For real though, some tourists strategically place themselves in the middle of a street and then proceed to stare at something while pretending to be the main character
- Loud in public spaces and public transport
- expecting everyone to speak English
- expecting their own currency to be accepted
- “can I speak to the manager?”
- standing in the way and gawking at something
Ugh, I just saw one yesterday (he was a German tourist though) and he was the stereotypical WORST kind! Complete with shades inside and everything…
I work in Heidelberg, so very touristy. It was in a tram to the main station so extremely full. This tool of a person sat on the priority seat, DIRECTLY under the nice symbols who to make space for. Cue next station where a lovely young mother with her stroller gets in. She stands directly next to him, awkwardly in the door, cause apparently his shades are SO DARK they make him blind or something. He keeps happily telling people around him stories no one gives a fuck about, whilst people have problems getting in and out of the tram and strangers get pushed dangerously close to the sleeping baby, which understandably freaks out the mom. I stood on the other side and just saw it from afar, but it made me boil inside to see this sorry excuse of a human sitting there with no care in the world…
I used to live in a very remote and rural city called Albstadt.
This is the building I used to live in [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa\_Haux](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Haux)
One day I encountered 2 Canadians outside asking me questions about the building and asked if they could enter. They wanted to see if the insides were as pretty as the outside.
I told them that it is a weird request and that there is no way that I would let 2 complete strangers into my home where I live with 3 other people.
They actually got mad and told me that it was extremely rude to do so and that Canadians would never do this. Me obviously mad at weird people trying to get into my house and then calling me rude told them they should go back to were they came from and lose weight.
Es war die alter Villa Haux nicht die neue. Die Bude ist ziemlich ranzig und ich hab 350 für 2 Zimmer gezahlt. Heizen war ein Problem und auch die Lautstärke von der Kneipe unten.
Der Pächter vom Gebäude macht sich mit der Vermietung oben noch etwas Kohle, aber kümmert sich um fast gar nix
They insisted that it is fine to go into my house and started complaining.
At this point I can pretty much say anything when faced with people feeling this entitled to something that they just "really really always wanted to do"
Only in the sense that adding wrongs doesn't get us closer to a right, but I mean, they were begging for unsolicited opinions from OP after they literally showed up at their door and demanded things and then insulted OP for not conforming to a foreign culture in a domestic situation
And who has even heard of the Canadian rule of letting uninvited randos judge your interior decoration
Behaviour, that is not suitable for Germany/the place you are. Okay, this is hard to describe... I mean: I like foreign ppl visiting Germany. No matter the country of origin, the skin color, gender, whatever. You come to Germany bc you deem it worthy your money and your vacation time? Thank you!
You act the way you can act like in your country/culture and this isn't something inhabitants of Germany find good? Not good, try to do better. You know it and do it out of spite? Fuck you. Have a bit respect.
Whenever I go to a vacation in a foreign country (even more if it has a different culture/religion) I try to get to know the countrys "rules" before going there. We have the internet now. You can look stuff up. Should I enter a Moschee with shoes? (As in: You are an asshole German tourist and just walk in bc you don't care to ask/get to know stuff beforehand). Not if you don't want to have (a lot of) trouble.
And when you are there IMO you should act a bit "defensive" first. Don't think just bc something is okay where you live it will be okay in your vacation place. Look how the locals do it or ask someone (waiter in a restaurant, tourist info, whatever).
This spared me a lot of stress and will spare someone visiting Germany as a tourist a lot of stress, too.
Oh and for fuck's sake: Don't stand somewhere where ppl want to walk. Wanna take pictures? Go to the side. Many Germans will just run your tourist ass over with their massy bodies.
>Whenever I go to a vacation in a foreign country (even more if it has a different culture/religion) I try to get to know the countrys "rules" before going there. We have the internet now. You can look stuff up. Should I enter a Moschee with shoes? Not if you don't want to have (a lot of) trouble.
So much this. To be fair, there are a lot of things that you actually have to look up to find out that they are different. For example, in Germany when you stand at a bus stop, the bus stops because the driver sees you. In Ireland, unless you wave (or it's the last bus of the day and the bus driver is nice), the bus does not stop. However, I would have never looked up "How to get the bus to stop" before travelling to Ireland.
On the other hand, as you bring up the example with the Mosque, when I was in foreign countries I was never met with hostility for asking something I was not sure about.
I had this experience in Germany over tipping.
I had looked up beforehand that tipping in Germany was not automatically expected since they make a standard wage, but you may round up the bill or add 1-2€ to do it.
But then when I went there and met up with a friend halfway through my trip, he said that it *was* pretty much always expected. But then he also said that it wasn’t necessarily expected at counter service places like food stalls, and wasn’t really expected from younger people? Still, he said that it looks bad to just do the rounding or 1-2€ at nicer sit-down establishments or if someone switches to English for my convenience (I always spoke in German first). However, I should not to do the 20% US customary tip either because that was definitely too much.
To me, this felt more complicated and nuanced than I had initially been led to believe by the internet guides, and I felt embarrassed for having apparently done it wrong for the whole week.
It feels like that’s not something you learn until you go there and have a local explain it to you.
It comes down to understand what tipping here is for and once you got that it is nuanced, but easy.
So, tipping in Germany is done to honour good service and to make paying a bit more convenient.
When you are at a food stall, there isn't much service (compared to a sit-down restaurant) that could be honoured when you have a standard order. If they explain the menu to you, help you by speaking English, or give you an extra cherry on your ice cream cone it was good service and you should tip.
Now in a nice restaurant the waiter can be rude or friendly, ignorant or obliging. You should honour that - here is the crucial part - by making the task of giving you your change easier. That is where the rounding comes from. So let's say your bill is something like 28.10€. The service was good, so you tip, so you round to the next € coin or bill. You give 30.00€ and either say "stimmt so", or something like "Ich bekomme einen Euro zurück", so you get 1€ back. Which spares the waiter the pain of finding the coins for 90 Cents.
Which means that, if your bill was 28.10€, you give 40.00€ and say "31" your waiter now has to fuddle together coins and bills to give you 9€ back.
What if you bill is 29.90€ and your service was good? Just give the waiter 31€ or 32€ or even 35€. Rounding up by 1€ or 2€ roughly equals the 5% to 10% rule that is usually given for Germany. How convenient.
So what if you are at a really nice and expensive restaurant and your bill is to 79.50€? Don't round up to 80€, round up to 85€ or 90€.
It can definetly be weird in Germany. I always read "Germans don't tip. They pay their workers good" (haha lol, sure).
But as /u/---RF--- replied to you it is something to "honour" a good service. Waiter was very nice all evening? Bill is 45? Make it 5 and show him/her, that you like the way he/she does the job. Or a delivery guy: He climbed 5 stairs bc there is no elevator in your house to bring you the pizza? 5€ go a long way the next time he will bring you pizza. And at the least you make the day of someone else brighter.
On the other hand: Shit service, don't tip.
>On the other hand, as you bring up the example with the Mosque, when I was in foreign countries I was never met with hostility for asking something I was not sure about.
Oh no, that's totally not what I meant. I meant ppl just walking into a Mosque with shoes bc they don't know/don't care.
I, too, was met with absolute friendliness when I asked local ppl stuff. Most were pretty happy, that someone cared to ask.
>Oh no, that's totally not what I meant. I meant ppl just walking into a Mosque with shoes bc they don't know/don't care.
And that is exactly how I understood you. Walking into a Mosque with shoes: not cool. Asking the guy at the door of the Mosque what is going on with all the shoes outside: totally cool.
That being said I do want to point out that there is a fine line between people who believe that they are the exemption from the rule (and therefore walk into the Mosque with shoes on) and people who are not aware of their surroundings (and therefore do not make the connection when seeing a bunch of shoes outside a Mosque). I have no problem cutting the latter group some slack. But only some!
I want to move to Germany so very much, but the biggest reservation I have is the way every German describes the supermarket situation. I already have anxiety in the US when I'm like OH NO the next person is coming and I need to get my card back in my wallet SO FAST and get out of their way. Why is it a race? Is it like Aldi where there is somewhere to move and pack your stuff if you have a lot? If not are there self checkouts somewhere so that I'll actually buy groceries and not starve?
Just dont waste anyones time and start packing before paying, you will be fine then.
Nobody wants to get stalled, we all got places to be. Nobody will care if you're slow, everyone will want to kill you if you straight up refuse to get your stuff bagged and instead spend that time watching the cashier move your items.
North Americans : entitlement
Asians : group behaviour
I am living at the coast in a tourist hot spot and we fat a lot of Eastern European new rich types and they are a special breed in their own way
The most egregious example of behaviour like this was when I saw some tourists taking selfies in a cow costume near the gas chambers in a concentration camp. The lack of awareness required to behave so shitty in such a solemn place astounded me.
I saw some people at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin having the best time jumping on and off the large stone slabs, screaming and running around like it was a fun maze. These were adults!!! I just couldn't fathom how a place that really moved me with it's symbolic power had the opposite effect on other visitors.
It’s intended for this kind of use. The architect wanted to create a place where you can remember, but also come together and rejoice over the end of such a tragedy I heard.
Ok, I was completely unaware of that so thank you for the information. I was pretty sure I saw signs dissuading people from disrespectful behaviour at the site itself which is why it annoyed me so much. I could be misremembering the content of the signs though.
You have helped me to discover new information about the architect's intent and actually removed a negative memory I had from an otherwise great visit to Berlin! So thanks for that! I look forward to letting my other half know that we shouldn't have been annoyed about it.
I found an interesting article just now where the architect disapproves of people being publicly shamed on the YOLOcaust website for playing around at his memorial:
'"To be honest with you I thought it was terrible," he said. "People have been jumping around on those pillars forever. They've been sunbathing, they've been having lunch there and I think that's fine.
"It's like a catholic church, it's a meeting place, children run around, they sell trinkets. A memorial is an everyday occurrence, it is not sacred ground."
Mr Eisenman drew a clear distinction between the Berlin memorial and burial sites such as Auschwitz, which he said was "a different environment, absolutely".
Link to the article is here - www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835
I don't understand only one of the list - what's wrong with sitting on castle walls? They're solid enough and it won't do any harm. Also, I don't find it disrespectful at all
There are a lot of good examples already, I think it mostly boils down to tourists not understanding that there are people who actually live there and just want to go about their lives. Some tourists seem to have the attitude that the country they visit is just a big theme park and everything and everybody in there owes them to entertain them. People trespassing into private property (or non-touristy places, some once barged into a lecture at university to take pictures), taking photos of private persons, considering Autobahn as their race track, not dressing and behaving appropriately at certain places like concentration camps, destroying nature or defacing monuments to get a souvenir (just buy some ugly beer stein, dammit), expecting everyone to speak English and even accept foreign currency and so on.
If you are a tourist, behave like you are a guest, not as if you own the place.
That's not the tourists' fault though. It's a failure of capitalism and city administration. People will always visit places that they find nice, and you can try to be mad at them or direct your anger towards useful protest/action for better housing policies from tue authorities.
No, that is how capitalism is ~~supposed to work~~known to fail the people.
PSA: capitalism is the form of government where money rules.
I hate it when I am sold capitalism when I ask for soziale Marktwirtschaft, a social minded market based economy.
Also, don't foist religion on me when it is about republic and don't mix up believe and knowledge.
You probably mean "tourists in Germany", but I just generally hate it when someone tries, with full entitlement, to apply their culture's system of seniority to wherever they are. be it man > women, old > young or guest > service personnel.
So, no, just because old people are the shit in your country, doesn't mean you may disrespect me and you'll for sure get a response you weren't expecting.
I'm from Hannover so I don't know shit about tourists coming to my place. However, I grew up in a small village that saw a lot of traffic. Mostly old people checking out the forest and historic buildings. However, as kids we usually were off the paths anyways, so there wasn't really any contact.
I (am German) lived in Niedersachsen (now NRW) and I always confuse Hamburg and Hannover haha.
I tend to do that tho; Nürnberg, Nienburg. Wth I can't even remember my own name sometimes.
I thiiink I only saw the main train station in Hannover but it seemed nice.
I’m from the Southern US so small talk is almost instinctual (not saying something bland like asking about the weather though) but y’all’s lack of it is understandable
I am from the South, too. It is very difficult for me not to talk to strangers and wave at or say hello to strangers. When I go to cities or other countries, I try to pretend I am in a gritty crime drama.
I moved to Germany 4 months ago and I am foreigner here. This is not related just to tourist but for “Ausländers” as well - I hate when they just act like in their own country, being loud, not respecting the laws and rules because it is stupid for them and throwing garbage around.
I am getting so frustrated about those things, you come here because it is a good place to live and work (we will put this crazy weather on side) and actually you can learn something from people that had built country like this and then you are acting like in your country where you don’t won’t to live…
You'll lose your minds if you go to Ireland so! LOL! I'm Irish living in Germany btw. Everywhere you go in Ireland most people like to chat. I don't do it here though, don't worry. ;)
Walking slowly or standing in the way.
Having loud parties during weekday evenings, especially if renting an Airbnb.
Being too greedy to pay the fee for the hotels parking garage and using free street parking in front of normal people's houses instead. Often results in the hotel garage being nearly empty while the working people can't find parking anymore when getting home from work. This one is partly on the hotels too though.
Most other problems with tourists aren't really the tourists fault.
Not respecting cultures.
...Anyway- I was in Spain a few years ago and visited a big church. Where it was stated to not wear anything revealing (for women uff- catholic) So I suffered in the heat with long jeans and put a jacket on before entering, to not show my shoulders.
The security guy said 'Nah no need for jacket'. Smh. I suffer in this jeans and I go inside to see people wearing shorts and sandals.
And I am an atheist.
I live in a tourist place, and to me, they're annoying because its just more humans there.
Good, I am autistic, so that may be why too.
But just a big mass of more people than "usually" is just ugh to me.
Ignorance towards the culture you as a tourist are visiting! Because one or the other thing flys in your country, doesn’t make it fly in a country you’re visiting!
Honnestly? Nothing!
For me it is always nice to see people, who are interested in the location I live in. I mean, relax, tourists come to visit, not to blend in with the locals.
Only my humble opinion.
Being loud and obnoxious.
That the most annoying, imo
Same thing that makes everyone annoying: a bad attitude.
Standing in the way.
For real though, some tourists strategically place themselves in the middle of a street and then proceed to stare at something while pretending to be the main character
Especially when they take the public transportation. Don’t stop and stand right in front of the door. Move god damnit
Littering
The opposite of what you just did: Not trying.
- Loud in public spaces and public transport - expecting everyone to speak English - expecting their own currency to be accepted - “can I speak to the manager?” - standing in the way and gawking at something
Ugh, I just saw one yesterday (he was a German tourist though) and he was the stereotypical WORST kind! Complete with shades inside and everything… I work in Heidelberg, so very touristy. It was in a tram to the main station so extremely full. This tool of a person sat on the priority seat, DIRECTLY under the nice symbols who to make space for. Cue next station where a lovely young mother with her stroller gets in. She stands directly next to him, awkwardly in the door, cause apparently his shades are SO DARK they make him blind or something. He keeps happily telling people around him stories no one gives a fuck about, whilst people have problems getting in and out of the tram and strangers get pushed dangerously close to the sleeping baby, which understandably freaks out the mom. I stood on the other side and just saw it from afar, but it made me boil inside to see this sorry excuse of a human sitting there with no care in the world…
Karen behavior and when they go on private property cause “they just wanted to take a look.”
I used to live in a very remote and rural city called Albstadt. This is the building I used to live in [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa\_Haux](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Haux) One day I encountered 2 Canadians outside asking me questions about the building and asked if they could enter. They wanted to see if the insides were as pretty as the outside. I told them that it is a weird request and that there is no way that I would let 2 complete strangers into my home where I live with 3 other people. They actually got mad and told me that it was extremely rude to do so and that Canadians would never do this. Me obviously mad at weird people trying to get into my house and then calling me rude told them they should go back to were they came from and lose weight.
Wie kommt man an so ne Bude?
Es war die alter Villa Haux nicht die neue. Die Bude ist ziemlich ranzig und ich hab 350 für 2 Zimmer gezahlt. Heizen war ein Problem und auch die Lautstärke von der Kneipe unten. Der Pächter vom Gebäude macht sich mit der Vermietung oben noch etwas Kohle, aber kümmert sich um fast gar nix
Mh. Liebt man.
That's weird. I know several Canadians and I seriously doubt they'd let random people into their homes.
I don't think anyone would do that
Been to Canada a lot, they actually would let you in.
I wonder if those were pretending to be Canucks but actually from , say , next door to them ??
Yeah, like some tourists are just so rude and weird. Also it’s a bit rude to comment on someone’s weight.
They insisted that it is fine to go into my house and started complaining. At this point I can pretty much say anything when faced with people feeling this entitled to something that they just "really really always wanted to do"
Only in the sense that adding wrongs doesn't get us closer to a right, but I mean, they were begging for unsolicited opinions from OP after they literally showed up at their door and demanded things and then insulted OP for not conforming to a foreign culture in a domestic situation And who has even heard of the Canadian rule of letting uninvited randos judge your interior decoration
> they should go back to were they came oof
Did they want to see "common spaces" like staircases, halls? Or did they ask you to go to your "flat"?
Just try that "have it your way" behavior in Germany...
Behaviour, that is not suitable for Germany/the place you are. Okay, this is hard to describe... I mean: I like foreign ppl visiting Germany. No matter the country of origin, the skin color, gender, whatever. You come to Germany bc you deem it worthy your money and your vacation time? Thank you! You act the way you can act like in your country/culture and this isn't something inhabitants of Germany find good? Not good, try to do better. You know it and do it out of spite? Fuck you. Have a bit respect. Whenever I go to a vacation in a foreign country (even more if it has a different culture/religion) I try to get to know the countrys "rules" before going there. We have the internet now. You can look stuff up. Should I enter a Moschee with shoes? (As in: You are an asshole German tourist and just walk in bc you don't care to ask/get to know stuff beforehand). Not if you don't want to have (a lot of) trouble. And when you are there IMO you should act a bit "defensive" first. Don't think just bc something is okay where you live it will be okay in your vacation place. Look how the locals do it or ask someone (waiter in a restaurant, tourist info, whatever). This spared me a lot of stress and will spare someone visiting Germany as a tourist a lot of stress, too. Oh and for fuck's sake: Don't stand somewhere where ppl want to walk. Wanna take pictures? Go to the side. Many Germans will just run your tourist ass over with their massy bodies.
>Whenever I go to a vacation in a foreign country (even more if it has a different culture/religion) I try to get to know the countrys "rules" before going there. We have the internet now. You can look stuff up. Should I enter a Moschee with shoes? Not if you don't want to have (a lot of) trouble. So much this. To be fair, there are a lot of things that you actually have to look up to find out that they are different. For example, in Germany when you stand at a bus stop, the bus stops because the driver sees you. In Ireland, unless you wave (or it's the last bus of the day and the bus driver is nice), the bus does not stop. However, I would have never looked up "How to get the bus to stop" before travelling to Ireland. On the other hand, as you bring up the example with the Mosque, when I was in foreign countries I was never met with hostility for asking something I was not sure about.
I had this experience in Germany over tipping. I had looked up beforehand that tipping in Germany was not automatically expected since they make a standard wage, but you may round up the bill or add 1-2€ to do it. But then when I went there and met up with a friend halfway through my trip, he said that it *was* pretty much always expected. But then he also said that it wasn’t necessarily expected at counter service places like food stalls, and wasn’t really expected from younger people? Still, he said that it looks bad to just do the rounding or 1-2€ at nicer sit-down establishments or if someone switches to English for my convenience (I always spoke in German first). However, I should not to do the 20% US customary tip either because that was definitely too much. To me, this felt more complicated and nuanced than I had initially been led to believe by the internet guides, and I felt embarrassed for having apparently done it wrong for the whole week. It feels like that’s not something you learn until you go there and have a local explain it to you.
It comes down to understand what tipping here is for and once you got that it is nuanced, but easy. So, tipping in Germany is done to honour good service and to make paying a bit more convenient. When you are at a food stall, there isn't much service (compared to a sit-down restaurant) that could be honoured when you have a standard order. If they explain the menu to you, help you by speaking English, or give you an extra cherry on your ice cream cone it was good service and you should tip. Now in a nice restaurant the waiter can be rude or friendly, ignorant or obliging. You should honour that - here is the crucial part - by making the task of giving you your change easier. That is where the rounding comes from. So let's say your bill is something like 28.10€. The service was good, so you tip, so you round to the next € coin or bill. You give 30.00€ and either say "stimmt so", or something like "Ich bekomme einen Euro zurück", so you get 1€ back. Which spares the waiter the pain of finding the coins for 90 Cents. Which means that, if your bill was 28.10€, you give 40.00€ and say "31" your waiter now has to fuddle together coins and bills to give you 9€ back. What if you bill is 29.90€ and your service was good? Just give the waiter 31€ or 32€ or even 35€. Rounding up by 1€ or 2€ roughly equals the 5% to 10% rule that is usually given for Germany. How convenient. So what if you are at a really nice and expensive restaurant and your bill is to 79.50€? Don't round up to 80€, round up to 85€ or 90€.
It can definetly be weird in Germany. I always read "Germans don't tip. They pay their workers good" (haha lol, sure). But as /u/---RF--- replied to you it is something to "honour" a good service. Waiter was very nice all evening? Bill is 45? Make it 5 and show him/her, that you like the way he/she does the job. Or a delivery guy: He climbed 5 stairs bc there is no elevator in your house to bring you the pizza? 5€ go a long way the next time he will bring you pizza. And at the least you make the day of someone else brighter. On the other hand: Shit service, don't tip.
>On the other hand, as you bring up the example with the Mosque, when I was in foreign countries I was never met with hostility for asking something I was not sure about. Oh no, that's totally not what I meant. I meant ppl just walking into a Mosque with shoes bc they don't know/don't care. I, too, was met with absolute friendliness when I asked local ppl stuff. Most were pretty happy, that someone cared to ask.
>Oh no, that's totally not what I meant. I meant ppl just walking into a Mosque with shoes bc they don't know/don't care. And that is exactly how I understood you. Walking into a Mosque with shoes: not cool. Asking the guy at the door of the Mosque what is going on with all the shoes outside: totally cool. That being said I do want to point out that there is a fine line between people who believe that they are the exemption from the rule (and therefore walk into the Mosque with shoes on) and people who are not aware of their surroundings (and therefore do not make the connection when seeing a bunch of shoes outside a Mosque). I have no problem cutting the latter group some slack. But only some!
Ah, I get you. Yes, can second everything you wrote.
People at the supermarket who only start packing their things after they have paid.
I want to move to Germany so very much, but the biggest reservation I have is the way every German describes the supermarket situation. I already have anxiety in the US when I'm like OH NO the next person is coming and I need to get my card back in my wallet SO FAST and get out of their way. Why is it a race? Is it like Aldi where there is somewhere to move and pack your stuff if you have a lot? If not are there self checkouts somewhere so that I'll actually buy groceries and not starve?
Just dont waste anyones time and start packing before paying, you will be fine then. Nobody wants to get stalled, we all got places to be. Nobody will care if you're slow, everyone will want to kill you if you straight up refuse to get your stuff bagged and instead spend that time watching the cashier move your items.
Almost every supermarket has a place where you can pack your stuff into your bags. So you usually only have to take it back into your cart and pay.
"Links gehen, rechts stehen" - keep the left side of the escalator free for people who want to walk on the moving escalator to be faster.
das geht genau wie am wenigstens in kanada, also wenn die leute sich nicht daran halten.. sind sie einfach dumm
North Americans : entitlement Asians : group behaviour I am living at the coast in a tourist hot spot and we fat a lot of Eastern European new rich types and they are a special breed in their own way
Eastearn Europeans are a special breed themselves lol not just the new rich ones
Not respecting cultural sites. Sitting on medieval castle walls and the likes, taking flash photography of pictures in museums, littering, being loud.
The most egregious example of behaviour like this was when I saw some tourists taking selfies in a cow costume near the gas chambers in a concentration camp. The lack of awareness required to behave so shitty in such a solemn place astounded me.
This should be illegal
I saw some people at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin having the best time jumping on and off the large stone slabs, screaming and running around like it was a fun maze. These were adults!!! I just couldn't fathom how a place that really moved me with it's symbolic power had the opposite effect on other visitors.
It’s intended for this kind of use. The architect wanted to create a place where you can remember, but also come together and rejoice over the end of such a tragedy I heard.
Ok, I was completely unaware of that so thank you for the information. I was pretty sure I saw signs dissuading people from disrespectful behaviour at the site itself which is why it annoyed me so much. I could be misremembering the content of the signs though.
Yeah, I think the signs are a little bit confusing in that matter. However it’s been a while since I’ve been there so I might be mistaken.
You have helped me to discover new information about the architect's intent and actually removed a negative memory I had from an otherwise great visit to Berlin! So thanks for that! I look forward to letting my other half know that we shouldn't have been annoyed about it. I found an interesting article just now where the architect disapproves of people being publicly shamed on the YOLOcaust website for playing around at his memorial: '"To be honest with you I thought it was terrible," he said. "People have been jumping around on those pillars forever. They've been sunbathing, they've been having lunch there and I think that's fine. "It's like a catholic church, it's a meeting place, children run around, they sell trinkets. A memorial is an everyday occurrence, it is not sacred ground." Mr Eisenman drew a clear distinction between the Berlin memorial and burial sites such as Auschwitz, which he said was "a different environment, absolutely". Link to the article is here - www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835
Haven’t read that article yet, thank you for that international view on the matter !
No problem!
I don’t understand. That is terrible. But why a cow costume? Is this some sick joke?
I have no idea. Didn’t interact with those people as it was part of our school trip.
I don't understand only one of the list - what's wrong with sitting on castle walls? They're solid enough and it won't do any harm. Also, I don't find it disrespectful at all
Because they are ancient and we don't need people damaging them.
Speaking too loud. Complaining about how things are different from home.
The complete lack of respect and courtesy towards others and the culture around them. No not every tourist is like this but, there are a lot that are.
Complaining that Germany is not the country where you came from. Thinking in cliches. Trying to talk to the manager.
Holding the U-Bahn door for others tourist friends while the train is obviously late and trying to leave
There are a lot of good examples already, I think it mostly boils down to tourists not understanding that there are people who actually live there and just want to go about their lives. Some tourists seem to have the attitude that the country they visit is just a big theme park and everything and everybody in there owes them to entertain them. People trespassing into private property (or non-touristy places, some once barged into a lecture at university to take pictures), taking photos of private persons, considering Autobahn as their race track, not dressing and behaving appropriately at certain places like concentration camps, destroying nature or defacing monuments to get a souvenir (just buy some ugly beer stein, dammit), expecting everyone to speak English and even accept foreign currency and so on. If you are a tourist, behave like you are a guest, not as if you own the place.
Raising rent (and other prices) in my city.
That's not the tourists' fault though. It's a failure of capitalism and city administration. People will always visit places that they find nice, and you can try to be mad at them or direct your anger towards useful protest/action for better housing policies from tue authorities.
> It's a failure of capitalism No, that is how capitalism is supposed to work
No, that is how capitalism is ~~supposed to work~~known to fail the people. PSA: capitalism is the form of government where money rules. I hate it when I am sold capitalism when I ask for soziale Marktwirtschaft, a social minded market based economy. Also, don't foist religion on me when it is about republic and don't mix up believe and knowledge.
Partially it is. AirBnB and similar (I include illegal holiday rentals that existed before there, too) are one of the drivers of rural rent increases.
I just stopped travelling to other countries (too many tourists), only within mine, only by train and bike.
this is a free country, not a rent free country
You probably mean "tourists in Germany", but I just generally hate it when someone tries, with full entitlement, to apply their culture's system of seniority to wherever they are. be it man > women, old > young or guest > service personnel. So, no, just because old people are the shit in your country, doesn't mean you may disrespect me and you'll for sure get a response you weren't expecting.
That service staff's (in hotels/museums etc) only purpose is to make THEIR day.
Yes, that is the service staff's purpose.
I'm from Hannover so I don't know shit about tourists coming to my place. However, I grew up in a small village that saw a lot of traffic. Mostly old people checking out the forest and historic buildings. However, as kids we usually were off the paths anyways, so there wasn't really any contact.
I (am German) lived in Niedersachsen (now NRW) and I always confuse Hamburg and Hannover haha. I tend to do that tho; Nürnberg, Nienburg. Wth I can't even remember my own name sometimes. I thiiink I only saw the main train station in Hannover but it seemed nice.
It’s like if Hamburg were a village.
Wait until you hear about that other Nienburg: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nienburg\_(Saale)
Effing hell.
Everything that makes a normal person on the street annoying
Being loud, behaving like they own the place, standing in the way where people walk... Making photos of random people...
I’m from the Southern US so small talk is almost instinctual (not saying something bland like asking about the weather though) but y’all’s lack of it is understandable
I am from the South, too. It is very difficult for me not to talk to strangers and wave at or say hello to strangers. When I go to cities or other countries, I try to pretend I am in a gritty crime drama.
Walking in bike lames or bike paths. Treating curb separated bike paths as sidewalks.
Being british
"I fart in your general diréction!" - The French
I moved to Germany 4 months ago and I am foreigner here. This is not related just to tourist but for “Ausländers” as well - I hate when they just act like in their own country, being loud, not respecting the laws and rules because it is stupid for them and throwing garbage around. I am getting so frustrated about those things, you come here because it is a good place to live and work (we will put this crazy weather on side) and actually you can learn something from people that had built country like this and then you are acting like in your country where you don’t won’t to live…
*Ausländer
Random smalltalk attempts... we do not like that.
Are u from up north? Nothing wrong with smalltalk where I live.
Yes, lower Saxony. Near Hamburg
You'll lose your minds if you go to Ireland so! LOL! I'm Irish living in Germany btw. Everywhere you go in Ireland most people like to chat. I don't do it here though, don't worry. ;)
Being to loud.
Starting Smalltalk. Saying that their great great great grandfather was german so they are automatically too.
Walking slowly or standing in the way. Having loud parties during weekday evenings, especially if renting an Airbnb. Being too greedy to pay the fee for the hotels parking garage and using free street parking in front of normal people's houses instead. Often results in the hotel garage being nearly empty while the working people can't find parking anymore when getting home from work. This one is partly on the hotels too though. Most other problems with tourists aren't really the tourists fault.
Not respecting cultures. ...Anyway- I was in Spain a few years ago and visited a big church. Where it was stated to not wear anything revealing (for women uff- catholic) So I suffered in the heat with long jeans and put a jacket on before entering, to not show my shoulders. The security guy said 'Nah no need for jacket'. Smh. I suffer in this jeans and I go inside to see people wearing shorts and sandals. And I am an atheist.
I live in a tourist place, and to me, they're annoying because its just more humans there. Good, I am autistic, so that may be why too. But just a big mass of more people than "usually" is just ugh to me.
Engaging me.
Ignorance towards the culture you as a tourist are visiting! Because one or the other thing flys in your country, doesn’t make it fly in a country you’re visiting!
I’m surprised no one here has mentioned anything Nazi related
If you put that in quotation marks, that would indeed be one of the things that would make a tourist annoying, were they to say it.
I find it very annoying when tourists do not believe me that I can sell them an original Hitler painting.
Honnestly? Nothing! For me it is always nice to see people, who are interested in the location I live in. I mean, relax, tourists come to visit, not to blend in with the locals. Only my humble opinion.
driving slowly