We have been in Germany for two weeks and thought some of you might be interested in our observations.

Firstly, Germans are spoilt for choice. There is such a variety of cold meats, breads, biscuits, beer and wine. And, it is all much cheaper than at home. Much of what we saw is not available in our supermarkets, more’s the pity! For example, Michael bought some speck here and paid €1.20 and at home it would cost $5-6. A litre of milk cost 45c. The are some shops which specialise in organic produce and their goods are a little more expensive. Food bought in the markets is also a little more expensive, but it is fun to try to make yourself understood.

The country encourages recycling very well. Garbage bins are small, unless owners are willing to pay more. Residents can leave as much cardboard / paper and plastic containers out with the garbage for recycling as they like. There are recycling bins located in parks for coloured glass, and most plastic bottles require a 25c deposit. You take the empty plastic bottles back to where you bought them or you take them to a supermarket and feed them into a machine that crushes them, counts them and then spits out a receipt which is taken off your bill. When you go shopping, everyone takes their own bags as you must pay for any that you need. It looked like the Germans did not like to pay for them as I only saw one young teenager buy a bag the whole time.

Germans are well set up for people with dogs, like many other European countries. There are many special bins provided for doggy poo with free special gloves / bags for this purpose. ( This part of dogsitting has been the least favourite for Michael. He has not enjoyed handling the warm little parcels). We saw dogs on several trains we travelled on and we also shared a breakfast / restaurant room with an elderly couple and their dog at one hotel. All quite acceptable here. When we went out for dinner, we took the little dog and we were brought a bowl of water for him.

Most people speak English. A mistake I have made was to use the little bit of German I learnt before I came over when I first met someone, and then they started to talk to me back in German. I then needed to explain that I could only speak a tiny bit of the language. Mostly, they have been fantastic about this. Michael has found one person so far who does not speak English, and that was the green grocer. He also found out that the word for strawberries was nothing like the English word but luckily there was a German woman who could speak English who helped the both out.

Germany is very well organised and rules are closely followed. Road rules, walking and cycling rules and even rules about when to put the divider on the supermarket conveyor belt once your groceries have been loaded. If you aren’t quick enough, the person behind you does it, but you can tell they are not too happy about it.

German rail transport is brilliant. The trains are clean and many have on board conductors. So far, they have run on time and the timetables are very easy to read and work out. Many of the German phrases I learnt about which platform trains leave from and what time they leave have been wasted. The cost of trains is also very reasonable. A 40 min trip from Frankfurt to Konigstein cost us €4.10 each. The trains announce each upcoming stop, and although these are spoken in German, they are also written on an electronic display board. We were able to manage very well

Our six day house sitting in Konigstein was fun. It was only organised in the last days before we left Australia. We met the owner and spent a few hours with her before she flew to England. The dog was very cute and easy to care for. He loved lots of long walks each day. I have realised though that the smell of dogs is not something I could get used to. He spent the first night on the floor in our bedroom (where he usually sleeps with his owner), but I could not stand the smell so he slept in the lounge room for the rest of the time. The owner ran a home accommodation business as well, and while we were there, she had paying guests. An American family of four. We had to greet them, and then get them some breakfast on two mornings and then clean up after them by stripping the beds and washing the linen etc. We did very well we thought. We had the owner’s (male) friend come over for dinner one night as he was trying to fix the Internet and phone line which went out on our second night during a heavy storm. Unfortunately no luck there, but we did enjoy his company and learning some more about the country.

Michael and I were very surprised how much the Americans paid (€190 per night) for two nights in the essentially one room studio with two fold out beds for the children (aged 10 and 13) and a continental breakfast. We had paid €47 per night at a very comfortable hotel a few days earlier with breakfast. We know that was cheap, but on average we have paid just over €77 per night including breakfast most days since we have been in Germany.

We are now heading to the UK to house sit for 2 weeks. It has been very wet over there and I think the weather will be wet for most of the time we are there. This will give us a chance to do lots of reading. I am hoping there are patches of sunshine so we can at least walk to the local pub for a beer a few times. Michael is keen to try some ale and the local cider.

For those readers of the blog who are not so keen on the food entries, my apologies. But, I have been getting a few followers who only seem to like those photos and stories.

We will return to Germany after our stay in the UK for a few more weeks of exploring this beautiful country.