Buying a Cola

Be warned. In the US when you order a Coke, Soda, or Pop with your meal you get a large glass with ice, a straw, unlimited refills and a smile. Not so in Germany.

Be prepared to get yours in a small warm bottle. If the waitress is on the ball she will usually set a glass down in front of you, take the 0.2 liter coke bottle and turn it upside down with a quick twist and fill the glass for you very unceremoniously. Then you will watch as your hopes of tasting those fantastic bubbles get doused as they fill up the top of the wide glass like a foamy head of beer and fizzle away into the atmosphere. This not only takes the rest of the fizz out of a warm soda, it erases all hopes of getting a 'taste of home' as you sit in a foreign place.

Word to the wise: Just order a beer. Soda costs twice as much per ounce (or cubic equivalent) and you will garner less stares if you are drinking a local brew.