10 things I have noticed in Germany
I have been in a few different villages and cities Lower Saxony, Germany since May 25th and these are a few of the things I have noticed.
- Bricks, bricks, and more bricks.
Everywhere you look there are bricks, the houses are made of bricks, the sidewalks are made of bricks, the parking lots are made of bricks, and even some roads are made of bricks.
- Roads
The roads are narrower and in some sections are only wide enough for one car. There are very few stop signs. I have also noticed that many of the roads have large trees alongside them, and in some places this creates a canopy over the road. Most of the roads don’t go in a straight line, and they are more spread out than in Canada, but there are many bike/tractor paths between fields.
- 3. Crops
The main crops I have seen so far are: sugar beets, corn, wheat, barley, and canola, as well as strawberries and asparagus.
- Tractors
Driving a tractor in Germany requires a license and instead of a SMV (slow moving vehicle) sign, they have license plates and speed limit signs on the back of the tractors and wagons. Tractors can go on almost any road. As many farms are right in the village, it is common to see multiple tractors go through a village every day.
- Meals
The largest meal of the day is lunch. Germans tend to have a small breakfast, and dinner is normally leftovers from lunch and/or bread. If the weather is nice, lunch and dinner are eaten outside.
- Restaurants
Many of the restaurants I have walked past have an outside patio area; they also have big doors or windows that let the entire front of the restaurant open.
- Bikes
Germany is very bike friendly and Germans like to bike everywhere. In some spots, there are more bikes than cars.
- Vehicles
The majority of vehicles in Germany are manual transmission. I have seen a few cars I recognize, but there are a lot of cars I have never heard of or seen. In the few weeks I have been here, I have seen less than 25 pickup trucks. Instead everyone drives a car, van or SUV.
- Villages
In Germany everyone (including farmers) live in a village or city, some villages are really small and some are only a few kilometers apart.
- I’m not in Canada anymore.
This is pretty obvious; as soon as I got off the plane I could tell I was no longer in Canada.
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