Staying in Ulm, Germany

[Frankie Jasmine]

Miss Daisy, I feel that Tahira is your finest ally for these important questions and for how Germany is today. But I will say what little I know--wine is used in restaurant cooking, but not for all meat dishes. "Wein" is the word for wine. If there is a description in German of the dish, you can always look for the word "Wein." But sometimes you may wish to ask.

It just occurred to me: The two things you need to avoid, in German, are related by the alphabet letters but not in meaning! "Schwein" and "Wein"!!!
- - - - -

p.s. Perhaps Tahira can explain about the fish. In Bavaria (at the time my husband and I lived there), fish was served whole, cooked, even with the eyes. I could not order fish after I saw a fish come bouncing by as the waitress carried it to the table! It made me sick to think about! But privately, my family and I laughed about it, because we were so shocked. The fish, you see, hung a bit off the plate on both sides--head & tail!

[Tahira]

Good explanation : WEIN - SCHWEIN !!! LOL... I like it

To be honest I do not eat fish at all. I don´t like it. I know that on festivals and fairs fish is often served grilled, like you can see it here: http://hansis-fischerei.de/steckerlfisch/
It has eyes and tails. But in restaurants I have seen it also kind of bakend; when you get a fish filet its without eyes and tail.

THe meals are usually cooked wihtout wine, or its specified that it contains wine.

You will find a lot of italian restaurants;
greek and turkish restaurants prepare their meals more often with pork than with lamb!

You will also find in every corner bakeries, there you can buy sandwiches or bagels; with cheese, tomatoes, salad and so on. Usually also with ham, but you can see which are with and whicha re without ham. THose sandwiches are cheap (about 2 Euro) and they are always fresh. You will also find Mc Donalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza hut.
There are also many turkish kebab shops, most of them prepare the kebab with chicken. But you better ask, as some of them mix chicken and pork.

Taxis are expensive. So if you want to travel around, take the bus, train or rent a car with some of your friends.

[Tahira]

I found a webcam which is situated in Ulm at the University and has the view to the big church of Ulm. (By the way you should visit this church from inside) .
http://www.ikt.fh-ulm.de/kamera/

You can also visit the "Blautopf" it´s about 20 km from Ulm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blautopf

Here I found some sites from Ulm
http://www.trivago.de/ulm-712/ausfluege

[Tahira]

Another idea: Visit Regensburg, its another very beautiful town along the river Danube. I guess its max 2 hours by train. The city is very impressing at it has a very historical old center. At the smae time its a very young citiy at is has a big university and is full of young students
http://www.regensburg.de/sixcms/detail.php/3854

Being there you should do one of the boat trips. There are plenty of them. I would adivce the "Strudelfahrt" which is cosy, short and cheap; or this one: http://www.regensburg.de/tourismus/d...eltenburg/3938

The danube gorge is really impressing. And the end of the tirp the boat lands on monastery weltenburg. It is still ruled by monchs and you have a very traditional beer garden there. Though there are many tourists every day, it still looks traditional. YOu can sit there and eat and drink something (beside beer they offer also lemonades and coke) or just walk around and have a look at the church there.

If you see places called BIERGARTEN these are restaurants or pubs, where you can sit outside and have kind of snack to eat. You will have non-alcoholic drinks in EVERY place in Germany. It kind of a MUST. Who serves alcohol always has to provide non alcoholic trinks, too. When you read lemonade its either fanta or sprite or equivalent lemonades. If you order water, you usually get on with gaz: soda or sparkling water, If you want water witzout gaz, you have to ask for it, it is called "stilles Wasser".
By the way, you usually can drink water from the tap, without any problems. The water here is of very high quality.
In the cities you will always find some fountains. If you can drink the water from there, its written on it. (Trinkwasser)
If it doesn´´t say "trinkwasser" do not drink it, then its just for "looking at them".

[miss daisy]

I'm DEFINITELY going to that Blautopf!! That place is amazing!! :O Also Regensburg is breathtaking!
The info about sparkling water was really helpful, I would have never figured that out on my own and probably would have stopped drinking water while I was there I also had no idea there are fountains from which you can drink we don't have these in Egypt!

another thing, I will need to buy a mobile sim card when I arrive there. So what is it called in German? where are they sold? what are the lines available? and which would be better if I need to make international phone calls?

[Tahira]

I remember when I was in Cairo we have had some special pills with us: We put them into the water, so we could brush our teeth. Thats how I thought I should tell you something about the water. And (in Cairo) we were told not to eat salad. But I did, because I liked that one with tomatoes and parsley (coriander?). I was sick after that.

So you will also find some markets where they buy vegetables and fruits. You really can eat the fruits (apples fore example) right away. YOu will find everything, bananas, strawberries, melons, oranges ... and so on. In markets or in supermarkets as well. Most of the time you do not pay per piece but per kilo. So you take as much as you want and weigh it. The prices are always per kilo.

I remember when my aunt from RSA was here in Germany she bought a mobile sim card from VODAPHONE. If you are for a prepaid card or mobile sim card everyone will know what you mean. There are shops in every center of the city of the big companies (o2, T-mobile, vodaphone etc). Near the railway stations you will find little shops where you can buy such cards, too. Those shops are run by immigrants (many times arabs) so you maybe can ask there even in arabic language.

YOu can also visit LEGOLAND, if you are interested in. It´s also very close to Ulm
http://www.legoland.de/en/
But the entrance is not very cheap (my opinion)

[Ghaly]

If it has not been enclosured yet (I just skimmed the thread): Ulm belongs not to Bavaria, but to the land Baden-Württemberg. It is at the border to Bavaria, therefore the frequent mix-ups.

The tap water is quite clean, we drink from it immediately. It tastes not fresh, but it does its work. However, do not overdrink yourself with tap water, due to the high amount of chalk in it. Fountains, which say "Kein Trinkwasser" are not a spectaculum, but rather to wash your hands.

I would not recommend to eat any unwashed fruits with their skin. Some are sprayed with insecticides or waxed to conserve. It is always safer to wash them beforehand.

Also; about the "Mitfahrgelegenheit". It is very cheap and I have travelled with it several times. Of course, there is a certain risk at stake; but you also get to know very interesting people!

Have a fun stay at a neighbor city of mine!

[Frankie Jasmine]

Hi Ghaly, my German-living, Turkish-language professional friend of mine! If there is an error, you can usually blame it on me. I Googled a German map which placed Ulm in Bavaria. I have a feeling Tahira was just too kind and sweet to correct me. Thanks for setting things straight! (Next time I'll pay better attention to the source of the Google map! Probably was out of a U.S. public school World Geography book!!! Ha!)

[Tahira]

Ulm is at the border to Bavaria, and it belongs to Baden-Wurttemberg.

Hi Ghaly, nice that you are joining the thread. Could you say something about prepaid cards and mobile phone cost?

YOu are right about the fruits that they are sprayed, but if you just eat one or two.... on the markets you can even get unsprayed fruits.

See you!

[Ghaly]

Well, prepaid cards you can get everywhere.
There are the main providers like VodaFone, e-plus, T-mobile, o2 and you will most likely buy one of them, of which I recommend you to buy VodaFone or T-Mobile, but you mustn't buy the main provider cards, because the main providers are very expensive.
There are subsidiary companies (or rather companies buying lines from those providers), being much cheaper. For example:

congstar, which provides via T-mobile: 9 ct/min for a call in Germany (be it cellphones or landline) and 9 ct/SMS; and such is
o.tel.o, providing via VodaFone
You can mostly top up via those main-providers. Only with a few really bad companies, you are not able to top up your telephone and will have to buy "Guthabenkarten" of that specific company. And one is not very likely to find them easily everywhere, so hands off those teases!

I myself use o.tel.o. I can top up easily with a VodaFone card, purchasable almost everywhere, most easily to be found in supermarkets and drugstores.

On the contrary, if you buy a card from VodaFone itself, it will be pretty expensive: 19 ct/sms and 19 ct/min


Also, there is this company, called "Lebara Mobile". I believe to remember, you will be able to call Arabic landlines with it for only... 1 ct/min. But it will impose a connection fee of 15 ct for every call. Thus, it is not very recommended for inner state usage, but rather if you want to be able to speak with your family in XYZ for a longer time.

[miss daisy]

Ghaly, Thank you so much for the info! and welcome to our thread

Tahira and Frankie, you're both amazing! <3 Thanks a lot

If any questions come to my mind, I'll definitely ask!

[citlalli]

Wow! this thread has moved a lot since I last visited it

You know Miss Daisy, I think you're coming over in the nicest time of the year to visit Germany. I'm sure you'll be delighted

[miss daisy]

haha Citlalli
people over here are really nice and helpful, aren't they?!

Thanks Citlalli, I really hope so That's what I saw online when I searched, they said that July is a very good month to visit Germany I'm already planning my days over there

[feuersteve]

Hi Miss Daisy. I've also been to the Bodensee, it's been so long ago. I always got a train pass (Europass) to get around. Now, I hear that all the cars in Germany are non-smoking, so you don't need to get a first class pass to get a non smoking car.

I think you will really enjoy Germany. But, yes, they eat a lot of pork. I'm sure that you will find a lot of Halal shops and restaurants, though.

My understanding is that Kosher meat and Halal meat are both acceptable to Muslims, is that correct?

[Tahira]

Hi Steve, great that you came here.
I am not sure if this Europass still exists (it was very common when I was a teenager). But the railway organisation offers a lot of opportunities. e.G. you pay a certain price and up to 5 persons can travel with you without paying. But this works only for regional trains, not for the Intercity (fast train connection main cities).

Oh, good that you mention it: smoking! Its not aloowed anymore to smoke in restaurants. So, Miss Daisy if you smoke ... it´s allowed in public places, but not in restaurants, pubs etc. I don´t know about Shisha-bars as we do not have one in the town where I live.

[miss daisy]

Hi Miss Daisy. I've also been to the Bodensee, it's been so long ago. I always got a train pass (Europass) to get around. Now, I hear that all the cars in Germany are non-smoking, so you don't need to get a first class pass to get a non smoking car.

I think you will really enjoy Germany. But, yes, they eat a lot of pork. I'm sure that you will find a lot of Halal shops and restaurants, though.

My understanding is that Kosher meat and Halal meat are both acceptable to Muslims, is that correct?

Hi Steve, thanks for joining

About Pork, Tahira told me what to look for and how to tell the waiters that I don't want any pork in my food Other than that, I'm good to go

yes, Halal meat is acceptable in Islam..I don't know what kosher meat is though

[miss daisy]

Hi Steve, great that you came here.
I am not sure if this Europass still exists (it was very common when I was a teenager). But the railway organisation offers a lot of opportunities. e.G. you pay a certain price and up to 5 persons can travel with you without paying. But this works only for regional trains, not for the Intercity (fast train connection main cities).

Oh, good that you mention it: smoking! Its not aloowed anymore to smoke in restaurants. So, Miss Daisy if you smoke ... it´s allowed in public places, but not in restaurants, pubs etc. I don´t know about Shisha-bars as we do not have one in the town where I live.

OH, that's really good.. I hate smoking! Good for them that smoking is banned indoors!

[feuersteve]

Miss Daisy
Kosher is what the Jewish people call the meat that is killed and prepared by Jewish Law. I read about Halal and it appears that the same rules apply to slaughtering, draining the blood, prohibited animals, etc.

Tahira, the passes I am referring to cannot be bought in Europe. Yes, we can still buy them. You buy them depending on 1st or 2nd class and how many countries you want to travel in.

[Tahira]

Due to the animal welfare act, animals are not slaughtered in the jewish or islamic way here in Germany. I think there are some exceptions for the muslim and jewish people, but generally the animals are prepared in another way in Germany.

Miss Daisy, you also have to take care: when you want to try to eat some german sausages (which are very very good) and it is told that it is made of turkey or chicken, it still contains a certain amount of pork! So if you strictly want to follow the rules of your religion you have to be careful.

By the way, where are Ghaly and Citlalli? Do you have any ideas for miss daisy?

[miss daisy]

Miss Daisy
Kosher is what the Jewish people call the meat that is killed and prepared by Jewish Law. I read about Halal and it appears that the same rules apply to slaughtering, draining the blood, prohibited animals, etc.

Tahira, the passes I am referring to cannot be bought in Europe. Yes, we can still buy them. You buy them depending on 1st or 2nd class and how many countries you want to travel in.

Hmm..Good to know
I'll have to ask about that, about whether Kosher meat is considered Halal or not