Elizabeth's Guide to Traveling in Germany

Language:

• Most Germans, especially those in restaurants, will speak enough English that they can communicate with you. However, they will be much more willing to help you if you make the effort to try to speak their language.
• Please: bitte or bitte schön (bit-eh shun, where 'u' is as in put)
• Thank you: danke, danke schön, or vielen dank (thanks, thank you, many thanks; pronounced dan-keh, dan-keh shun--'u' as in push, or feelen dank--'a' is as in father)
• Greetings: 'halo' ('a' as in father) or grüß gott ('groos got'); 'halo' is obvious, 'grüß gott' is literally translated 'God is great' and is more of a Southern German/Austrian greeting. I think I've heard it the most in Austria.
• Ziehen: pull; drücken: push

Dining:

• Germans typically don't do the 'have it your way' thing with menu modifications. Unless there's something you really can't have (i.e. are allergic to) don't ask them to do substitutions. Go to quality restaurants, though, and you will probably be happy with what you get.
• They don't do free refills for drinks; drink your own water before the meal if you are thirsty.
• The hostess/waitress will probably not guide you to a table when you walk into a restaurant. There is a good chance they will simply wave at an area and say something that you should assume means "take your pick." Avoid tables that have labels that say 'reserviert' on them. Germans are very picky about their reservations, and if you sit down at a table that is reserved, expect to be asked to take a different table.
• If you sit down at a table, they expect you to take that table for as long as you like. If you come into a popular restaurant and they have a table available but that table has a reservation on it, they will tell you that you only have a certain amount of time at that table. Expect to abide by that time limit, i.e. possession is not 9/10ths of the law when it comes to table reservations.
• Your waiter/waitress will not interrupt your meal endlessly trying to earn a tip. Your waiter/waitress will also not expect a tip. If you want something, you will probably have to waive them down.

Driving:

• Right of way in Germany is very different than in the states. Unless you have a priority road (see next bullet), you always yield to the driver on your right. Fortunately, you really only have to worry about this when driving through neighborhoods. Most major roads through cities will be priority roads.
• The priority road is indicated by a yellow diamond sign, or by a sign that resembles a hazard/warning sign. The priority road (yellow diamond) means that vehicles entering the road must yield to you. The hazard variation of the sign means that the next intersection is a priority intersection, and that following the intersection, you return to the normal situation of yielding to the driver on your right.
• The US Army publishes a driving guide that explains all the important traffic laws. The driving guide itself starts on page 16 (the first 15 pages are laws that apply specifically to armed forces members holding a US Army driver's license).

Miscellaneous:

• Always have a 1- or 2-euro coin on hand when you go to a museum. Most museums will have lockers where you can store your bags while you're in the museum, and a lot of museums will not allow bags inside the museum. The great thing about museums in Germany, though, is that you actually get your 2 euros back when you retrieve your bags.