hot shoeing, the farrier works the shoes over a forge, heating them up. As he works on them, he presses them to the horse's just-trimmed hoof to check the fit and make adjustments as necessary. Since the shoe is hot, it burns the hoof a little bit and the smell results. There is no worry about the hot shoe touching the outside wall of the horse's hoof; it's not painful as this area is similar to the part of a human's nail that is above the nailbed. The other type of shoeing is cold shoeing, in which the farrier doesn't heat up the shoes to fit them to the horse.
It was a nice little diversion. The trade fair was hosted in three tents and featured booths by local businesses and organizations. One tent was filled with happy attendees listening to music, drinking beer, and eating sausages.
In the other tents I saw heating and cooling companies, window companies, banks, and even the tourist bureau for the Pfalz (the region in which Kaiserslautern and Kusel are located). The latter was my favorite booth because of all the free flyers and maps of things to do in the region. I grabbed some information about biking, camping, and hiking in the area.
Even better yet than the flyers? There was a "Draisine" in the booth:
What is this glorious contraption? Well, apparently its German name is the same as the English term and it's similar to a handcar which is driven by human propulsion on rail tracks. This particular drisine is pedal-powered. Even better yet? These can be rented for sightseeing in the region! There are even electric powered ones and party-bus (party-drisine?) ones available for rent. Rentals start at 36 euros and more information is here. And, despite what it sounds like, none of that was an ad or sponsored in any way. I just thought I'd share the info since it seems really cool! I might give it a try, myself; I envision some friends and lots of wine for an adventure with such a contraption.
After seeing the drisine, I wandered outside and came across people "hanging out" in harnesses on a utility vehicle. It was a local tree trimming service, allowing attendees to see what it was like to be suspended from the lift.
In the "handwerk" portion of the event, crafters sold their wares in the courtyard. There were many sewn items, including a lot of owl-related merchandise. I guess owl prints are "owl" the rage right now? Har har.
As I was walking around, I could smell what reminded me of burning hair. I was wondering what on earth it could be. As I turned the corner, I found out: a farrier demonstrating shaping horse shoes for a patiently waiting horse. I felt a bit silly that I didn't recognize the smell as I had been an avid equestrienne. However, in all fairness, I stopped shoeing my own horses more than a decade ago as I have found many benefits in doing so.
To clarify about the smell: it results from the process of hot shoeing. In hot shoeing, the farrier works the shoes over a forge, heating them up. As he works on them, he presses them to the horse's just-trimmed hoof to check the fit and make adjustments as necessary. Since the shoe is hot, it burns the hoof a little bit and the smell results. There is no worry about the hot shoe touching the outside wall of the horse's hoof; it's not painful as this area is similar to the part of a human's nail that is above the nailbed. The other type of shoeing is cold shoeing, in which the farrier doesn't heat up the shoes to fit them to the horse.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
How to search for Deutsche Bahn and bus connections in English
Even though my German is slowly (and painfully!) improving, I still don't enjoy navigating many of the public transportation websites for information about connections. My translation skills are weak and I have found that the English versions of the sites leave a lot out.
I have a really lazy solution: I usually figure out my trips using Google Maps. Under Get Directions, I click on the "By Public transit" image and type in my beginning and end points. It's great; I get the times, names and numbers of the buses/trains, and about how long it will take to arrive. I can choose timetables based on when I want to leave or arrive. Even better yet, the results are all in English!
Many readers might already know about this. It's a helpful hint to take a lot of the work out of finding directions, especially on public transportation.
I have a really lazy solution: I usually figure out my trips using Google Maps. Under Get Directions, I click on the "By Public transit" image and type in my beginning and end points. It's great; I get the times, names and numbers of the buses/trains, and about how long it will take to arrive. I can choose timetables based on when I want to leave or arrive. Even better yet, the results are all in English!
Many readers might already know about this. It's a helpful hint to take a lot of the work out of finding directions, especially on public transportation.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Seen in Stuttgart: the Porsche tractor
Uh, I know that people in Germany drive Porsches; they have passed me at high rates of speed on the Autobahn.
However, someone who drove this Porsche parked near Marienplatz absolutely takes the cake.
It was a very educational visit to Stuttgart because I learned that Porsche made tractors; it's located in Stuttgart; and there are people who drive their tractors downtown! Note that the tractor even has a license plate. Crazy stuff. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; people drive ATVs around as if they're motorcycles.
However, someone who drove this Porsche parked near Marienplatz absolutely takes the cake.
It was a very educational visit to Stuttgart because I learned that Porsche made tractors; it's located in Stuttgart; and there are people who drive their tractors downtown! Note that the tractor even has a license plate. Crazy stuff. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; people drive ATVs around as if they're motorcycles.
Monday, July 15, 2013
I thought I moved out of the countryside
I was in downtown Stuttgart and saw a very strange sight:
Yes, there are ATVs in the city. I've seen people driving around on ATVs, just like they would ride a motorcycle. I've even seen them on the highway! They are actually street legal, provided they have the proper equipment, such as turn signals, etc.
Somehow, I feel as if I haven't left my previous home in the country behind; however, I never saw people riding ATVs on the main roads in the US.
Somehow, I feel as if I haven't left my previous home in the country behind; however, I never saw people riding ATVs on the main roads in the US.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Grumpy Fahrrad Herr fixes my bike
Since the movers lost a pedal on my bike and neither friends nor I could get the replacement pedals on the bike, I bit the bullet and wheeled my bike down to the repair shop tonight.
Herr Fahrrad Repair was rather grumpy, but I think he was already in that state of mind before I arrived. I asked in German if he spoke English because I couldn't think of all the words to make the request of what I needed on the bike and he said he spoke some. I told him, auf Englisch, that I bought replacement pedals and was wondering if I could pay him to put them on the bike for me. He said he had pedals for sale.
I said, "I have pedals that I just bought; is it possible for me to pay you to put them on?" He then asked if I didn't like his pedals. Crap! I don't think he took that very well, but I had just purchased the pedals and really didn't want to buy new ones. Since the store is also a bike repair place, I assumed that people could bring in bikes for repair. Yes, I know, I went in, asking if he'd speak English and if he could install pedals that I had bought somewhere else. That's probably not a successful combination.
I told him that I had just bought the pedals and he agreed to look at the bike. He said he could put my pedals on for 12 euros. I thought that was rather high but at that point what I thought was a simple errand had blown up in an epic unhappy experience for both of us so I agreed. It took him less than a minute to put the pedals on; it turns out if one has the proper tools (or any tools, for that matter! Guess what I didn't pack when I moved here?), it's very easy.
He ended up charging me 10 euros instead of 12. That was nice of him, and I left, hoping that I hadn't made him too unhappy with me. It's so frustrating when I inadvertently piss someone off and it's even more frustrating to have to shell out about $20 for new pedals and labor when it's the darn moving company's fault.
Herr Fahrrad Repair was rather grumpy, but I think he was already in that state of mind before I arrived. I asked in German if he spoke English because I couldn't think of all the words to make the request of what I needed on the bike and he said he spoke some. I told him, auf Englisch, that I bought replacement pedals and was wondering if I could pay him to put them on the bike for me. He said he had pedals for sale.
I said, "I have pedals that I just bought; is it possible for me to pay you to put them on?" He then asked if I didn't like his pedals. Crap! I don't think he took that very well, but I had just purchased the pedals and really didn't want to buy new ones. Since the store is also a bike repair place, I assumed that people could bring in bikes for repair. Yes, I know, I went in, asking if he'd speak English and if he could install pedals that I had bought somewhere else. That's probably not a successful combination.
I told him that I had just bought the pedals and he agreed to look at the bike. He said he could put my pedals on for 12 euros. I thought that was rather high but at that point what I thought was a simple errand had blown up in an epic unhappy experience for both of us so I agreed. It took him less than a minute to put the pedals on; it turns out if one has the proper tools (or any tools, for that matter! Guess what I didn't pack when I moved here?), it's very easy.
He ended up charging me 10 euros instead of 12. That was nice of him, and I left, hoping that I hadn't made him too unhappy with me. It's so frustrating when I inadvertently piss someone off and it's even more frustrating to have to shell out about $20 for new pedals and labor when it's the darn moving company's fault.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
This weekend in review: party time, spending way more than is just on transport, with a side of lamesauce
 | ||||
| This is how it starts. |
 |
| He is not that literate so I would like to know why he feels the need to do this. |
 |
| Now this is just uncalled for! |
This weekend really featured a variety of events for me: some new, and others the same old daily grind.
On Friday night, I was lame and stayed in with Moo. I was tired and wanted to relax, as well as catch up on some newspaper reading and "computering," as I put it.
Saturday found me up bright and early in order to catch the bus to town. I had an appointment to look at some apartments. The first apartment in the building was totally depressing; the walls had been stripped bare of wallpaper, some of the flooring was missing, and oh yeah, the whole kitchen was gone (which is not unusual in German apartments; many are empty and the tenant must buy her own). The second apartment in the building at least had complete flooring and painted walls but I just don't want to deal with not having a kitchen.
The real estate agent had me cracking up, though. She told me (in half English, half German) that it was good that the toilet was separate from the shower area in the apartment because "mein Mann" could take a shower and even if he was taking forever, I could still at least use the toilet. My solution is just not to have a Mann period and I can use whatever I like, when I want to ;) Of course, I don't have enough German to tell her that.
After looking at the apartments, I walked to downtown Kaiserslautern to do some window shopping, visit the farmers' market, and hang out before a group hike I was going to join. I found some interesting products at the supermarket, but I'll write about those more later.
I was supposed to meet a group for a hike in the woods just outside of town, but by that point I was tired and cold so I caught a bus home and slept for a while. Upon waking, I grabbed a bus back to town (after spending much time on studying maps and timetables), ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (it had been too long -- a month, since I had Mexican food), and attempted to catch a bus to a party I planned to attend. After spending a cold period of time trying to get the bus, as well as some false starts, I gave up and hailed a taxi. A taxi is really a last resort for me; I'm frugal (cheap??), stubborn, really like public transport, and am not adverse to walking. At that point, I was cold, tired, frustrated, and just wanted to get to the party and avoid waiting another 45 minutes for the bus, so the taxi was a wise (though somewhat costly) idea.
That's a misconception about this area (or even many parts of Europe?): that there is always plentiful public transportation. That is not always the case. Even in Kaiserslautern, which is not by any means a small city (there are about 100,000 people in the area), it is not always easy or timely to get to the edges of town. Rural areas or industrial areas might require a car to effectively travel.
I did enjoy the party and met some very nice new people. Following the party, I took an expensive taxi ride home with a very pleasant driver who called me "nice lady" and told me how lovely the area is and how he enjoys taking his dog for a walk in the woods, so at least I received some interesting commentary by a friendly local.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Pictionary
When K and I were in Prague, we decided to venture forth to Kutná Hora to see the Sedlec Ossuary. It was quite the trip, involving several bus legs and a couple hours of travel. As we made our way, we saw some Japanese tourists who seemed to have a great idea, probably born of necessity on their part. When they were trying to find the correct bus, one tourist would point questioningly to a picture of the destination (in this case, the bone church). The driver seemed to get the point: the girls wanted to get to that destination and would answer in the negative or affirmative if he was going there. Since they had to rely on their second (or third!) language and the bus driver did, too, the picture was a good shortcut and offered very little in the way of misunderstanding.
K and I decided that such a method would work great in the future, especially if we travel to locales with little English.
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As an aside, I thought that one of the girl's accent was really interesting (it must be the Sociolinguist in me). When she spoke English, you could tell obviously that she had a Japanese accent, but it was also blended with a British and American sound, too. I bet she had classes with both Brits and Americans. It was an interesting combination.
K and I decided that such a method would work great in the future, especially if we travel to locales with little English.
--
As an aside, I thought that one of the girl's accent was really interesting (it must be the Sociolinguist in me). When she spoke English, you could tell obviously that she had a Japanese accent, but it was also blended with a British and American sound, too. I bet she had classes with both Brits and Americans. It was an interesting combination.
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