When not in Rome

[indigo_rose99]

When T & I travel to a new country, T tries to walk my feet off. Hamburg is no exception.

Our flight was as boring as could be hoped. Our hotel was lovely for a European hotel.*

So we went out to see Hamburg. Walking. We walked and wandered and meandered. After about 45 minutes, I admitted to T that I had a blister from my walking earlier in the week. *sigh* So, we had a new quest -- blister pack & soaking salts.

Did I mention that we kept walking for six (!) more hours? Livingdeb: 14,000 steps since we arrived in Hamburg.

I feel like I have been learning about Germans. T says that since they are just like me, I should love it here. Remember those rumors about how rude the French are? I found Montpelier to be vey nice. Germans in Hamburg? Rude. Abrupt. Impatient. Pessimistic.

Shop keepers are exactly correctly polite. Not friendly. Not welcoming. I've gotten a rude noise made at me from trying to stand out of the way on the sidewalk (I had one foot on the utterly empty and completely unmarked bike path). I did the right-left-right dance with a woman trying to get into a store I was exiting... Instead of reacting with humor, her noise was a comment on her impatience and my evident utter stupidity. These seem like the typical attitude of people as a whole here.

Should I mention the German annoying tendency to cut in line because they think someone is being too slow? I became a Rude American (non-verbal cutting back in front of them) at least twice in reaction. Bleh.

I know, sample of one day, but many people! On a beautiful weekend day! You'd think they would be happier...

Mr Kitty looks over the city. 
   


* European hotels tend to make you wait to check in, even if you requested early checkin. Ours set us up for a nice free snack in a quiet and lovely lounge. The room is sized similar to US hotels, not like the often claustrophobic typical European hotel room. I'm impressed.

Comments

[sclatter.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just Hamburgers (teehee) who are rude? I had uniformly pleasant interactions in Berlin, Munich, and Regensberg. I know Germany isn't very monolithic in culture. Berlin was quite different from the other two cities I visited, which are both in Bavaria.

Funny--A German friend warned me before visiting Berlin that it isn't very German there, and I thought that was silly, after all, it's the capitol of the country! But he was totally right. It was so wiped out in WWII and what was rebuilt is very generic. Munich is way more German.

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

I've actually been to other cities in Germany and the people were not like this at all. Maybe you are right and it is a city specific thing.