Idiosyncrasies #1

What's a good blog without a recurring series?

Since I've arrived in Frankfurt, I've complied a list of interesting differences between American and European (more specifically, German) cultures. I'm sure over the course of my time in Europe I'll come up with more (hence the "#1" for this blog), but as of today, this my list thus far...

• The ground floor and the 1st floor are not the same floor...the 1st floor in Europe is what we would call the second floor. All subsequent floors are also one number less.
• If you want a plastic bag from the grocery store, it's 10 cent Euro
• All taxis in Germany are Mercedes Benzes
• When going up or down, via escalator, in a department store, you don't have to walk all the way around to the other side of the floor to find the next escalator that's going in the same direction. In America, they make you walk all the way around the floor so that there's a possibility your eye will catch some merchandise that you'll purchase. In Europe, they don't play those games.
• When they show Jamster commercials, they list at least 15 songs...and tell you the number code for EACH AND EVERY SONG.
• You have to push a button on the in/outside of the subway train doors for them to open
• While we're on the subject of subway trains, there are no turnstiles in Germany. They just have subway people that come along every once and a ride to check to see if passengers bought their farecards. In my time here, I've taken the train pretty much every day and I've only ran into these people once...in Berlin.
• They put the subway map on the ceiling of the train
• Pedestrian walkways are afforded the same respect as streets for cars...with respect to street signs, traffic signals and maps.
• There is always a yellow light between green and red (i.e. the lights go red-yellow-green as well).
• Everything is closed on Sundays...except for coffee shops and pubs.
• You can go to the supermarket for all of your food/hygiene needs, but why when the butcher, cheese shop, bakery, pharmacy and fruit/vegetable street vendor are all located next door?

I would rack my brain to try and remember some more, but I'll save them for the next installment.

Cheers.