Germans separate their trash (
müll) into up to 6 bins (eimer): Haus (landfill), plastic, paper, (recyclables), pfand (returnable plastics and some glass), glass (separated into brown, white and green and brought to a center) and bio (food waste). Bio, plastic, landfill and paper are all picked up.
Air conditioning for homes is non existent. Europeans use their screen-less windows to keep cool and don't bother much with the flies that come in. Mosquitos are kept out by shuttering the windows in early evening when lights are on in the house. Most windows have a single three position lever that allows one to open the window like a door or tilt the window in for air flow.
Restaurants charge for water and, unless you ask for 'still' water, you'll get carbonated water. Carbonation is pretty popular so don't be surprised to find even your order of apple juice to also be carbonated. There is no such thing as free refills here (frankly this is pretty new in the US too) even on coffee but a coffee refill comes with a fresh cup and cream.
Tap water is rigidly controlled to be of high drinking quality so carrying a water bottle and refilling from a tap is an excellent way to stay hydrated at no cost.
Breakfast is continental (bread rolls, sliced meat, jam, cheese, butter, coffee and tea) and lunch is the largest meal (fish, meat, pasta) taken around noon followed by 'kaffe und kuchen' (coffee and cake) at 3 pm (15 uhr) and finally a very light meal of bread spread with a little something for dinner around 5 pm.
Through Germany and Austria we saw that people take their shoes off at the door rather than track stuff into the house, as many do in the US but we saw dedicated cubby holes in homes and in apartments the shoes are simply left outside in the hall, a level of dedication to cleanliness and trust that surprised me.
Discover Card is purportedly (by Discover Card) accepted where Diner's Club is accepted but I found this often not to be the case and frequently resorted to my MasterCard instead, which, sadly, charges a transaction fee for each purchase. In any case, the SIM interface is preferred over magnetic steep swipe and make sure you have a pin for your credit card though it is not always required. When no pin is required a signature is required instead and retails are not used to getting a signature. Cash is highly recommended for use in small towns where cards are not accepted. Check with your bank on ATM usage but free are charged for withdrawals.
Clothes dryers, if they exist, are rare as clothes are hung out to dry instead - inside in the winter.
Cars are predominantly stick shift transmission and deisel fuel and include sign reading technology that displays the present speed limit in the instrument panel. This is extremely handy especially on the Autobahn where speed limits change dramatically from 50 km/hr to no limit depending upon construction, traffic density and surrounding population.
The German equivalent of saying "Bless you" after someone sneezes is "Gesundheit" (good health) but hold off on saying this to random sneezers (as we often do in the States) as this is largely reserved for friends versus strangers.
Toilet brushes are a fixture (seriously, the holder is mounted to the wall) and expected to be used to leave the bowl clean for the next visitor. Toilets commonly have to flush buttons for your two, ehem, toilet needs, delivering different amounts of water to save on water usage.
In all the places we stayed, relatives and pensions, in Germany, Czechia, and Austria all the locks use what we would call, old style keys.
