h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Getting Around Germany - A55414532
Author: Malabarista - 257 new blobs hunted down and indexed at A53308361 - U1528154

Finally finished this. I have a feeling it's a bit long. Will add more links when I get around to it, but the most important ones are there

Mala,
This is a very comprehensive informative entry but there is an item missing I feel. The fun of it! I remember trying to go round Germany pretty much on a shoestring decades ago. I've no doubt the list of rules and regulations is correct and yet the police came after us once, they'd realised we'd misunderstood and were going the wrong way... (True, they seemed a little shocked at the (illegal) U-turn we made but still waved us off.)
I know the title is 'getting around' but please do your bit for the tourist board.
I remember we went to some kind of ....thing... on a small carpark one lunchtime. We'd no idea what it was and we were far from the tourist trail, we ate huge sausages and drank some beer and conversed with people sitting at trestle tables and we still had no idea what event we'd stumbled upon.
In a cheapo guest house, the lady of the house decided we hadn't eaten enough breakfast and put cold-cuts and bread into a little package for us. I can still hear her saying 'you are young, you must eat'.
Sorry to go on and on, but surely a little of that magic still exists.

Maybe just a line to say that knowing how to get round Germany will give you more time to spend on enjoying yourself

Well, maybe I should put all the asides I culled to make it shorter back in

But it's not an entry about travelling in Germany, it's about how to get around - so guest houses and where to eat aren't really relevant.

I know, I meant that just giving all the rules distracts from the fact that it's a great place to visit. Obviously not putting in stuff about unknown festivals on strange carparks or nice ladies in guest houses..... Go on, half a line saying the excellent info you give will leave people time for having fun.... a quarter of a line....

Frankly, I don't see why you're reading this as "rules".

I didn't mean to offend. As I said in my first post, the entry fulfils it's title promise of 'getting around'.

I just thought that paragraphs such as "Remember to stay on the right, indicate when you're turning, give advance warning to slower-moving traffic when you're passing, and so on. Keep bicycles off footpaths and horses off footpaths and cycle paths, stay off the Autobahn and Kraftfahrstraßen4, and obey the signs. If you must cross a short stretch that's closed to cyclists and equestrians, dismount - then you'll simply be a pedestrian who happens to have a horse or a bicycle along! Stay off the pavement anyway. And for your own safety, stay out of the woods during hunting season, especially at dusk and especially with animals." read a little like rules, instructions if you prefer.

I'll make no more comments.

Well, I could simply change the whole entry to "do whatever you like", if you prefer

Except on my own post, that should read "As I said in my first post, the entry fulfils its title promise of 'getting around'."

The entry does what it says on the tin, and we have an incredible amount of rules here, many of which have their own sign (we name that 'Schilderwald' (traffic sign jungle), but the signs are by no means limited to traffic.

However, I see your problem, nsbe, and I agree. It's just too many rules and not broken up by anecdotes or nice examples.
Maybe write several entries (one for each form of transport) and include examples and or anecdotes there?

If it's boring as one entry, it'll be even more boring as a series.

I'll just get rid of it.

Don't be silly, it's absolutely useful for anyone searching comprehensive information about what to look out for when travelling Germany.

But it's not a terribly good entry. So bye-bye it goes.

Germany and Denmark are the two countries in Europe I have ever driven in. Everywhere else cars seem to be driven by the driven.

Oh Mala. This is the first entry I've read since getting back online and I find you've pulled it . This is The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is exactly the sort of thing I'd want to read today - I used to travel on business in Germany a couple of decades back so things have naturally changed since then. This update would be invaluable for me.

As Bel said, this entry does exactly what it says on the tin. Please consider putting it back into PR. I didn't find it dry and wasn't at all bored by it - quite the reverse.

(bribery always worth a try )

Can I endorse what h5ringer has just said? (This new post has just popped up into my conversations, as I had previously subscribed to new stuff in PR)

Before you pulled it Mala I had only had a chance to read up to the second para. And had smiled at your footnote re silviculture - yes it is a great word

I'd no time to finish it properly at the time, and when later I saw you had withdrawn it, I respected your right to do so. But I've now read it all through and think it well deserves a place in the Guide.

I think it's a great angle to look at various ways of discovering another country. I just wish I knew how to ride, you make it sound enticing!

Go on, give it another go! ???

If I put it back, it will be after an extensive rewrite. (Though I will not be mentioning roadside sausage stands. They are irrelevant.)

I don't have time for it right now - I'm busy with my bachelor thesis and have ten days left for 35-50 pages of that!

Your Thesis is more important ... for now


Don't forget to bring this one back, though

We can wait Mala

with the thesis