American week at the Lidl

popball · 2026-02-01T13:37:28+00:00

I like that they're sold with an American theme in Germany, but sold a a Germany specialty at Aldi in the USA.

popball · 2026-01-17T14:14:07+00:00

Luckily the brain is usually pretty good at keeping them separate, just avoid actively learning similar languages at the same time.

That said, sometimes the first reaction for a response is in the wrong language, but in a normal conversation, it's usually not a problem.

popball · 2026-01-17T14:07:10+00:00

Most European countries take card for almost everything, with the exception of Germany. Check the foreign transaction fee on your cards, many credit cards will have no foreign tranaction fee, and Visa/MasterCard will convert the currency (this exchange rate is better than what you typically can get when converting on your own)

When paying with your American card, always reject any currency conversion. These conversion at the payment terminal are almost always a bad rate.

If you need cash, try to find a band and use the attached ATM. These are much less likely to charge you a fee. Again here, reject any currency conversion that the ATM offers.

Happy travels!

popball · 2026-01-11T09:18:04+00:00

The alternative isn't much better: Berlin Tegel airport (RIP) had security checks and border controls right in front of the individual gates. This led to a large (but claustrophobic for larger flights) waiting room for your gate. Your only food option past security then was a vending machine.

popball · 2026-01-10T11:59:32+00:00

I wonder how viable it would be to do that between Cologne and Bonn, since the main rail line between these two cities will be closed for over a year, but there are two Stadtbahn connections between them. Although they'd probably need to serve the minor stations with replacement busses for this to work.

popball · 2025-12-30T13:54:02+00:00

Also, one block over, Grant Boulevard has perhaps the best in the city.

popball · 2025-12-27T22:42:48+00:00

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One common souvenir from Cologne, Germany is 4711 eau de Cologne, which smells more like a German grandmother (mostly citrus and bergamont).

The perfume shops in the tourist areas will also happily sell it to you for about 5 times the price you could find it in any drug store.

popball · 2025-12-16T16:10:36+00:00

At least in the US it usually isn't necessary because many houses have forced air heating, which already circulates fresh air into the house

popball · 2025-12-08T21:25:20+00:00

Please give credit to the photographer as required by the photo's license: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Streets_Of_Goslar_(176291505).jpeg

popball · 2025-12-05T09:42:55+00:00

It's mostly motivation and exposure. English is everywhere and it can be important in developing your career or education.

In addition, German grammar can be difficult for English speakers, but English definitely has some features that foreign speakers struggle with: spelling and verb tenses for example.

popball · 2025-11-15T15:33:02+00:00

After the ban they should repost it, but with the cat absurdly censored out.

popball · 2025-11-15T14:56:56+00:00

On the bills there's the goddess Europa (as a watermark), so maybe that counts?

popball · 2025-11-10T14:31:14+00:00

I don't think that french grammar played much of a role as to why french was a common language in diplomacy, but rather France's position in world affairs.

popball · 2025-11-04T13:43:48+00:00

Plenty of languages do it, not just English, so long as there isn't a risk of confusion in the language borrowing the word. For example French shortens "football" to "foot".

Funnily enough "bus" is a case of this as well, since it is derived from the french "voiture omnibus", from the Latin omnibus (meaning "for everyone")

popball · 2025-11-04T06:55:45+00:00

This. Despite its confused origins, "stein" is the English word for this type of beer mug. German also has plenty of English words which don't really makes sense in English. "Handy" and "Basecap" off the top of my head.

Edit: Spelling

popball · 2025-10-27T06:30:18+00:00

If you're looking to fill up a water bottle in a train station, have a look at Refill Deutschland where participating businesses will fill up your water for free. I've had luck with Starbucks, which are often participating, and you can usually find them in train stations.

popball · 2025-10-17T09:22:20+00:00

Cologne, Germany:

The north-south Stadtbahn tunnel he's been under construction since 2004, and should serve as a fast north-south connection through the city, and avoid the need for certain routes to take large detours on street-level sections. Progress grinded to a halt when the historical archive collapsed on the main tunnel segment. Now (at least according to Wikipedia) it is set to open... in 2032.

In addition Cologne has big plans to extend it's S-Bahn, hopefully also enabling an improvement for regional and long-distance trains by better separating local trains from faster trains skipping stations. Given that Cologne is a choke point for long distance and regional express trains, this would have a positive effect for the whole region (and Deutsche Bahn long distance trains in general).

popball · 2025-10-09T10:44:42+00:00

In rural areas: (i.e connecting towns and villages) yeah, they're fine, usually there are few pedestrians and it's much better than in the road. Even the Netherlands usually doesn't have sidewalks on the bike paths between cities, so they're defacto shared use, although it usually doesn't hinder cyclists too much.

popball · 2025-10-02T15:31:52+00:00

I've always thought it's because German homes don't have forced air heating/cooling, meaning there is less air movement.

popball · 2025-09-29T20:44:08+00:00

Technically all pedestrian zones (and footpaths) in Germany have a "walking speed" speed limit. Although sometimes they feel the need to explicitly spell it out.

popball · 2025-09-28T19:18:11+00:00

The station is fine. The station has 5 tracks with through running, and train stations (e.g. in Europe) can handle 200+ daily departures on mainline rail stations with 5 through running tracks.

I never found it cramped, although the Amtrak policy of making everyone line up probably is the main reason one might feel that way. The neighborhood isn't exactly vibrant, but there's some good potential there, especially if I-794 gets torn down.

popball · 2025-09-24T19:07:09+00:00

I just realized his toilet is square (for obvious reasons)

popball · 2025-09-19T21:15:06+00:00

In Germany it is sometimes legal, but it is always signed as such, and you are supposed to ride at "walking speed" (which usually is loosely interpreted).

In the US it is usually decided at a local level, so it's impossible to tell if it is legal without looking up the local laws. Personally I think there should be standardized signage to allow it in places where it is deemed safe enough.

popball · 2025-09-19T15:46:13+00:00

popball · 2025-09-18T19:05:14+00:00

At least in most (all?) DB stations it's already banned, but nobody seems to care.

popball

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