Zwantzig

We had to move hotels today, since the one we were in was already booked today back when we checked in almost three weeks ago. There's no free wifi in this hotel, so Mein First 30 Deutsche Days will immediately become Some But Not All Of Mein First 30 Deutsche Days.

We went back to the big bike store today to finally actually pick up that bike and trailer we've been talking about for-ev-ver now. We picked out a trailer and somehow got talked in to a bike that was way more money than we had intended to spend. Once we got up to the cashier, they told us they didn't accept mastercard/visa's there. Germany is essentially a cash economy - nobody puts things on credit (which is awesome!) and very few people really even use debit cards. Germany bank debit cards are different than American ones, and don't run through the same system that credit cards do. We know that, and keep cash on us because of it, but it never occurred to us that a store whose average product costs €500+ wouldn't be hooked up to a card system!

So, we had to leave the store and hunt down an ATM. It's struck me as odd that in America, almost everybody uses cards but ATMs are EVERYWHERE. Every gas station, supermarket, etc... have one and they're often just randomly plopped down in the middle of parking lots. Here, everybody uses cash but Geldautomat's (ATM's) are freaking impossible to find. Germans are just much better at planning ahead, I guess.

While on the trek to the ATM, we came to our senses and decided not to buy the bike. We really did want that trailer, though. So, we headed back to pick it up. Cheeseball LOVES it. Maybe I'll actually remember my camera tomorrow and get a pic.

Technorati tags: Germany, bike trailer, money