Yesterday one of the ladies at the Hotel, Nina, went with me to look at a car. I had no idea how to get there and the man did not speak English. It was very gracious of the hotel to offer her help. They have been very helpful and have offered to call about cars and apartments for me. Anyway, we rode bicycles, which is scary enough by myself but following a German it can be terrifying. Bicycles are “legal traffic” that is to say they are treated just like cars as far as the right of way goes, and they take this very seriously, seeing a bicycle in the left turn lane at a major intersection is not uncommon; and for the rider to be an elderly person or child is not surprising. Pedestrians don’t have the right of way, except in marked crosswalks and when there are crossing lights. On the way back Nina and I rode through the pedestrian zone in town and then I saw her jump off her bike. She said that she usually would ride right through but she saw the Polizei (it’s a pedestrian zone vehicles, you aren’t allowed to ride a bicycle). She saw a group of five teenagers crossing the street and she said that if the Polizei saw them he could give them each a ticket for 60 or 70 € for crossing illegally. That’s about $80-90 right now but only because the dollar is up lately, would have been well over a hundred not long ago.
I had noticed that when I got to an intersection and there were no cars coming but the light was red, people generally stayed put.
Last night I went out to a small village to look at an old BMW 318i that a sergeant in my office had out there at a friend’s house. It was not in good shape but quite cheap. We had to jump it as it had been sitting since November and it was getting late. After a while we went inside and when we got inside they said “It’s 10:00, you’re welcome to shut off the cars and come in, otherwise you can stay outside and deal with the Polizei yourselves”. They said that after 10 is quiet time and the polizei will come if you make a lot of noise. They said the same thing is true in the afternoon from 1 to 3 so children can take their naps!
It’s also illegal to leave your car running for very long (I think 4 minutes) while you’re not in it and I’ve heard that it’s illegal to leave a dog unattended for more than five hours.