Cultural Difference: Nummer zwei

*Eating Out*

So, Friday night we went down to a town about 30 minutes from us, they have a better shopping and restaurant district than we do, and we both just wanted to get away! It was such a cool little town and we even happened upon a traditional German wedding with a full on German band playing! It was pretty cool!! 

We then met up with a buddy of Brad's from work for dinner at a place called Schweinswirt. They had a beautiful beer garden outdoors that we ate at. The food was absolutely delicious. When we first got there the menu was only in German (first problem) ... I had no clue what I wanted to order! Our poor waitress tried her hardest to explain everything but, was having a hard time. I was thinking I would have to just pick something random, and hope for the best! Thankfully, a couple tables over, there were some Americans who were fluent in German. A gal came over and explained everything to us and we were all able to decide what to order. 

Before our food came out though, we got our drinks. This is probably the biggest thing different than America. First, their sodas are very carbonated. They seem to have more carbonation than syrup and I don't really care for them. Brad likes to get a drink called spezi, it has coke and orange soda mixed together. (I think it's gross ... he loves it) Anyway ... they never bring your drinks out with ice. You have to ask for it and in some cases pay for ice. They even serve their beer warm over here. Water, costs. You have to pay for water and that in some cases is more expensive than beer or soda. AND ... they have different options for water ... you can either get it carbonated or "still" (no carbonation) so, I always have to remember to ask for still wasser or, I'm drinkin' soda water! Bizarre to me! So, we got our ice free drinks and waited for food. One nice thing about food here, is it's always fresh. It takes a good hour just to get your food. 

Once the food gets brought out ... we ate and it was delicious. Now after you eat, they don't rush to get you out of their restaurant like they do in the states. Once you get your table, you can stay there all night if you wanted. Waiters & waitresses get paid by the hour here instead of just off of tips so, they don't mind if you're at a table for 4 hours. It's actually really nice because you get to ENJOY your dinner instead of hurrying to order, eating quickly made food and then being rushed out. It's quite the different experience. 

When you're ready for your bill, or want your plates cleaned, or your drink refilled ... it's customary to clap or snap or shout for your waitress. They don't find that rude at all ... which is weird to me because I feel like I'm whistling for a dog. Ha! But, they don't mind one bit and it's just how things go here!

I loved getting to eat out here ... it's a lot more relaxed than in the states, that's for sure! This is my dinner from Friday night (below). It was a huge pork knuckle that they call a Schweinshaxe. It came with a beer broth and some sort of potato pudding stuff (of which I am not a huge fan.) Kason got schnitzle which was also DELICIOUS! German food is very heavy but ... well worth it!