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I didn't say he was wrong about the Ruhr - but there is a WHOLE lot more to Germany than just that one area.
And of course there are some bad areas of any city, including London, Paris, Berlin, you name it. That's not what the gist of this thread is about.
It seems like some here just want to dis Germany while others have this highly idealized view of it. I'm saying that some German cities are depressing, many others have parts that are depressing...while there's also some very pretty and attractive parts. I'm not singling out Germany for that matter, but reality isn't a tourism brochure.
It seems like some here just want to dis Germany while others have this highly idealized view of it. I'm saying that some German cities are depressing, many others have parts that are depressing...while there's also some very pretty and attractive parts. I'm not singling out Germany for that matter, but reality isn't a tourism brochure.
Right. I lived there for three years and go back to visit regularly - in fact, am going back again in a few months. I lived in Aschaffenburg, just outside of Frankfurt. In other words, not in a tourism brochure. When I visit, I rent a car and drive all over the country, so I don't really know what other people are seeing from train windows.
But hey, what do I know - I don't even find Berlin depressing.
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 07-14-2019 at 07:51 AM..
Berlin isn't depressing, but it has depressing and depressed parts. Just like the Frankfurt region..whether it's Lauterborn in Offenbach or the Nordweststadt in Frankfurt. Some severe mistakes were made in city planning in the 1950s through 70s.
Everyone talks about the ugly mega-projects in Soviet bloc countries, but they built very similar type developments in Western Europe, too. Quite a few of them in West Germany as the war-time destruction created a lot of open space to play with as well as a need for new residential and commercial building on a large scale.
Once you got away from the famous landmarks and sights, the general approach was to replace the old style of city neighborhoods with a 'modern' approach. That meant high density, i.e. high-rise development, coupled with large roads and a lot of empty space between buildings. As time went on many of those developments became known for crime and poverty...just like the 'projects' in Chicago or New York.
Yes, and if you hang out in those apartment block areas, you'd likely find it to be depressing. On either side of the Atlantic.
But overall, I don't find "German cities to be depressing." Of course, I'm not living in or hanging out in bad neighborhoods anywhere, so there's that.
Customer service is terrible in Germany.. No one is friendly and what's worse they do a worse job at being efficient than friendly..
Things like refusing to serve you, they often give you the wrong food or drinks and will say that's what you ordered or what ever.. They will hesitate and will not even exchange your things even though it's their mistake.. Nothing you can do, customer service is in such a poor state in Germany.. In the grocery stores or what ever people will literally push in font of you.. You call that efficient? It's part of their culture the poor customer service.
How would you feel if you ordered a particular thing and what you received was different? And then you get blame you and refuse to accept the fact that they didn't give you what you wanted? Is that efficient? Forget your money, you'll not be seeing that again..
Things like that are unheard of in U.S.. If that was the case the person responsible would be fired and the business would get closed down anyway since no one would go there..
But in Germany, it's their culture to treat customers like crap..
I’ve read some unadulterated horse **** in my time, but that diatribe takes the biscuit.
Living in London, U.K., German cities are rarely more than 2.5 to 3 hours flying time away.
I don’t claim to know the country like the back of my hand, but I’ve been to many cities there, including Hamburg, Köln, Hannover, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt (Oder), München, Stuttgart, Essen, and Nürnberg.
Both my sons were stationed there in the military, the younger in Paderborn, his brother in Bielefeld, both in Nord Rhein Westfalen.
I visited them when I could, went out with them to bars and restaurants, you could eat your food from the floor in most German places, they are that clean.
My German was limited to hello, goodbye, please, thank you, can I have, where is X please, but the wait staff and barkeeps, and other customers, all joined in and helped me out, laughing in the right places, and congratulated me when I got something right.
My elder son admonished me when I asked for die Rechnung bitte, (the bill please), as I’d tentatively raise my hand to get the waiter’s attention.
“Dad, for Christ’s sake, you look like you’re giving a Nazi salute!â€
He liked the country so much, that he married a beautiful blonde fräulein, and lives there still, a case of getting captured, but never volunteering for repatriation.
Even his mother approves, that’s a first!
Let's compare an apartment living in NY
vs living in an apartment in Berlin...
Germany's Apartments Are The Greatest Expectation Vs. Reality Win I've Ever Experienced http://flip.it/iRJZoW
Berlin's population is about 3.75 million and NYC's population is about 19.49 million. It would be more accurate to compare Chicago and Berlin.
Or maybe Casablanca - or Busan.
Ranked by GDP per capita Berlin ranks right up there with Flemish region of Belgium. New York City ranks considerably higher, in the same ballpark as Zurich (and higher than London). In fact, Zurich and NYC rank in the top ten cities in the world for cost of living (interestingly enough, they are also the only non -Asian cities making that top ten list). https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/...iving-rankings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...PP)_per_capita
I thought this was interesting. In total cost of living, Berlin ranks below Dallas, Brussels, Minneapolis, Frankfurt, Munich, Oslo, Houston...and 72 other cities around the world. Berlin may be the place to move, folks! https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/...kings#rankings
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 07-20-2019 at 04:27 PM..
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