The rules of Germany. Well it does get some “getting used” to. From applying for a residence permit to driving on the roads to walking on the streets for everything there is a system. And for an outsider it seems like fitting a round object in a hole meant for something square.

I dipped my toes into this strange world before even leaving the shores of India. They need a biometric photo for my visa. Passport size photos won’t do. I always thought the passport size was invented for, well things related to a passport. Germans seem to disagree. They need a biometric. Ok fine, biometric then. I got my visa.

Visa in hand, I reach Deutschland. Then what? I need to apply for a residence permit. Ok great. Preplanning a lot of things I pay (or was it Bachu who paid? :D ) a few hundred bucks and get 20 additional copies from India. I recieve an email from my relocation agent saying you need a biometric pic. Glad at my genius of thinking about stuff before hand I read the next line in the mail – “Biometric photos taken in India are not valid”. Crap! My relocation agent says, but your company will re-imburse for it, what is the big deal! Hmmm. The big deal is a biometric photo is a biometric photo whether taken in India or Uzbekistan or Pluto! But the rules are theirs, and I need to play along. So paying 15 euros I get 4 more biometric photos of me from Germany. Now what? My friends say there is a chance that even this might get rejected.. Awwwww… I wait fingers crossed!

Ok, this is not just about the biometrics, but the rules, rules and more rules. Hmm. I take consolation in the fact that, their system works. Punkt! Everything here just works, so may be I shouldn’t complain too much. But I am an Indian. I have the right to crib about things. And after all being Indian I did make a round object fit into a square hole!

Maybe this was all inspired by the hazzle of getting the photos and missing trips to Salzberg and Paris because of the delay. But the German rules… Arggghh!

:)

The story of my first trip in Germany, to the beautiful Black Forest.. Schwarzwald!

We began from Stuttgart early in the morning. The train journey was a bit long, but fun since I was able to catch up with my friend Anu after a long time. Chit-chatted for long and surprisingly didn’t want the train journey to end! Our first destination was Freiburg, the biggest town in Black Forest. There we were received by Juergen, Ann’s collegue. There began the royal German hospitality.

He showed us around the town of Freiburg, its canals, churches and marketplatz. One interesting thing there was the shallow narrow canals all across the city streets. Juergen explained that these were from the trading days of Freiburg when they were used by the cows and donkeys of the merchants to quench their thirst. And what if you fall down on one of these? Well you have to marry someone from Freiburg! So had to be a little careful all the while. :)

The main attraction was of course the Münster, the big cathedral at Freiburg. There was a mass going on, so we unfortunately couldn’t enter. But we did climb all the way up to the top of the tower. It was an amazing view from up there. Shouldn’t be missed! So after the tiring climb up all the stairs, we did another round of climbing up a hill and thankfully the destination was a restaurant on top of the hill. There had some food and we were down again.

Next destination – Titisee. There was a small lake there and we decided to take a boat and row. I soon found out that it was not as easy as it looks. But thankfully Juergen seemed to have excellent rowing skills. So he did most of the rowing. :) It was fun though and right at the time when I was getting the knack of it, it was time to leave hmm. After that we had a round of the ‘Schwarzwalder Torte’ – the original Black Forest cake. Honestly it didn’t live up to all the hype. Hmm. I think I liked the ‘duplicate’ ones we get in India better ;)

After that it was time for the cuckoo clocks, I mean hundreds of them. Both my friends wanted one, so we spend some time at the shop listening to the descriptions given by the salesman who spoke English like a carnival announcer. To my shock he even gave us an address in India, where we could repair it if at all it stops working (which he says will never happen). Anyways didn’t convince me to buy one. But he did do good business, he sold 3 of them to Anu and Priya.

Done with that, Juergen drove us down through the B500 or the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse to Triberg. It was one of the most scenic roads I have ever travelled, probably the only one that can beat my favourite drive to Munnar in Kerala. We stopped at the Triberg falls, supposed to be Germany’s highest waterfalls. Was a bit disappointed, it didn’t seem that hight at all. But the atmosphere around was excellent! Triberg also boasts the world’s largest cuckoo clock. But it didn’t really give me much thrills either.

By this time the sun was coming down and we drove back to Freiburg to Juergen’s village. We had dinner at a nice German restaurant. It was very good, contrary to my expectations. I was told too many horror stories about German food, but this one was very good. With that we ended the day and slept peacefully after a nice tryst with Schwarzwald.

Next day was very different and far away from nature. We went to Europa Park, advertised as Germany’s biggest amusement parks. I haven’t been to many such parks, but this one was the best among all I have visited. The ‘Silver Star’ is an amazing roller coaster, one you should not miss! So was ‘Eurosat’, ‘The Eis Show’ and ‘The Spanish Arena’. All in all had a fun time there.

Day ended with a boring ride from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart, all alone since all my friends had left for their abodes at Hildesheim. Would be eternally grateful to Juergen for making the whole trip special! Hope one day I can return the favour when I can play the host in India :)

Schwarzwald is a very beautiful place that you should really visit if you get a chance. The nearest airport is Karslruhe and there is excellent connectivity by rail provided by the Deutsche Bahn. But the best way to enjoy would be to drive with a car.

I will definitely be back for more!

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Yup, that’s the name of the town that I’ll be calling ‘home’ for the next 6 months. One week over, and I am already liking this calm, quiet, sleepy town :)

First impressions? “Pünktlich” – The punctuality of Germans is amazing. If it says that a bus comes at 11:59, it will reach sharp at 11:59, not 1 minute late. They never have their timings rounded off to the nearest 5 minutes or anything. In fact it seems as if they are trying to prove a point that they are always on time by putting these odd timing!

Another thing that struck me is that on the roads, the pedestrians are the kings. You step your foot on the zebra crossing, the car that comes next stops and waits for you to cross. It was difficult to adjust to this let me tell you! And I can’t imagine doing this in India… Either as a pedestrian or as a driver… hehe

And oh yeah… German beer. You don’t feel like putting the mug down! :D

All in all I feel comfortable here. This might not be home, but it sure is nice. More news about my adventures in Deutschland soon… Tcheuss!