Quick Concierge in .NET

Painting QR in .NET Quick Concierge

Medical Assistance Most major hotels have a physician on staff or on call If you can t get hold of a doctor and the situation is life-threatening, dial the emergency service, % 112, which is open day and night Medical and hospital services aren t free, so be sure that you have appropriate insurance coverage before you travel See 10 for more information on general medical matters in Germany Newspapers and Magazines In Germany, you find daily editions of the International Herald Tribune and an international edition of USA Today Many newstands carry Time magazine as well Police The German word for police is Polizei (po-lit-sigh) Throughout the country, dial % 110 for emergencies Post Offices The words Deutsche Post identify a post office Post offices are open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm, Saturday from 8 am to noon In larger cities, the post office in the main train station may be open longer hours Street mailboxes are yellow To find international rates and services from Germany, check out the Web site for Deutsche Post (www deutschepostde) Restrooms Use the word Toilette (twah-leh-teh) A women s Toilette is usually marked with an F for Frauen, and a men s Toilette with an H for Herren Restrooms in train stations sometimes require a 050 or 1 coin to enter Many restrooms have an attendant who expects a small tip (never more than 020 ); the attendant in a men s Toilette may be female

Safety Germany is generally a safe country in which to travel, with the usual caveats to use common sense and be aware of your surroundings At night, avoid areas around the large railway stations in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg Taxes Germany imposes a Mehrwertsteuer (MWST), or value-added tax (VAT), of 16 percent on most goods and services The prices of restaurants and hotels include VAT Stores that display a tax-free shopping sign can issue you a Global Refund Cheque at the time of purchase See 5 for details on how to obtain your refund Telephone The country code for Germany is 49 To call Germany from the US, dial the international access code 011, then 49, then the city code, then the regular phone number, which may have from four to nine digits The phone numbers listed in this book are to be used within Germany; when calling from abroad, omit the initial 0 in the city code Local and long-distance calls may be placed from post offices and coin-operated public telephone booths, though coinoperated devices are increasingly rare The unit charge is 020 Most phones in Germany now require a Telefonkarte (telephone card), available at post offices and newsstands in increments of 5 ($675), 10 ($14), and 20 ($26) Telephone calls made through hotel switchboards cost significantly more than the regular charge at a pay phone or post office To make an international call from a public phone, look for a phone marked inlands und auslandsgespr che; most have instructions in English

To call the United States or Canada from Germany, dial 01, followed by the country code (1), then the area code, and then the number Alternatively, you can dial the various telecommunication companies in the States for cheaper rates From Germany, the access numbers are % 0800/225-5288 for AT&T and % 0800/888-8000 for MCI Time Zone Germany operates on central European time (CET), which means that the country is six hours ahead of eastern time in the United States and one hour ahead of Greenwich mean time (GMT) Summer daylight saving time begins in April and ends in October there s a slight difference in the dates from year to year so there may be a period in early spring and in the fall when there s a seven-hour difference between eastern time and CET Always check if you re traveling during these periods, especially if you need to catch a plane Tipping If a restaurant bill says Bedienung, it means a service charge has already been added, so just round yours up to the nearest euro If not, add 5 percent to 10 percent, depending on your satisfaction Round up to the nearest euro for taxis Bellhops get 1 ($135) per bag, as does the doorman at a hotel, restaurant, or nightclub The room-cleaning staff gets a small tip in Germany, as do concierges who perform special favors such as obtaining theater or opera tickets Tip hairdressers or barbers 5 percent to 10 percent Water Tap water is safe to drink in all German towns and cities, but bottled drinking water is a way of life Restaurants do not freely offer water with your meal You order Sprudelwasser (shprew-dil-vos-er; water with gas) or Still (shtill; noncarbonated water) Weights and Measures Germany uses the metric system Heights are given in centimeters (cm) and meters (m), distances in kilometers (km), and weights in grams (g) or kilograms (kg) Temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (0 C = 32 F) To translate Celsius into Fahrenheit, multiply the number by 18 and add 32