Debbie and Thurston Part Four: Final Thoughts

*This post is about my mom and nephew's trip to Germany. The following is their account of what we did and how they felt.*

 Different customs

Ø  Going down a street with two lanes on each side and bang all of a sudden the right one has parked cars.

Ø  Drivers go fast in town and are swerving around each other, parked cars and bikes. Fast and tailgating on the Autobahn (freeway). 

Ø  Everyone follows the rules no matter what.

Ø  Drivers and bicycle’s go really fast up to the stop line then slam on their brakes. I kept waiting for them to run into the road.

Ø  To cross all streets, even very short ones, there is an island in the middle that walkers will stop in because their walk light is now red.  No jay walking either.  

Ø  Men will pee anywhere, even on the streets….yes I saw one – yuk

Ø  They aren’t ashamed of their bodies and are very free – at the pool we saw a guy out in the open by the pool changing clothes.  He was more discreet as he was sitting down and covering his front side ..just not his butt!

Ø  Lots and lots of roundabouts.

Ø  Two lanes going one direction but one lane turns either right or left. They do not turn until the signal for their lane is green.

Ø  Turn signal lights also go from red, yellow then green.

Ø  Many long tunnels and some even have a tunnel that turns into another tunnel inside the other one.

Ø  Josh would be driving the speed limit of 80 (mph) and cars would pass him going approx. (100-120 mph)  Scary stuff I tell you!

Ø  They also have many hidden camera’s to catch speeders – didn’t see police driving around.

Ø  At a very young age, kids are taught how to use the subway, cross a street and walk to school.  They pull kids out of pre-school and take them to learn this stuff.  I saw very young children walking alone towards a subway or just walking – I mean like 5 years old!!!

Ø  Lots of smokers and they have vending machines on the streets.

Ø  Emergency phones often along the Autobahn.

Language

I learned some new words from Kyla and Joslyn.  Kyla taught me the German word for red.

Joslyn helped teach me the right way to say thank you and Alethea & Josh taught me your welcome.

I keep forgetting the word for Joshs’ favorite Swiss meal (hashbrowns with ham or bacon). *It's Rösti*

I had so much fun listening to all of them talk and I must say Alethea does pretty darn good.

Kyla has been having trouble with her r’s so I helped her with the word park since she always wants to go to one. Then she bought herself a barbie so we practiced that word too.

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I want to take this time to thank the Horning family for letting us take over the girls’ rooms and Alethea fixing those great meals.  Josh for being such a trooper and driving day after day to get us places.  I have been very blessed with a gracious family.

Thanks out to my parents as well since they had to take care of the devil cat (pumpkin).  Couldn’t have gone without you guys being there for me.

The Hornings will be in England soon so I will be saving up to visit them in about 2 years – another adventure to look forward to.

I will be posting many more pictures on FB when I get home and have time but this gives you an idea of how our trip was.

Now I have to finish packing and get ready to leave here about 7:00am tomorrow.  Very sad day but I had so much fun and got to experience things I never thought I would. It was a fulfilling time.