The GW Expat Blog

All Posts

The Rising Costs for Tourists in Germany

by | Oct 30, 2023 | , | 0 Comments

Room Taxes, Spa Taxes, and ETIAS

Traveling in Europe or anywhere else has always involved spending a certain amount of money. But over the past decade or so a new kind of travel expense has arisen in Europe, including the German-speaking countries. And yet another, if modest, new European security authorization expense will probably make its debut in 2025.

Lodging/Room Taxes in Germany
Weimar was the first German city to introduce a lodging tax in 2005. But what really got the ball rolling was a change to Germany’s nationwide 19 percent VAT sales tax five years later. In 2010 the German parliament passed a law reducing the 19 percent VAT rate to only seven percent for hotel stays.

Spa city of Bad Nauheim

The spa town of Bad Nauheim, north of Frankfurt am Main, levies a “Kurbeitrag” spa tax of €3.30 per person per day. A family “Kurkarte” day ticket costs €6.60. The town is also is known for a famous resident named Elvis Presley, who lived in a house on Goethestrasse as a GI in the 1960s. Learn more about the German Kurtaxe below.

That tax shift helped reduce the total price of a hotel stay for tourists in Germany, but it also reduced the revenue that communities received from the tax. Soon they were looking for a way to close the income gap. Although a room tax is very common in the United States and many other countries, it was a new idea for Germany. As of now (October 2023), only about 40 German localities across Germany have a lodging tax. But there is increasing pressure to add more. Munich, for instance, currently has no room tax, but the prospect of 40 to 60 million euros of new revenue is tempting.

Room Tax: die Bettensteuer/City-Tax
The German terms used for these special taxes vary from place to place: Übernachtungsteuer (“overnight stay tax,” “room tax”), Bettensteuer (“bed tax”), Beherbergungsteuer (“hospitality/lodging tax”), and Tourismusbeitrag (“tourism contribution/fee”) are just four examples. The many different names also reflect the fact that there is no uniform approach to these occupancy taxes within Germany. read more…

German Candy

by | Oct 16, 2023 | , , | 0 Comments

For those that celebrate Halloween, even abroad, the onslaught of candy has already begun. There used to be nary a spooky Hexe (witch) or dancing Skelett (skeleton) to be found in Germany in favor of more somber events like the Reformation. But the Halloween celebrations have steadily encroached to mainland Europe. We even went trick-or-treating in a seaside town in Normandy during last year’s Herbstferien (fall school break)!

Pumpkins are always a symbol of Herbst (autumn) and an important part of the seasonal eating common in Germany. But now there are Halloween decorations, pumpkins for carving, and full candy displays to also mark the holiday. German candy is not a new thing with many brands boasting a long history. So I thought I would dump out my candy bucket and cover some of the German candy classics that can be enjoyed in this month of sweets, or all year round. Here are some of the best German candies, divided into section of sweet.

Schokolade (Chocolate)

What is German candy without chocolate? Though not as revered as Swiss or Belgian chocolates, German is no slouch in the chocolate field. There are elegant Moser Roth balls from one of the oldest German chocolate brands, Hachez from Northern Germany, the confusingly named Merci chocolates (yes- made in Germany), Lübeck’s Niederegger, and kid-friendly Kinder (which is actually produced by Italian brand, Ferraro). One of the funniest is Katzenzunge (cat tongues), chocolates that resemble its namesake and come in milk, dark, and white chocol

My favorite German chocolate brand is the approachable Ritter Sport. Billed as “Quadratisch (Square). Praktisch (practical/convenient). Gut (good)”, these square chocolates come in a bounty of flavors. From standard and delicious versions like Alpenmilch and Marzipan to more daring offerings like Cornflakes, Strawberry Yogurt, Dark Almond and Orange, they really experiment with flavor. They are constantly trying new zany flavors and occasionally freak out their followers with fake flavors that beg the question, did they dare? (See below.) These sweets are one of our go-to souvenirs for friends and family back home in North America.

Fake flavour Photo – RitterSportBlog

read more…

Beyond Munich: Germany’s Other Beer and Wine Festivals

by | Oct 2, 2023 | , | 0 Comments

As I write this, Oktoberfest in Munich is about to end on October 3rd. Oktoberfest, which begins in September, is by far Germany’s largest and most famous folk festival (Volksfest), but there are many other attractive options all across Germany.

Cranger Kirmes in Herne, Germany

An aerial view of the Cranger Kirmes in Herne just after sunset. Herne’s fair is the biggest folk festival in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and one of the largest in Germany. It takes place in August. Learn more below. PHOTO: © Stadtmarketing Herne GmbH, Markus Reddig

These other events take place at different times of year than Oktoberfest, with two of them celebrated right in Munich, at the same Theresienwiese location: the Frühlingsfest spring festival in April and May, and the Tollwood Festival in December.

But what about the many other beer (or wine!) folk festivals in Germany? To qualify for our list a festival has to have most of the same features as Oktoberfest:

  • A festive event with food and drink served in tents or halls.
  • A celebration of a historic event or tradition.
  • Amusement rides with a fun-fair kind of atmosphere.
  • A duration of at least a week or more.

In fact there are many such events all across Germany in the course of a year. Depending on the location, a city may have a spring, a summer, a fall, or a winter festival. Some cities have festivals in two different seasons – for instance, spring and fall editions of the same or a similar festival. But for our list, the event has to be one of the bigger festivals, and have a noted tradition. Some of the bigger ones are located in places with less familiar names. (Herne, anyone?)

One more point worth mentioning: Some of the events listed below can still be visited in 2023! Among those are folk festivals in Bremen and Stuttgart. For those that have already happened in 2023, our guide can help you plan for next year! I myself have added the Wurstmarkt wine festival in Bad Dürkheim to my personal list of events I would like to visit next year (in September).

Cannstatter Wasen (Stuttgart)
This annual fair is only a few years younger than, and second in size to Oktoberfest in Munich. Officially known as the Cannstatter Volksfest, the “Wasen” (meadow, fairground), as it is known locally, begins about a week after Munich’s big beer festival, and lasts until 8 October in 2023. The Wasen is held at the Neckar Park in the Stuttgart district of Bad Cannstatt, which was a separate community named Kannstadt when the festival began in 1818. read more…

What Not to Do at Oktoberfest

by | Sep 18, 2023 | , , , | 0 Comments

If you missed it, this weekend kicked off Okoberfest in Munich. With the tapping of the keg and the magical words of “O’zapft is” (“It’s tapped”), the biggest beer festival in the world has begun.

Last year was the first year after the pandemic that the event was held and over 5.7 million people attended. This year looks like it could top those numbers and the phenomenal 5.6 million liters (or Mass) of beer drunk annually. But it is not all fun and games at the Fest. There is a lot that can go wrong, which I can personally attest to.

Drank too much? Check.
Got pushed out of the tents in a flood of people and was not able to get back in? Check.
Overpaid for hotel? Check.

Let me share some of my insights into visiting Oktoberfest in Munich and how you can avoid the worst mistakes.

Oktoberfest 2012

Oktoberfest in Munich

Avoid the Stampede and Worst of the Crowds

If you follow our German-Way Instagram or any social media focused on Germany, you probably saw crowds of people dressed in Tract (traditional Bavarian clothes) running at full speed into the Fest. The videos were a little terrifying and certainly didn’t make me want to join in. This is the madness which accompanies the start of Oktoberfest and the fevered activity that envelopes the high times of the festival. Unless that type of frenzy interests you, it is best to avoid opening weekend, actually weekends in general, and also the two Tuesdays designated as Familientage (family days). If you want a more relaxed experience, go on off times. read more…

A Brief (Germanic) History of Mexican Beer

A Brief (Germanic) History of Mexican Beer

by | Sep 4, 2023 | | 0 Comments

The German, Austrian, and Swiss Heritage of Cerveza

Today both the Mexican and US beer brewing scenes are quite similar, reflecting the global phenomenon of Big Beer. In both countries it is difficult to know the true company behind a particular beer brand, even if you think you know the answer.

Modelo Negra carton

The Grupo Modelo concern is one of Mexico’s two dominant breweries, along with Heineken. It began operations in Mexico City in 1925, gradually expanding to take over many other well-known Mexican beer brands, including Corona, Pacífico, Victoria, Leon, and Montejo. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

The truth is, no matter where you are, the beer you’re drinking probably came from one of two beer brewing giants: AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV) or Heineken. AB InBev, the world’s largest beverage firm (by revenue in 2022), is based in Belgium, although it has offices in many world cities. Dutch-based Heineken, the number two giant in the beer world, owns many beer brands besides its namesake Heineken label.

Are you a fan of Mexican Modelo beer (Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo)? Modelo is owned by AB InBev. Or maybe you prefer Dos Equis or Tecate – two very different beers! Both are owned by Heineken, the world’s second largest beer company. (In case you’re wondering, number three and four by revenue are Japanese: Ashi and Kirin. Source: zippia.com*)

But it wasn’t always like this.

In the 19th century, German-speaking beer brewers came to the United States and Mexico to brew European lager beer. Most of them migrated to the US, but a few ended up in Mexico, sometimes via Texas. In the US, these German-speaking “beer barons” often had fellow European immigrants as customers, but also tried to win over the natives. They usually named their breweries after themselves: Anheuser, Busch, Pabst, and Schlitz – to name a few. And it was going pretty well for them until the disaster of Prohibition arrived, lasting from 1920 until 1933.

Creating a Market for Cerveza
In Mexico it was different. There was no big market for beer, despite the fact that the first European beer brewery was established in New Spain (later Mexico) long before any such thing happened farther north. Around 1542, the Spaniard Don Alfonso de Herrero obtained royal rights and established the first European style beer brewery near Mexico City. Export taxes, supply expenses, a weak market, and other problems limited his venture to no more than four or five years. No one today even knows exactly where his brewery was located. It would be centuries later, before beer was a popular drink in Mexico.

Long before the arrival of European colonial powers in New Spain, the indigenous people had their own fermented, alcoholic beverages made from corn (tesgüino), agave (pulque), and honey (tepache). To this day these homemade drinks are still popular in segments of Mexican society.

With the gradual arrival of more Europeans, including Germans, Austrians, and Swiss brewers, Mexicans were introduced to a new drink called cerveza. When New Spain threw off its colonial masters after winning the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, it created the opportunity to develop a Mexican beer industry. Freed of Spain’s restrictions, beer brewers, mostly Europeans began establishing breweries. But it did not happen overnight. read more…

Reverse Culture Shock – An American in Berlin Back in the USA

by | Aug 21, 2023 | , , , | 0 Comments

I have spent the last 5 weeks back “home” in the USA after over a decade living in Berlin. This is far from my first visit back. Typically I close down my German household and go back to my home state of Washington every year and a half, with parents visiting in between to make the distance not feel so very far away.

This all changed during the pandemic. I was fortunate that Corona-19 arrived just after an extended visit to the States where I introduced my second child to friends and family during Elternzeit (parental leave). But suddenly my home and the family that goes with it felt further away than an ocean and a continent. I am extremely relieved that none of my direct family was severely affected by the pandemic and my Berlin-based nuclear family all have a US passport so we could have visited even during the worst of it. Others weren’t so lucky as I heard about many cases where a German spouse couldn’t come with to see an ailing family member, or people who had given up their citizenship for German had to watch a loved deal with the sickness on their own.

Anyways, back to my current visit. We have been living out of suitcases, visiting my and my husband’s family on both sides of the Cascade mountain range, and even threw in a 10-day adventure through Oregon and northern California to really mix things up. It exposed my two older kids to lots of funny differences between their parent’s home and their home back in Berlin and sparked discussions on what “home” means. They are born and bred Berliners, but strongly connect with the English-language and American culture. This is both because of the mini-USA we still half-live in our house in Berlin, and the prevalence of US culture that finds its way into every nook and cranny around the globe. But still – there are things that are different. For my husband and I, native Washingtonians, this surprise of culture clash is reverse culture shock. For my kids, it is just culture shock. Here are some of their top observations from the trip and things they have found weird about life in the USA coming from Germany.

German toilet

A typical toilet in Germany with the absolute bare minimum of water

read more…

Yes, There’s Uber in Germany, but…

Yes, There’s Uber in Germany, but…

by | Jul 31, 2023 | , , , | 0 Comments

Uber and Its Competitors in Germany

Ride-hailing and ride-sharing services in Germany and most of Europe have had a far more difficult time than in North America.

While Uber plays a limited role in Germany, Lyft can’t be found anywhere in Europe. And Uber had to wage a long legal battle in Germany just to survive as a pale imitation of its US service – as a regulated taxi service. But there are also a number of Uber competitors in Germany for short-term (peer-to-peer) car rental, ride-sharing/car-sharing and other mobility options such as e-bikes, and scooters. See more about that below.

Uber ad sign BER airport

An Uber advertisement seen in the baggage claim section at Berlin’s BER airport. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Uber entered the German market in January 2013 by offering high-end limo service during Fashion Week in Berlin. That was not a problem, but in April 2014 the American company introduced its low-cost UberPop service, using freelance drivers who did not have a commercial license. Uber soon faced legal challenges from local taxi firms, but as it had done in the US before, it simply ignored the lawsuits and pressed ahead anyway, expanding to Hamburg and other cities in Germany.

However, unlike in the US, Taxi Deutschland, the national taxi hailing service, sought a nationwide injunction against Uber, citing unfair competition. In September 2014, a German court agreed to restrict Uber. Soon there were more problems facing the American upstart. German taxi operators did not stand idly by. They even organized sting operations to expose Uber drivers without a commercial license, who thus faced large fines.

In March 2015, the Hessian state court (Landesgericht) in Frankfurt effectively banned Uber nationwide. Uber was beginning to learn that the steamroller tactics that had worked so well in the US were not working in Germany. (And that was before the Uber app was declared illegal in 2019.) Uber’s failure to understand how different Germany’s business culture and legal framework were, made the firm’s executives assume that tactics that had worked in the US would also be effective in Europe.

To quote an article by Kathleen Thelen: “Thus, in stark contrast to the United States, the dominant framing of the Uber issue in Germany cast the company as a threat to the public interest for the way it invaded well-ordered local transportation markets with unfair, ruinous competition. In an inversion of the more common American narrative that often denounces powerful taxi ‘monopolies,’ Germans were more likely to see Uber as a powerful Goliath, backed by deep-pocketed investors and intent on world domination.”[1]

If you want to learn more about why Uber has such a limited presence in Germany, see my first blog post about Uber’s very bumpy road there. In this post we’ll now examine Uber’s availability in Germany, and review its primary competitors, including Bolt, Carpool Germany, Free Now, Getaround, Lime, Share Now, SnappCar, and Stadtmobil Car Sharing.

Note: In some cases the information on this page about Uber and other mobility providers may also apply to some cities in Austria and Switzerland. However, this article is primarily related to Germany. The best way to know about current conditions and the cities served in any country is to download the app for the provider you want to use.

Before we examine Uber alternatives in Europe, let’s look at why Uber in Germany is nothing like Uber in North America. read more…

Barbie’s German Ancestor

Barbie’s German Ancestor

by | Jul 24, 2023 | | 0 Comments


Like many other Americans, the “all-American” Barbie doll has German origins. Barbara “Barbie” Millicent Roberts was born – as a fully grown adult plastic doll – in New York City at the American International Toy Fair on 9 March 1959. Her accessory boyfriend, Ken, didn’t arrive until 1961.

Actually one could say that Barbie was “born” in Japan. As was common in the late 1950s, Barbie was “Made in Japan” to keep production costs low. Her clothes were hand-stitched in Japan as well. To this day, the Mattel company has never manufactured a Barbie doll in the USA, although it has manufactured other toys in the United States. These days Barbie, Ken, and friends come off of production lines in China (since 1986), Indonesia, and India (for the Indian market).

Barbie doll No. 1 - swimsuit

The first Mattel Barbie doll in 1959 wore a bathing suit. She was the same height as her German ancestor, the large-sized Bild-Lilli doll: 11.5 inches tall. In 1971 Barbie’s sideward glancing eyes were changed to face directly forward. The original oblique glance also came from Lilli. See more below. PHOTO: Barbieologin, CC-BY-3.0 (levels adjusted by H. Flippo)

Mattel’s new Barbie “fashion doll” became a huge hit. A little over 350,000 vinyl Barbies were sold in that first year. Thanks to a masterful marketing and advertising strategy, well over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries since 1959. Mattel has claimed that three Barbie dolls are sold every second – and she is now even featured in a groundbreaking new Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (US release date: Friday, 21 July 2023), and directed by Greta Gerwig.

Mattel considers the 9 March date to be Barbie’s official birthday. According to her Mattel biography, Barbie was born and raised in the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin. Her parents were George and Margaret Roberts. In the Random House Barbie novels, she attended Willows High School, but in the Generation Girl books, published by Golden Books in 1999, she attended the fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School). She has an on-and-off romantic relationship with her boyfriend Ken (full name: Kenneth Sean Carson).

However, Barbie’s true background is far more interesting. Besides her German ancestry, Barbie could also be considered Jewish to some (limited) degree. Her creator, Ruth Handler (1916-2002), was born Ruth Marianna Mosko, the youngest of ten children, on 4 November 1916 in Denver, Colorado to Eastern European Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrant parents (Jakob Joseph Mosko/Moskowitz and Ida Rubenstein). Because her mother fell ill after her birth, Ruth was actually raised by her older sister, Sarah, and her husband Louis Greenwald. Unlike her birth parents, the Greenwalds spoke mostly English rather than Yiddish at home, giving Ruth the advantage of a better command of English than most of her siblings.

Ruth Mosko later married Isadore “Izzy” Elliot Handler, a Jewish “starving art student” she had met at a B’nai B’rith youth dance in Denver. Following an on-and-off romance, the two got back together in Los Angeles, before returning to Denver. Sarah’s constant efforts to keep them apart had failed (Izzy was too poor), and in 1938 they had a fancy wedding graciously paid for by Sarah and Louis. Soon the newlyweds headed back to Los Angeles, where Ruth returned to her job as a secretary at Paramount Pictures, and Izzy found work as a lighting fixture designer. read more…