The Rambler

In Germany, I was very surprised to see a road sign on the Autobahn that is permanent and signal "Beware of Traffic Jam". In comparison, from what I have seen in France, there are connected boards above the road, on motorway or ring roads that shows relevant messages or warnings when needed. This very high tech boards have not arrived in Germany yet. ...

Probably the consequence of the bad state of public transportation of Germany, and also because driving a car in this country is the equivalent of owning a firearm in the USA, and maybe because I live in Bayern aka Autoland, cars literally are everywhere: on the road day and night 7 days a week, parked or driving. Germany is definitely not a cyclist and pedestrian country because during sunny winter days, I usually feel alone on the pavement, which can be comfortable as I have the streets for ...

I used it once, for a 14 hours flight in Business and had a very bad experience: Very old aircraft Almost rude crew (well, compared to Air France or ANA) Bad food, as bad as German food can be, so very very bad. Food is just to fill your stomach in Germany Not comfortable Extremely expensive Luggage policy is weird: in Air France Eco Premium, the ticket includes by default 2 checked + 2 cabin luggage + 1 handbag, in Lufthansa Business only 2 checked + 1 cabin + 1 handbag I just feel that th...

Another topic, another "joke": public transportation in Germany. There are many reasons why they are now tagged as the worst in Europe, even compared to France and the UK (yeah, you read correctly, France and UK): lack of infrastructure investment and the Deutschland Ticket for instance. Here are 2 interesting articles about those topics: Deutsche Bahn terrible state of misery (the Guardian) Deutschland Ticket (BR24) The Deutschland Ticket costs 58€/month since 2025 and was 49€ before an...

Logically, bottled water in Germany is as hard as tap water. After living in an Asian country for years where water was so soft you would not need washing product for your laundry, your hair and skin would look better and you would not need to clean everyday your faucets. In Bavaria, water is so hard that it turns into limescale immediatly, ruining your cleaning efforts, also ruining all appliances that uses water, damage your hair and skin, damage clothes. ...

Coming from Brittany, I have always drank bottle water, for health safety reasons: phreatic tables are well known to be polluted due to intensive agriculture, especially in the countryside, where I grew up. Usually, my parents bought the cheapest spring water, namely Cristalline, and sometimes mineral water. We would use tap water for boiling, as it was safe enough. It is a very bad habit that I have kept since, and whenever I drink tap water, I usually taste the chlorine and cannot bear it. ...

Ask anyone, even the French neighbours, and they will all tell you that Germany is a very green country, making so many efforts and having loads of initiatives for the environment. Even I thought the same, until I moved in Bavaria last year. Cars First, many people here do not use public transportation. However, it is difficult to blame them as the network has not been maintained probably since the reunification so Germany's reputation about punctuality has been severely damaged, among its r...

When I was living in Düsseldorf, I ate the delicious handcrafted bread made by this very good bakery called Hinkel. They had and still have 2 shops that are few dozen meters from each other and a truck. This is what can be considered to be the closest thing from an "artisan French bakery" where an artisan who owns the shop called "boulanger" or "boulangère" wakes up very early in the morning and prepare and bake their breads, viennoiseries (croissants or pain au chocolat) and pies, usually alo...

I think there is a clear lack of transparency in Germany concerning the origin of food products. Except for fruits and vegetables, other packed goods, like pasta, rice, oil, and other simple NOVA 1 or 2 ingredients, the origin of the main ingredient is never mentioned. It can be guess if it is an organic product on the certification label but you usually have "EU/non-EU agriculture". In France or Japan for instance, origin of the main ingredients are mentioned. And I usually tend to buy thos...

Before facing the Checkout, and after trying a blind eye to the dirtiness of the supermarket, I try to do my grocery, out of necessity. Germany is not know for its gastronomy, having none, and my city is not know for its farmer's market, having none, so when it comes to fruits and vegetables, I have no choice but to rely on the horrible German Supermarket, it can be Edeka, Alnatura, Aldi and co, the selection is poor. Of course the "essentials" are there. When I went to a Leclerc or Super U i...

I mentioned it already but the supermarkets in Germany are so dirty that I think it is worth repeating. I can only compare to French supermarkets I visited a few months ago and to Berlin and Düsseldorf ones that I went to 10 or 20 years ago, but those I have been to in Bavaria are particularly very extremely dirty, unorganised, and with plenty of empty shelves. I have visited in differents days and time and inevitably were they with: food on the floor: not so fresh anymore fruits or vegeta...

It is very well know by foreigners that you have to speed up when packing your grocery at the checkout in all German's supermarkets and grocery stores. This is the German efficiency at its climax. So when I step out from my apartment and had a huge wave of anxiety as I thought I forgot my keys but recover once I checked my bag and that they are in, I walk on the pavement to the nearest supermarket, usually with the vehicules ballet (sounds, smells, and visuals included) a bit stressed by this...

Or Foehn. Here is the definition in the French Wikipedia: Par forçage mécanique, l'air humide s'élève en franchissant les Alpes et refroidit avec la température : si l'air est saturé en humidité, la vapeur d'eau se condense et cause des précipitations abondantes sur le versant sud. Si la masse d'air est stable, un flux d'air descendant se met en place du côté nord des crêtes des Alpes et empêche la formation de nuages, formant parfois un mur de foehn au niveau des crêtes. https://fr.wikipedia....

After almost a decade of fresh air, when I came back to Germany, I had a violent reminder that smoking is a very popular habit here, even more than in France (it is in the stats of the "European Commission" and also just by observing and smelling in the streets). My neighbours smoke so when I go outside on my balcony, which is quite rare considering the high level of pollution due to traffic and intensive agriculture, I always, really all the time, got the pleasure of smelling tobacco. When...

Maybe another form of pollution, but this one is a bit different. I cannot remember how it was in Berlin or Düsseldorf, those big modern and nice cities, but here in the ghetto of Deutschland, in Bayern, in all the drugstores I have been, DM or Müller, all the paper towels, toilet paper, sponges, bin bags and plastic storage bags for food (ziplock bags) came with a horrible synthetic perfume than either stayed forever or stayed for many weeks. I suppose the smells comes from the laundry powd...

Here, where I live, in Augsburg, I can smell traffic pollution (I feel like I live on the Autobahn), burnt wood pellets, tobacco, intensive agriculture (mostly manure, although I live in the city), bad food, and... and cheap perfume in an incredibly huge quantity, you know, like cheap detergent synthetic perfume, mixed up with cheap awful toilet deodorant and cheap body deodorant like the person had imitated the stupid guy of the TV ad by spraying themselves half the bottle. Subtlety is not in t...

When the night falls on every 31st December, Germany becomes a foggy polluted mess (and the consequences in the air and on the ground remain for a week). Everywhere, city, countryside, anywhere between, many many people light up fireworks: outside in parks, streets, middle of the road, car parks or even inside on rooftops or balconies. You cannot escape from them. It last usually until 2 or 3am on 1st of January. From 31st afternoon until many days after, the air quality becomes as bad as t...

Last time, I talked about tobacco and the huge number of Germans that loves smoking it for my greatest pleasure. I also mentioned the pollution caused by gas engines. And you can enjoy that all year round, yay! Today, let's talk about wood, and more precisely burning wood to heat your house. In Germany, even in cities, many people still use wood burning stoves, and I think since the energy crisis, the number increased. I am not entering this debate about nuclear energy, but the one thing I ...

I decided to leave Bavaria and since my job is for a German company, I have not choice but to remain in the country, for tax reasons. I opted for Düsseldorf because I know the city and because people there are open and because it is quite the opposite of Bavaria. Although it has been almost a decade since I have not laid foot there, I guess it has not changed that much, well, I hope so. I was thrilled to move back to Düsseldorf until I had to face the German system, again, which sapped greatl...

Vous l'aurez compris, je trouve que les appartement allemands ne sont pas construits ni pensés pour qu'un humain puisse y vive de façon confortable et agréable. Je les trouve mal agencés, froids, impersonnels, bruyants, uniquement isolés pour maintenir la chaleur, tout sauf pratiques et souvent mal finis, en particulier le mien, ce qui est bien dommage pour un appartement d'un standing dit "luxueux" et beaucoup plus cher que la moyenne. Mais alors pourquoi avoir loué cet appartement ? Parce ...

Yeah... A new day, a new bad surprise, and since I have moved in Bavaria, I have known none without one. I wrote a lot about the downsides and the ridiculousness of the German Apartments, and when I thought my last note was the last. Alas, it was not. As you know, I sent my Termination of Lease, and I feel completely and entirely conned but relieved that I will leave it and leave Augsburg and Bavaria. I thought the issues with the deadline and the kitchen where enough, but no. In France,...

I hate so much my apartment (but not only that, the city and almost the country as well, which I explain more later) that I could not wait any longer to leave it even if I really do not know where I could go next. I definitely do not want to rent a flat again in my life in Germany. Anyway, living in this apartment, in this city (Augsburg) and this country became so unbearable that I sent the termination letter for my lease agreement. Just like that. Alas, again, in Germany, nothing is easy, n...

Room ventilation is a very important matter in Germany and Germans tend to take it seriously at the office and at home. It is even stipulated in most lease agreements : Er hat insbesondere für ordnungsgemäße Reinigung, Lüftung und Beheizung zu sorgen. Which translates in English as : "In particular, the tenant must ensure proper cleaning, ventilation, and heating." Here is a nice video from the Arte TV show "Karambolage", in French, that explains it all: "L'aération des pièces" I completel...

I mentioned it previously in my rant about the bathroom but let's dive into it. Because, it is such an eyesore. It is so ugly, but in an apartment intended for rent, it is of course such a cheap way to mask all irregularities on a wall. It can hold, from what I have read, 4 or 5 layers of paint, mandatory feature in Germany because all tenants must repaint all the walls when leaving the apartment. Some layers can be several decades old. Other types of patterns exist, but it seems that (pro...

I am strongly shortsighted, so I wear prescription eyeglasses. Everyday, I feel this is important to check regularly the state of my teeth, moles, pimples, or simple how bad is my hair in the morning. To this effect, I use the mirror in the bathroom, usually the only one I have always had, you know, the one most humans use, the one above the bathroom sink. It was always already provided and I had no issues, until I moved to the worst designed/built apartment of my life. (And I have lived in...

Another stone to the wall of the German flat tacky style: my bathroom with its white tiles on all four walls from floor to ceiling, ceiling with the popcorn wallpaper by the way, very 1970's. Whenever I enter my bathroom, I feel like in a slaughterhouse or in an operating theatre (which one is worst, I cannot choose between them, either way, the less time I spend in it the best I feel). Why put white tiles from top to bottom on all walls of a room?! Why put the "Raufaser" (this popcorn wallpap...

German buildings have some rules about thermal insulation, which is great, I was able to experience it last winter and can confirm that the flat has kept warmth well. However, this Summer, we had serious heatwaves and I also noticed that the flat also kept the heat from the outside... inside very well as well. Every morning, when the temperatures were lower, I made sure to ventilate my flat so the apartment would cool down a bit before I would closed the windows and shutters. However, as it is ...

It is probably only valid for my building, but since it is a brand new one, with the first tenants in 2024, it really does seem off to me that the switches are placed about 30 cm away from the door. Usually light switches are maybe about 5 cm from the door, which is normal and convenient. So why, why on earth would any human decide to place them so far? Well, I kind of know the answer, but each time I have to reach it and stretch my arm, I just want to shout "why?!!!!!!!! WTF!!!". ...

Yep, a glass door in an apartment, the pinacle of bad taste, you read it correctly. The door that leads to the living/dining/kitchen from the corridor is a whole glass door with stainless steel door handle. Every day, I feel like I am either entering a clinic or an office. I am always afraid of hitting it with some object and consequently break it. And, and, just opposite of this glass door is the door to the toilets (I have separate toilets but I do have another one in the bathroom that, ne...

Ah... German apartments, so much can be said about them. This time, let's talk about how empty they are. Sure, we mentioned the kitchen, well, the remarkable absence of it, the absence of lamp socket and bulb, and often no space for the washing machine. From what I have seen, fitted closets or storage is a concept that has not arrived in Germany yet. Perhaps too modern or convenient or esthetically too beautiful. Whatever the reasons, I do not care actually, the result is that there is not ev...