Transportation

Every big town and city in Germany features the airport, and the biggest ones with international connections are in Münich, Fankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Berlin.
Be aware, that many of the cheap airlines flight to the small airports only, that may be located quite far away from the big cities.
There are plenty of local connections provided by Lufthansa, Air Berlin, Cirrus Airlie an others.

German Railways (Deutsche Bachn) are known of its punctuality, tidiness and safety. They are not the cheapest, but offer numerous price reductions, and special cards like Bahn-Card and international InterRail valid also in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. It is worth to check the possibility to buy the combined ticket valid both for the train and the local bus or tram to the hotel
in many of country towns and cities.

The motorway system is very efficient, and the net of free fast highways covers the whole country. Be aware, there is no speed limit on motorways, and many of the drivers run their bolids reaching 200 km per hour.

Visiting

Before the trip to Germany it is worth to check the dates of local feasts, which are celebrated all over the country almostwhole year around.
December is the time of Christmas markets, located usually in the old town centers. During the summer many of old towns celebrate their various aniversaries with historical clothes parades and fireworks. Obligatory part of every feast, beer and sausages have their own feasts, including Octoberfest in Münich and in Stuttgart.
Every ten years the famous passion play performances take place in Oberammengau, the coming ones are to be held in 2010.

The museums are closed on Mondays.

Communication

Germany country code : 0049
after the country code dial the city number without the leading 0, then the direct number
The free emergency mobile number : 112

The coin-operated phone boxes are almost entirely replaced by the new ones, which utilise the 5€, 10€ or 15€ phone cards, available in post offices and some boot stands.
The above places often offer the mobile phone to rent, also the cheapest mobiles cost below 100€, and may provide the good alternative, especially during the longer staying in Germany.
Prepaid mobile cards are widely available, the popular providers are T-Mobile and O2.

Shopping

Many of the shops, especially in small towns and villages are closed for a long lunch break, usually between 12.30-14.30.
This tradition vanishes in big towns, and cities, where the shops are open 9.00 – 20.00.
The shops are closed on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays, with the exception of petrol stations, train station boots and some bakeries.
The big shopping malls on the town outskirts may be opened for the full week, especially during shopping month – December, and during the mass sales ( Schlussverkauf ) that take place in January and July.

There are many of local products suitable for the gift from Germany, especially from Schwarzwald, where are famous wooden cuckoo-clocks are made.
Schwarzwald are offers also nice wild forest fruit jams and marmalades, and Nurmberg is famous for its long tradition of making ginger bread.
The food is perfect in any place in Germany, yellow cheese and meat products are well known all over the world, as well as the wine from Rhine Valley.
There should be no problem with finding the nice bottle of beer, there are only some 5000 brands to choose from.
Bavaria and Saxony is well known of the glass products, and the best European porcelain the visitors can find in Meissen.

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