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

"when they do have some local street person or a police minion who does attempt the local dialect, they usually get it wrong, anyway" [TC]

Here's an interesting tidbit about German phone numbers. For land lines (does anyone still have them?) the area code is often quite similar to the post code, because for both, they start counting from the top (the Northern coastal area)

However, anything with an 01 at the beginning is a mobile number.

Other handy ones are 030 is Berlin and 040 is Hamburg. As you can see, that doesn't quite tally with starting from the top, as Hamburg is slightly North of Berlin, but exceptions had to be made for Berlin as the numbers had to be re-defined after the two Germanys were re-united. So nearly all the area codes for the old Eastern parts start with a 03.

Some in Thüringen which border on to Bavaria start with 09.

Here's a very clear map, taken from Wiki.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telefonvorwahl_(Deutschland)#/media/File:Telefonvorwahlbereiche-Deutschland.png

Makes sense.

<BB<

Actually, on closer examination, the starting from the top theory doesn't really tally with that map, does it?

So here is a map with the post codes for comparison.

http://www.urlaubwo.de/index.php?page=k2

I love the second map – it shows Germany with islands in the Baltic and North Sea. Are there any more islands, and what are they classed as?

<BB<

There are the Fresian islands and the ones in the Baltic are very popular for holidays. Most of them, of course, belonged to East Germany. Eric Honneger had a holiday home on Rügen, I think. It is now a very popular place for holidays.

Sylt, with its very distinctive shape, on the Western side of Denmark (So in the North Sea) is famous as a holiday resort for the rich and famous.

Helgoland - well, I'll tell you about Helgoland tomorrow.

999 episodes of a detective series is pretty impressive, even for a poorly-written soap.

(sorry, still catching up with 6 Nov)

I was delayed in getting my 7th nutshell episode posted.

Whoops - missed yesterday because I went out straight after work and got home late. Yes, thank you, I had a nice time, an evening out with lots of expat girlfriends. Two are Irish and the rest of us (Scots and English) are trying to decide whether to take German nationality. Some already have.



So, here's the promised interesting tidbit for today about Germany.

DID YOU KNOW that the little island of Heligoland was a British protectorate for almost all of the 19th century. It was returned to German rule in 1890 under the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty and Germany ceded much of South East Africa (Kenya, Tanganyika) to the British, or at least promised not to invade there.

Apparently, however, for the duration, not many of the Germans (mainly Fresians) living on the island took any notice of the fact that they were under British rule and carried on as usual.

It offers many treasures for geologists and ornithologists, and is to this day an anomaly as far as customs formalities are concerned. It is a duty free area, similar to the Channel Islands, and if you wanted to send something there from the mainland, you would have to declare it.

It all sounds very interesting - have you been to Heligoland (aka Helgoland)?

<BB<

No - I've never really been up North except one year, when we opened the paper and stuck a pin in the holiday destinations adverts and ended up on the Baltic coast.

Oh - I've just remembered we spent another wet year on the North Sea coast, covering Bremen and the Fresian towns (I wrote the entry on the "Fresian Tea Ceremony" after that) We went to Norderney.

The whole coast is, obviously, very popular for holidays and is very civilised, and lovely if the weather's fine.

The seaside is absolutely nothing like the British seaside, though.

Ah - if you'd been there I was considering trying to persuade you to look at A2868113 Helgoland, which is in the <./>Writing-Fleamarket</.>...

So how is the seaside not like the British seaside? Other than lack of fish & chips and sticks of rock? At least tell me they have cheeky postcards.

I know there's a lot less seaside in Germany, so presumably that means that rather than having numerous poor seaside resorts all around the country, there'd be fewer, but presumably richer, resorts...?

<BB<

Yes, it's less sleazy and grubby (sorry, British seasiders - I personally love the sticks of rock and smelly seaweed, fish and chips, etc.) Many of the resorts on the coast are for posh people to "take the waters" and because so much of the country is land-locked, people with bronchial and all sorts of other health issues get sent there to convalesce.

I haven't been there enough to write an entry, but thinking about it does give me the itch to go there.

I don't like the Baltic because it's not a proper sea with tides and things.

I have no desire to vacation along the Baltic shore.

My November 9 Najpomo posting may not come until tonight....

Having said that, I would love to visit the Baltic countries, but not for their coastlines. Watch out, Hati!

Right - here's another piece of interesting stuff that not everyone knows about Germany.

I was out eating with our English/Irish/Scottish reps the other week and you see things differently through their eyes.

They told of the first time they'd been to a restaurant in Germany and had ordered a steak. The waiter brought the bowls of salad (known as "Beilagensalat") and they waited for their steaks. When they never came, they asked the waiter when they were going to get their steaks. The waiter looked surprised and said "You haven't finished your salad yet!"

This is the Italian way - one thing after another. The most reliable restaurants are usually Italian in small towns like ours - and the most prolific.

But even in a German restaurant, the salad comes separately, and usually before the main course. You may be asked if you want it first, or similtaneously with your main course.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it before other people found themselves in inexplicable situations.

"Herr Ober, can I have my steak with the salad, please?"

"I'm sorry sir?"

"The steak *with* the salad. ... Together ... On the same plate."




"Yeeeuch!"

The Italian way of organizing multi-course meals is the way I rather like, though it's a lot of work. I give the Italians credit for having a salad at every meal, and for eating *small* portions of pasta.

Actually, the steak-with-the-salad thing reminds me of another German food thing which I will save for tomorrow.