Here are a few of my observations:
1.. Germans are polite rule followers. I think they really enjoy authority figures. When queuing up for our flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt I noted when the flight check-in clerk instructed group one to line up on the green line, and group 2 on the red line they did so quietly and efficiently. Really. No jostling for position or cutting the line and dang if group 4 and 5 DID stay in their seats as instructed. And even more remarkably, after landing, no one. Not a single person got up and started mining the overhead compartments for carry-ons until the plane full came to a stop at the gate and the captain turned off the seat belt sign. I was stunned. I didn't know people could act like this
It was like I was watching a well-rehearsed play. Not the chaos I'm hardened to and used to. They really are good at following orders.
2. German cops are A. Huge and B. Completely without human emotions of any kind. I'm sure the Terminator robot and Robocop were designed from this meme. I'm not dissing them, they do a marvelous job and I felt safe as hell in the Frankfort airport at all times. But the few times I met the eyes of security cop with an UZI scanning the folks walking away from the security checkpoints as a secondary protocol check, I felt my soul drained by their nearly glowing red eyes.
Those guys were well trained, just not apparently in things such as mercy and empathy. It was just scanning for three seconds, match up projected evil-doer probabilities and profiling, and make a determination: Not a threat, move on to the next human unit.
3. German beer is really, really good. The Sud Deutch hefeweizen I had was just perfection from the fields. crisp; light but hoppy and yet slightly sweet good German wheat.
I'll have to return one day. Seems like a fine place.
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