Living in Germany (1 Viewer)

[Ilov80s]

So they have included an excursion in the price for every stop.  They also have other excursions listed you can pay for.  Are you saying to do none of them?   Most of the ones included are walking tours.  Should we just bag those and do our own thing.   We knew Seizure Citizens make up most of the cruise, but we are taking our 20-year ofd son with us and he's amped to go.

My wife, BIL and SIL (in our early 30s) went with my in-laws a couple years ago. We skipped almost every planned excursion/tour. We would often go with the tour initially to just kind of figure out which direction to head out in, but first sight of something we were interested in, we left the group. The Melk tour was cool though, that one was worth it. We also went to Prague on our own (our tour started in Passau). We also stayed on in Budapest for some extra days so those 3 cities weren't even really part of the tour for us really. Obviously, everyone will have different opinions on what they want from their vacation. We wanted to eat, drink, see some sights, shop, meet some locals and thats about it. We weren't on a tight schedule to check off a bunch of sights from a to-do list or anything. My issue with the tours is they move slow and it's annoying to have to go around everywhere with 40 people. 

As for food, the meals on the ship were pretty good, but we tried to eat in the cities as much as possible. 

Totally unrelated, I see you are from Boise. I am a Boise State grad. Thumbs up.

 

[Zegras11]

My wife, BIL and SIL (in our early 30s) went with my in-laws a couple years ago. We skipped almost every planned excursion/tour. We would often go with the tour initially to just kind of figure out which direction to head out in, but first sight of something we were interested in, we left the group. The Melk tour was cool though, that one was worth it. We also went to Prague on our own (our tour started in Passau). We also stayed on in Budapest for some extra days so those 3 cities weren't even really part of the tour for us really. Obviously, everyone will have different opinions on what they want from their vacation. We wanted to eat, drink, see some sights, shop, meet some locals and thats about it. We weren't on a tight schedule to check off a bunch of sights from a to-do list or anything. My issue with the tours is they move slow and it's annoying to have to go around everywhere with 40 people. 

As for food, the meals on the ship were pretty good, but we tried to eat in the cities as much as possible. 

Totally unrelated, I see you are from Boise. I am a Boise State grad. Thumbs up.

I can see us veering off also.    We added Prague to the beginning of the trip before getting on the boat.  My daughter went to BSU and my son is a sophomore at BSU. 

 

[Doctor Detroit]

It's starting to feel like those wanting him to go to Germany are motivated by things other than what is best for his family.  Just saying.

Family life in those places he is going are just as good or better than they are anywhere in the U.S. 

Moving is hard but military families and ex pats do it all the time.  WITH THEIR FAMILIES! 

 

[Dickies]

As you probably know, doner kebab is a Turkish sandwich. Germany of course has a huge Turkish immigrant population going back over 30 years. I think Berlin at one point had the second highest Turkish population in the world, second only to Istanbul. I had many Turkish friends while I lived there, and none of them ever knifed me. Great cooks. Didn't treat their women the way we're used to, which at times was awkward. Don't ever challenge a Turk to a game of chess - you will lose.

Have you tried "shawarma"?  Its an arab sandwich widely available here at the gyro places, essentially identical to a doner depending on the place.

Yea, I am familiar with all that.  There are a number of shawarma places here in the Bay Area, but none compare to the doner kebabs I had in Germany IMHO

 

[Mjolnirs]

Them drinking beer at room temperature is no bueno though. 

Some beer is better at room temp.

Okay... so I've never been to Europe and we're going late summer on a Viking River Cruise.  Should be epic.

Tell me what you can if you been to these cities below... Any must sees?  One excursion is included in every stop...
1) Prague (three days)
2) Budapest, Hungary (two days)
3) Vienna, Austria (two days)
4) Melk, Austria
5) Passau, Germany
6) Regensburg, Germany
7) Nuremburg, Germany
8) Bamberg, Germany
9) Wurzburg, Germany
10) Wertheim, Germany
11) Koblenz, Germany
12) Cologne, Germany
13) Kinderdijk, Netherlands
14) Amsterdam, Netherlands  (We will be doing Anne Frank Museum in the AM and catching 3pm flight back this day)

This sounds amazing! 

 There's nothing on television for her and everything is a challenge, especially at first. The support network of friends and family is gone, replaced by people she may not really relate to or like. If her personality doesn't lend itself to that type of challenge, it can get ugly very quickly.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned friends that moved to Italy and had not even tried to learn the language.  This quote above applies to the wife in that family.  The husband had work, the daughter had school and the wife had free time.  Now, everyone encouraged her to get out and enjoy where she was and make friends.  She did not and within 6 months she was back in the states ... to stay.  Her and her husband are still together (she says), but he and the daughter are still in Italy and mom has an apartment here.

If your wife isn't going to even try, then don't go.