Bad Taste in Germany

Some examples of bad taste (at least this is my opinion) in Germany:
Cuckoos Clock - which is however very popular with Americans and maybe nowadays there are more people outside Germany who own one than in our country.
You can by them on the net and they assure world wide delivery.
You can also visit the world largest Cuckoos Clock in the Black Forest and choose your clock for yourself.
I mean, if you like cuckoos clocks.

Another accessory is the "Wackeldackel"
which you will find in the rear rack of some cars. It is a Dachshound - once one of Germany's favorite dogs along with the German Shepherd - made from plastic with a moveable head.
If you want to have one for your car - go ahead, you can buy it here.

Still for the car, somebody once invented the idea to put a toilet roll on the rear rack of the car. In order to cover the offending object, he had the idea to crochet a hat for the toilet roll. Now it is even more obvious that this car is driven by someone with digestion problems.
Strangely this object is returning to fame due to artists. You can buy them on Dawanda which is the German Etsy Shop.

Another feature is a special kind of table which is made out of wood with tiles on it. This could look also very nice but unfortunately most of them look like these:












There is even a Website which is called "German Tile Table Museum" which describes how many times this weird table is shown in German TV trash and reality shows.

For other bad taste examples have a look at these bad taste car accessories.

Then let's go outside, have you ever noticed one of these in a German garden?

In German they are called "Gartenzwerg" -maybe "garden gnome" in English. I have mainly seen them in gardens of older people. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and can be bought here if you want to buy one of them online.
These are hand crafted and you can visit this special museum in Thueringen, East Germany
With time people usually are divided between lovers or haters of this garden decoration. The haters have their own - Anti-Gartenzwerg products.




Let's talk about beauty and fashion. What do you think about these tattoos?

Then there are special sandals which seem to be on everybody's feet in summer (and even before and after), possibly with white socks. Did you know that one man complained about the beach of his holiday resort. It was too dirty - which he noticed because the white socks which he wore in his sandals were gray after walking along the beach.

More bad taste coming up, surely. I have to bring my camera along. What do you think, are other examples of bad taste in Germany - or maybe in your country?

Stuttgart Apps

Getting around in Stuttgart, albeit walking, cycling or jogging now is supported by the new apps which you can find here: www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/tourenplaner
The three different apps are: Wandern Stuttgart (walking), Radfahren Stuttgart (cycling) and Laufen Stuttgart (jogging).
There are two varieties: one basic for free and the premium edition for 4,99 €
The tours are displayed on maps which can be zoomed and every tour has a short description with the most important details like distance, length of time, descent and ascent.
The premium app also gives you the opportunity to load down special routes for using off line which is quite helpful in regions without connection. You can register your tours live, attach photos and waypoints and mail the whole thing to your friends. The "wandern app" includes this feature: direct your iPhone to the horizon and mountains in your surroundings until 150 km of distance will be shown with elevation.
I am afraid it is only in German but there is still Google Translater which works well for these things.

Toad Migration

As we had a lot of cut scrub from our garden to bring to the green waste deposit near the forest, the thought sprang to my mind: Let's hope, they haven't closed it because it is a Sunday. The reason for closing the "Häckselplatz" as we call it in German, isn't the noise which would be connected with this procedure, a reason why you are not allowed to wash your car on a Sunday. During this season there is the toad migration which is taken very seriously in our region. The place was open this time, but one of our neighbors had told us that in the evening after 6 pm, the barriers will be down for the protection of the amphibians.
I really didn't know very much about this toad migration other that they are even building costly tunnels for them, so I informed myself about it.
The population of common or European toad is diminishing due to the cut of their habitat through streets. During their migrations especially from their winter home to their spawn waters and after that to their summer living space, there are huge losses caused by cars. Therefore NABU and other organisations have arranged for flexible plastic fences which will lead them into buckets. These buckets are brought to the other side of the street by the people. Another procedure is the creation of waters which substitute the existing ones and where the toads don't have to pass streets for reaching them. Tunnels are built as well and sometimes whole streets are closed during this period of migration.

Ritter Sport Blog

Ritter Sport is a famous chocolate factory south of Stuttgart and I remember them still from my childhood days. In their blog they offer you to design your chocolate. So I have to embed a widget on my blog - you can do so as well, just get it from the link above - and hope that it works. I am curious how much success they will have with this kind of marketing but it worked with me at least. I am looking forward to trying it myself.


The factory is in Waldenbuch and they have an outlet where they sell chocolate at special prices. If you are in the region, just pay them a visit. They also have special offers with varieties of smaller chocolate - great for little presents or for taking home (if the authorities let you bring food in your country). http://www.ritter-sport.de/#/de_DE/home/
So- try the widget, if you have any problems, just let me know

Bicycle riding on a car-free road

Last week end we went the second time to "Pfalz" - about 2 hours from Stuttgart in car. Every last sunday in August the "Deutsche Weinstraße" (German Wine Road) will be closed for cars on 80 km from 10 am to 6 pm. Lots of people take advantage of this fact by going on tour with bicycles, inline skates, wheel chairs or even on foot. It is more a social than a sportive event - sometimes you will find crowded streets, especially in the center of the towns. Every few meters there will be stands with food, wine, music, bicycle repair items and other stuff. It is a great collective event and highly recommendable. In Pfalz people don't drink quarters of wine like we do in Baden-Württemberg, they drink "Schoppen" im "Dubbeglas" (= Tupfenglas/ Spot Glas) which holds a quantity of half a liter. The "Schorle" (usually 1 half wine and 1 half water) tends to be at least 3 quarters of wine with just a litte space left for a splash of water. Specialities to eat are "Saumagen"- stuffed pork stomach, potato soup with plum tart (yes, they eat them in one course), liver dumplings and many more.

German Music - Roger Cicero

A German singer with great music and lyrics




Here are the lyrics in German and English:

Wir wollten nur was trinken, We just wanted to have a drink together,
plötzlich war'n wir hier. but sudddenly we were here.
Auf dem Nachttisch steht ein Foto On the night table there is a photo
von ihm und dir. with him and you.
Er scheint mich zu fixieren, He seems to be focused on me,
seit du dich ausgezogen hast since you have taken off your clothes
und ich Verräter liege hier an seinem Platz. and I - traitor - am at his place.
Ich hab ihn dir damals vorgstellt, Then, I presented you to him,
als wir wieder essen war'n. when we had been eating our.
Ich lies mit dir nichts unversucht, I tried everything to succeed with you,
doch du bist mit ihm gefahr'n. but you went off with him.
Ich ging zitternd in den Regen, I went into the rain, trembling,
um meine Wut hinauszuschrei'n. for crying out my fury.
Doch er war und bleibt für mich der beste Freund. But he was and will be my best friend.

Und wenn ich euch seh', And when I see you,
tobt ein Sturm durch meinen Bauch. there is a storm raging in my stomach.
Es brennt mir der Kopf My head aches
und mein Gefühl steht auf'm Schlauch. and my feelings are confused.
Mein Herz schlägt auf den Tisch My heart knocks on the table
und schreit: Ich will sie, immer zu. and shouts: I want her, always.
Doch du bist für mich tabu. But for me you are tabu.

Ich storniere diesen Marathon I cancel this marathon
Zentimeter vor dem Ziel. centimeters before the goal.
Ich hätte dich fast angefasst, I nearly would have touched you,
das ist ein Scheißgefühl. this is a terrible feeling.
Sieh zu, dass du das hinbekommst, Try to work this out,
ab jetzt gibt's nur noch euch. from now on there is only the two of you
Auch, wenn ich es jetzt besser weiß, Even if I know better now,
da muss ich durch. I have to cope with this.

Und wenn ich euch seh', And when I see you....
tobt ein Sturm durch meinen Bauch.
Es brennt mir der Kopf
und mein Gefühl steht auf'm Schlauch.
Mein Herz schlägt auf den Tisch
und schreit: Ich will sie, immer zu.
Doch du bist für mich tabu.

Mein Herz schlägt auf den Tisch
und schreit: Ich will sie, immer zu.
Doch du bist für mich tabu.

Ossi and Wessi

Once upon a time our country was divided in two parts - West Germany and East Germany (DDR), as some of you might remember. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 we were reunited. This reunion wasn't as easy as it seems. In the beginning - apart from the language - there were far more differences between East- and West Germans than between Germans and other West European citizens.
40 years of communism left their traces and as the two nations converged, they had to learn from each other. East Germans were called "Ossis" and West Germans "Wessis" or even "Besserwessis" (which is a mix of besser=better and wissen=to know/means you Germans from the West think you know everything better) by each other. This, however was 20 years ago.
Now we had a lawsuit filed by an East German woman who claims to be discriminated against because she was from the former DDR.
When she got her job application documents back, on the right side of her CV she found the remark (-) Ossi written by her potential future employer. The woman had applied for a job as accountant in the summer of 2009 at a company from Stuttgart, without success. She believes that this is due to her origin from East Berlin.
The labor court dismissed the case. The sentence stated that East Germany is no people of its own and for this reason there is no discrimination founded on ethnic origin.
Now the wants to go on, the judge allowed an appeal from first instance. There is the possibility for this lawsuit to go on for up to one year, going from one instance to the other and finally ending up in federal court.

The whole matter created a lot of jokes like this one:
Ossi: We are one people
Wessi: We too.