It is the second day of Christmas and the plan was to get some Christmas sermon from the neighborhood church, lunch at the Schwiegermutter’s place, then a bit of snacking and glühwein drinking while watching Love Actually!
Well we did have lunch with the Schwiegermutter and we did snack a bit while watching the beautiful English Christmas movie yesterday but we missed the church service and hope we get to attend the new year sermon!
Christmas is definitely an amazing time in Germany. Sure it is cold and maybe snows in some areas but isn’t that the beauty of Christmas??!!!
The truth is a lot of people who travel to strange lands won’t do so at Christmas. Although to be fair, I have been seeing a ton of Asians and English speaking tourists this holiday!!
It’s a time to be with loved ones, friends turned family and any place called home. Which makes this post a bit strange to be posted on the second day of Christmas but hey, we don’t like to be put in boxes right???
So anyways, you get on a plane and decide Germany is where you want to visit? Are you insane?
No of course not. Fret not. Forget what rumor says. Germany is a great place to visit. The locals maybe not all friendly, are definitely helpful. The food strange looking but tastes good…some of them at least. Just don’t go eating Knödel!
Anyways, below is a list of my top activities a first time visitor to Germany should definitely do or not do!!
Ride The Trains
A lot of people complain about how late the trains are. I have never had this experience. A few minutes maybe but hey, if one doesn’t come, simply get on the next! The DB app can be quite helpful most of the time so this is one app you should have installed to enjoy the beauty of the German transport system. If you are like me who grew up in Nigeria, the trains will most def tickle you pink! In the summer, the air conditioning is turned on so don’t worry about feeling packed up like those Danfo buses in Lagos. Expect to cross your knees, read a book or knock yourself silly on your phone while being driven to your stop. A note of nice warning though, never ever under any circumstance get on the train without a ticket. If you do decide to get the 4 time ticket, make sure to validate it before you board! 60 euros fine is not funny at all o.
Tourist Attractions What???
Not that checking out the Dom or the Olympics Museum or hell even the Philharmonie is a schlecht thing. Not at all. Infact the above mentioned places are actually quite cool. But that is too clichéd. Add to your to do list but don’t make it a priority. Check out the club scenes, hop bars along the streets(good thing being most of them are usually along walking distance of each other so that’s a win in my book!) Hey, visit a gay bar for the heck of it!!! My point here is that touristic places while being cool and all, don’t introduce you into the world of the locals in the city. More than half the people you will come across in those places are tourists just like you…shocker!
Get Your Butt Into A Döner Shop
This is the best thing since the Burger King whopper! It is fast food for sure, but it is much more than that. It is an adventurous taste of everything nice! Think shawarma but like burger. You have the choice of lamb, chicken or calf shaved into thin slices from a rotating rod where the meat is seasoned and arranged in a cone shape. The shaved meat of choice is then added in the middle of a Turkish Fladenbrot(Fladen bread) and various veggie cuts. A good tip: get them to make it “scharf” because everything tastes better with peppers! You should probably go ahead and tell them “sehr(maybe even one more “sehr” for good measures) scharf” because no offence to the Germans, but their idea of spicy will have my four year old niece laughing and rolling on the floor. Liebhaber however has mastered the art of eating spicy food!! Anyways döner is the greatest fast food ever to be made and you would be doing yourself a great deal of bad if you left Germany without trying it.
The Bike Lane Warriors
Ah, the fun one….never walk on bike lanes. The people riding bikes on these lanes made out for them are like Lagos drivers! If it was possible, they would scream atrocious words at you just for getting in their lane! Oh wait, some of them actually do that…
Pommes Oder Currywurst
However you want to call it, chips, fries whatever, all the Germans know is Pommes. If you go in asking for chips, you could very well and with good reason be directed to a grocery store where you have a gazillion variety of potato chips to choose from. Pommes should be a way of life. Pommes should be the truth, no scratch that…it is the truth and if you want to have the great taste you best get on the street food wagon because they serve the best!! Ironically, I am not big on currywurst but it is a huge sin to not try currywurst. That is like visiting Calabar and not trying afang soup! Oh the sin of that! What is currywurst you ask? Well it is quite simply a fast food dish of fries and sausages either whole or cut in slices, served with a curry ketchup sauce! So in other words, do not ever leave Germany without trying at least a few of the different sausages they have to offer!
Recycle Your Bottles
Ah the beauty that is Deutschland! They take recycling very seriously. Now I’m not saying you should go all out and separate your garbage because the hotel you are lodged in would do that for you. Or the friend you are bunking with will most definitely take care of that nuisance! If you are a cheapskate thrifter like me who marvels at store brands then recycling is for you because it feels very good paying less I tell you! Imagine that you have stacked up bottles and you have this long list of stuff you need to pick up. Recycling saves you a few cents or euros which is a win in my book! Now don’t worry about looking like all those Mile one market women on their way to the stalls at the open market of Ojuelegba at 5:30am because every one recycling looks just like that!
There are a ton of fun things to do in Germany. You only live once, don’t make that life ordinary. With the arrival of Instagram, you get to discover local guides, local bloggers, people who would be sources of travel inspiration to your wandering mind.
Don’t be a regular tourist, arrange blogger meetups, do out of the box fun things, meet beautiful people and be beautiful yourself!
Merry Christmas everyone!
