Germany

[CHRIS1980]

Just returned from Dusseldorf for a city break,I have to say I loved the place. But not much in the way of older cars. Classic cars were everywhere,especially visiting the Classic Remise in Dusseldorf. A place well worth going to. The Autobahn was an experience as well. One which shit my wife up good and proper. Are there any Autoshiters from Germany on here? When travelling on the Autobahn I kept hearing Alan Partridge saying Zis is der Autobahn! But I'm weirded like that.

[purplebargeken]

Dusseldorf isn't a bad place in all honesty. I have fond memories of it. Mostly beer and Frikadellen.

[New POD]

Whilst sitting in the back of an audi 100 Quattro, the driver had all four wheels locked at what I estimate would be over 100 mph in the rain, somewhere between Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Going sideways towards merging traffic. That he controlled it, was amazing, but quite frankly we didn't buy his software package, as I'd asked him to slow down at least 4 times before that.

[2MB]

Whilst sitting in the back of an audi 100 Quattro, the driver had all four wheels locked at what I estimate would be over 100 mph in the rain, somewhere between Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Going sideways towards merging traffic. That he controlled it, was amazing, but quite frankly we didn't buy his software package, as I'd asked him to slow down at least 4 times before that.

All wheels locked as in with the brakes on, or the diff locks? Sounds a bit scary either way.

The autobahn is an experience to behold, but lane discipline is a shite sight better than it is over here

[lisbon_road]

My experience entirely.  Have had a few business trips to Germany and the people I have worked with without exception have been hospitable, charming and so on.

 

But get them on the Autobahn and they are crazy.  No thanks.

 

Yes, older cars are rare to unknown.

[CHRIS1980]

Yeah it was a new experience doing 135 mph a few feet from the car in front of us was and eye and a sphincter opener. It wasn't me driving. I was also surprised that an Audi 1.9tdi could do that kind of speed.

[purplebargeken]

 

 

But get them on the Autobahn and they are crazy.

 

When I was a kid in Germany I remember my aunt swanning around in a 2.3 pre-facelift Granada. She had it converted so the go pedal was where the brake pedal should be, etc.

 

She drove like a lunatic everywhere. Rude gestures, shouting and verbally abusing everyone who dared get in her way. She was ace. It is how I first learned to swear in German.

 

Then it all had to be toned down as that sort of behaviour could have led to the police being involved apparently. It was never the same after that.

 

Food-wise: the currywurst mit pommes frites from a grab stand in the main Iserlohn market was fantastic. 

 

I do miss Germany

[hairnet]

between hberg and dussel on the way home last week

[skattrd]

I worked in Germany last year and really enjoyed it.

Dusseldorf was rather pleasant, I had many beers in the old town or on the banks of the Rhine. There was a massive fun fair in July as well, which was different, loads of food and beer to be had there, rather enjoyable.

One year I'd like to go back to Cologne for Carnival, I caught the tail end of it last year and it was rather  mental.

 

Oh, and currywusrt is shit. Bratwurst and gravy sprinkled with curry powder - wtf.

[purplebargeken]

You haven't had the proper stuff obviously

[mercrocker]

Fond memories of Germany too....Living the Autoshite dream about 35 years ago - tanking across to Dortmund in my German friend's Opel Admiral with Fifties British chod being taken to his lair in the middle of nowhere to be stripped for spares for sports cars. Used to bring back low mileage German stuff that had been biffed by BFG soldiers (RHD mainly). Used to get to a lot of car shows and track meets over there back then and had a wonderful time. Long before the Iron Curtain came down he used to employ Poles on the lam from Communism to whom the use of a nearly-new Golf was like winning the lottery. I still miss the Bauernfruhstuck his long-suffering wife used to make us every morning, the endless autobahn night drives and the gruff but warm humour of the German car enthusiasts. Beer was great, too. Sadly the big man died a few years ago, RIP Gunther....

[purplebargeken]

[skattrd]

You haven't had the proper stuff obviously

 

One of my German colleagues took us to a famous* and apparently one of the best currywurst places in Hamburg ... see above, it was shit.

[Junkman]

There is no wronger place for Currywurst than Hamburg.

Too bad you haven't had a proper one.

To begin with, it's not a Bratwurst and gravy sprinkled with curry powder.

[purplebargeken]

Hamburg - the only interesting thing about Hamburg is the Reeperbahn. I have only heard this in theory. 

[Barry Cade]

Hamburg - the only interesting thing about Hamburg is the Reeperbahn. I have only heard this in theory. 

The model train complex is amazing!

 

I've spent many months in Germany over the years and love the place. At least once a week try to come up with a  plan on how we could move over there. Currywurst is awesome, cakes are awesome, beer is awesome, Autobahns are awesome.... everyday cars you see in the street are all grey and boring.

[Shep Shepherd]

I've been to Germany several times in the past 15 years. I love the place, and particularly enjoy Thuringia and the Mosel valley

 

I took The Volvo on a trip to Magdeburg in the former GDR a few years ago. It got some funny looks from the locals, especially the older ones, as I suspect that they still associate RWD Volvos with their erstwhile masters, who were big fans of the cars.

[Tamworthbay]

My memories of the autobahn was a dual carriageway with the inside lane doing 55mph and the outside doing 120mph+. Not a problem when you are on a GSXR1100R but how some of the cars changed lane is a mystery to me.

[castros_bro]

Did a bit of work over there somehow it was 6 years on and off.   Got reported as my car dripped oil on the road outside the house, collected parking tickets on UK reg (A35 van etc,), got my Guzzi to do 180km in a hour at night,  lived in a Bedford coach in random places for a while, moved to Berlin n wall came down, worked in the former East, met Russian squaddies and drank vodka with them, diesel Audi stopped working when night got below -22C.  Interesting times. Last bit of work was in a salt mine.

[garbaldy]

Traveling at a steady 80 mph with pickup and trailer and being passed like we where parked is a bit daunting, buying cars is strange as the three sellers have just wanted to get you drunk one even offered to set us up in a hotel so he could get us sozzled,

I can't wait till the next trip.

[artdjones]

Most people in Germany drive at 130 kph max but some of them -wow.My brother lives in Essen and has a BMW salesman friend.This guy drives to the car limit - 250kph.As a passenger at those speeds my brother just relaxes - no point reaching across and grabbing the wheel.

[fotorabia]

I spent 1990-96 hitchhiking..being passenger-ed by friends from as far Nth as Rostock..to spending two years in the south in pretty rich Bayern...we had an Opel Kadett working between Vienna and Stuttgart for Guns N roses...I bought a Ascona A on a Bavarian farm party where we had just drunk 700 litres of beer...the lil Opel arrived in barren East Berlin...we filled it with Africans and gate crashed reggae concerts...then i had a 17M Ford Turnier wagon...that got nicked in Munich...hitching i got a ride in a black Renault V6 Turbo...the manager of the Leningrad Cowboys [the movie]...250kph...fastest id probably ever been...after that..a Ford A Series half coach bought in London..a ex German Railway IFA 4WD technik truck that never survived the western invasion...and on two occasions jumped rides in ex-army  IFA's direct with chaos to London.

[fred]

My grandad flew over there but it was dark................Sorry

[pshome]

Traveling at a steady 80 mph with pickup and trailer and being passed like we where parked is a bit daunting, buying cars is strange as the three sellers have just wanted to get you drunk one even offered to set us up in a hotel so he could get us sozzled,

I can't wait till the next trip.

 

Even we Germans would'nt dare to travel at 128,74752 Kilometer pro Stunde with a trailer...

[castros_bro]

I spent 1990-96 hitchhiking..being passenger-ed by friends from as far Nth as Rostock..to spending two years in the south in pretty rich Bayern...we had an Opel Kadett working between Vienna and Stuttgart for Guns N roses...I bought a Ascona A on a Bavarian farm party where we had just drunk 700 litres of beer...the lil Opel arrived in barren East Berlin...we filled it with Africans and gate crashed reggae concerts...then i had a 17M Ford Turnier wagon...that got nicked in Munich...hitching i got a ride in a black Renault V6 Turbo...the manager of the Leningrad Cowboys [the movie]...250kph...fastest id probably ever been...after that..a Ford A Series half coach bought in London..a ex German Railway IFA 4WD technik truck that never survived the western invasion...and on two occasions jumped rides in ex-army  IFA's direct with chaos to London.

 

Who? (though this is Swizzland)

 

 

and they do this version of Pretty Fly in a "What the fuck is happening here" sort of way.

 

[John F]

Even we Germans would'nt dare to travel at 128,74752 Kilometer pro Stunde with a trailer...

 

You certainly would with a caravan, as I discovered when a Merc estate pulling one nearly ran into the back of me wben I was joining the A57 near Krefeld a couple of years ago.

 

I very nearly shat myself.

[Skizzer]

I'm in Germany at the moment.  Having a lovely time, wish you were here and all that.  There is a fair amount of tat about, about the same as at home, and I'll post some spots later.  Mrs Skizzer is German so we visit family here often, but I've worked here quite a lot as well and liked it since I was a nipper.

 

Autobahns are miserable, however.  Lane discipline is massively better than the UK but they generally drive way too close and have no anticipation that someone might benefit from space to pull out or join off a (tiny) slip road.  Plus there's the psychopath contingent that do 130mph in fairly heavy traffic.

 

Currywurst is outstandingly fine food.  I don't know about some schicki-micki place in Hamburg; the best currywurst places have wheels and a trailer hitch.  Had some great Currywurst mit Pommes in the car park of a service station near Munich on Monday, in fact - it was ace.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

There is no wronger place for Currywurst than Hamburg.

Too bad you haven't had a proper one.

To begin with, it's not a Bratwurst and gravy sprinkled with curry powder.

 

 

Indeed, I lived there for a bit. The Hessburger burger kiosk (still going?) on the Reeperbahn did some serious burgerage. I was there for most of 2002, just after the Mark was replaced by the Euro and the Euro to Pound exchange was just ridiculous - I could live in an apartment near the centre for about 300 quid a month and ate out most nights. The U Bahn was so good that the only times I used my E30 323i was to go to the big Kiesow scrapyard in the North.

 

Germany is a great country. It's big and spacious with miles and miles of open country. You don't get gangs of vermin kids spitting and causing trouble, fag machines in the street are left alone and the cops carry guns and travel in pairs - you don't fuck with the feds there. It's a well ordered country where the folks are generally fine, especially in Hamburg - they love the Brits and even have a British Day once a year. I've travelled all over the country and been just about everywhere - Berlin was the only place I didn't really like. Munich is superb as is Heidelberg, Koln, Frankfurt etc. Even industrial towns like Karlsruhe are okay.

There are lunatics on the 'bahns but it's not as bad as it used to be. If you want to do over 100 you a) need to be as sharp as a razor and used to it or get the fuck out of the way. Many of them are now speed restricted and some are bloody awful such as the old dual carriageway Hitler era ones in the South. The Berlin ring road is unrestricted warfare.

 

If I were not married, I would think seriously about moving out there again. It's my kind of country tbh.

[fotorabia]

In my private life..im an international bigamist..so one of my wives is German..Martina who lives in the Eifel area..Triere..Mosul-Bitberg.I visit her occasionally and get cooked succulent wienerschnitzel....what amazes me in that area are the amount of uber -cool abandoned farms..hotels..monasteries....

This had been the town hall-local school..built in 1718....i also visited the local abandoned US satellite tracking base..which is being allowed to return to nature...other bases are coming up soon..so they get utilised by local business and turned into industrial parks...im gonna put my name down for a hanger

Empty farmhouse

Prum former US tracking satellite base.

[artdjones]

There are rough bits.I was in Berlin last year and my sister-in-law (German)suddenly remembered a great place for coffee. We all jumped on the U-Bahn and zipped out to the terminus.About 6 stops from the end we noticed people getting on drinking beer from bottle.I'd never seen that in Deutschland before.We got out at the end and walked across a river bridge where everyone else seemed to be going.After about 200m we noticed a lot of wrecked looking people under a tree almost all of whom were wearing black leather clothing and drinking. Some of them tried to accost us on the way past.After that we couldn't help noticing that it was looking rougher and rougher at every step.We were entering what used to be Stalinallee which is basically two rows of Soviet workers flats.At this point sister-in-law realised she'd got her directions wrong.We quickly scuttled back to the U-Bahn station past the drunken loonies and rushed into town like good little squirrels. Berlin is a great city to visit but a sad one-too many bad things have happened there.