Archive for 'Living in Germany'
Getting an Irish passport in Germany
Posted on July 17, 2010, under Living in Germany.
Here is just a few words about my experience with the Irish Embassy in Berlin and the experience of getting :
- new biometric passport
- an emergency passport
Overall I must say that I am extremely happy with how I was dealt with in a fast manner by the helpful staff, and I do encourage you to call them if you have any questions or worries.
The background
Stupidly I washed & dried my passport, and it was in pieces afterwards. As it was expiring later this year I didn’t really mind so much, just I knew that it would take a bit of time to get one because of the strike in Ireland. And with plans to travel to a few places this summer I knew I needed a new one ASAP.
Passport forms
After doing some quick research I realised that I needed to get the forms for a renewal from the Embassy. A quick phone call to the staff was all that was needed and I had the forms by post on the following day. You can’t download the forms, and I guess this is probably a security precaution.
I realised on the following Thursday afternoon that I need a passport to go to Italy on the subsequent Monday. In a panic I filled out the forms, got passport pictures taken and got it all witnessed by my bank, and sent it off at 6pm on the Thursday. As I needed an emergency passport for the Monday, I included the copy of my flight booking, and the destroyed passport.
On Friday got a call from the Embassy to check some details, and the temporary passport landed on my door on the following day. Thank God for postage on Saturdays in Germany. So it literally took 65 hours to get an emergency passport. If I was in Berlin I guess this could be done almost on the spot, but due to commitments in Munich I couldn’t do the 1,200km round trip (plus I don’t own a car).
From right to left : The new one, the temporary one and the old passport
Emergency Passport
The emergency passport is good for 12 months, and looks different to the other Irish passports (it’s green). As far as I know you can travel to most places on it, but you might get some questions if you go to the USA with it. Once your full passport is ready, after being processed in Ireland, the Embassy will contact you, and ask you to send the temporary one, or your old one, back to them in Berlin. They will chop off a corner from them and send them back to you, along with your new passport. I’ve found that they are really quick with postage turn around, and in my case it was done with the return of post the following day.
New Biometric Passport
The new passport took just under 8 weeks to get to me, from sending the completed forms to getting the new one delivered. While it’s not quick, I do understand that these things take time. It certainly isn’t the embassy’s fault it takes 2 months to get a passport, they always seem to react to things as fast as possible. More about obtaining a new passport is on the Embassy’s website.
Vodafone Germany : Shopping Experience
Posted on July 3, 2010, under Living in Germany.
As this is something to do with online shopping, I had considered posting this on the company blog , but I think the emotional nature of this post won’t really lend itself to a “more professional blog”.
Last week I had the unfortunate experience of leaving my Nexus One on my AirMalta flight back from Valetta. After various attempts to contact Munich Airport and the AirMalta lost property guys, I settled that it was probably not going to show up again.
Shopping with Vodafone.de
So I did a bit of research on what to replace it with, I decided that the Nexus One, is still one of the better Andriod phones out there. Looking at Amazon and other online stores, it was clear that Vodafone.de had the best price. So flash forward to today, I take myself and my credit card to the Vodafone store near Marienplatz, Munich.
- Me : Do you have the nexus one.
- Vodafone Staff : Yes, we have a few.
- Me : Great, I would like to buy one right now, without a contract, please.
- Vodafone Staff : Errr, sorry we are only selling them to customers with out contracts.
Not being so happy with this I checked another store, but they didn’t even have the phone at the time. Back at home I checked up about buying it online, but they mention that it’s not available until end of August. So I call one of their ordering help lines (0800 – 800 10 70), where the lady said yes they are available (right away), and I said great I’d like to order one then. When she found out that I wanted it without a contact she told me I had to call customer care (0800 172 1212). After calling customer care and going through a few voice prompted menus, I get through to another girl. I explain that I want to get the Nexus One without a contract, and she gets a little confused. She says she is the wrong person to talk to. I explain that I was told from the “ordering help line” that I could order a new mobile over the phone on this number.
The girl put me on hold and when she came , back she said it’s not possible to order phones without a contract over the phone. Not wanting to waste more time I decided not to ask her as to why this would be the case. So off I go to order it on vodafone.de. The vodafone shop tells me that it won’t be available until August (but I know they have the phone available now), so I go ahead and fill out the order form. As I’m going through the order steps I find it rather strange that I’m not asked for my Bank Details (in Germany more people use debit cards than credit cards) or a credit card. So I was able to go through the whole order process, which ends in saying that I will get an email with details of the order.
This email simply says the order it will be processed in 2-3 working days . I’m guessing that not having my payment, will hamper the purchasing process a little. So I can’t order directly over the phone, and when I order online, Vodafone are just going to call me back to get my payment details ???
So Vodafone, it’s 2010 and buying a product that’s listed on your website really seems like pulling teeth.
P.S. I would have loved to have had the oppertunity to say this on your forum, but because I’m not a customer (yet) I can’t register.
Outdoor swimming pool : Schyrenbad in Munich
Posted on May 11, 2010, under Living in Germany, daily life.
So the summer is finally here, and in Munich a great things happen. Biergardens open, people are on their bikes, but best of all the summer outdoor swimming pools (Freibad) open. These are generally open from May to September and are well worth a visit. Last Saturday I was dragged along by my Ironman friend, and we went to the Schyrenbad at 9am for a swim.
It’s located at Claude-Lorrain-Straße 24, 81543 München, and the nearest U-Bahn is the U1/U2 at Kolumbusplatz.
Above is a picture of the kids pool with a slide and below is the adults pool, with a lane market for the serious swimmers. The Schyrenbad is open daily from 9am-6pm, and on warm days it should be open until 8pm. I’m not 100% sure as to what constitutes a “warm day”. Entrance fee is €3.50 for adults. As far as I could see the pool is only slightly heated, so it’s not for the faint hearted. 
It’s worth a visit on those hot summer days !
Maria Einsiedel
Another great outdoor pool is Sommerbad Maria Einsiedel which is located at Zentralländstraße 28, 81379 München. This is to the south of Munich near the Thalkirchen (Tierpark) U-bahn station on the U3 line. Maria Einsiedel has a stream running through it which you can jump into and will carry you through the park attached to it. The stream has been split off from the Isar, and is quite refreshing.
Tweet Up in a Brewery
Posted on May 4, 2010, under Living in Germany, daily life.
A few English speaking tweeters in Munich have come together and decided to have an informal tweet up.
Details of TUB1
- Date : May 11th 2010
- Time : 18:30 (6:30pm CET)
- Location : Augustiner Keller, Arnulfstraße 52, 80335 München
- Transport : S-bahn / Tram Hackerbrücke
Map :
HashTag for the event : #tub1
Note : If the weather is bad we will meet inside, in the basement / keller if it’s open. Otherwise we will be out in the beer garden.
Attendees
Total Attendees: 7| # | Name |
|---|---|
| 1. | @savagepaul |
| 2. | @Carlo (Zottmann) |
| 3. | @natfriedman |
| 4. | @weimann |
| 5. | @aptmunich |
| 6. | @RobLoBue |
| 7. | @mikewest |
Signup
The event have ended - no more registrations are allowed.Some pictures from Fashings 2010
Posted on February 19, 2010, under Living in Germany, daily life.
During the week I received my new toy, the latest pride and joy, a fancy Canon lens (EF 70-300mm 1:4,0-5,6 IS USM). Not wanting to miss an opportunity to take some interesting pictures as Tuesday was Fashings (the German version of Carnival), I took my kit into the city to put it through its paces. Here are some of of my favourite snaps from the day.
In Germany (Munich & Cologne in particular) they tend to go a little mad in the streets with lots of crazy costumes and a bit of prosecco and beer thrown in.
The world outside my window
Posted on January 8, 2010, under Living in Germany, daily life, irishblogs.
Just back from 2½ weeks in Ireland, and while the weather was quite bad at times, i.e. lots of ice / cold / snow, it was still great to be back. I’m not going to comment on how the County Councils could run of of salt and grit, or fail to have adequate material dispersed on the roads, because, well it doesn’t happen every year.
Generally I am a fan of the “bad weather“, snow really makes the city streets quieter (it absorbs the sound), like the brightness in the mornings, and the feeling of a few flakes landing on your tongue as you walk down the street. I’m a big fan of the mountains and skiing and I’m really looking forward the season ahead. I’ve missed a bit of the season already, so I’m eager to hit the slopes.
I didn’t mean to ramble on, what I wanted to do was share the view from the office today :
now it’s time to get that snowboard waxed …
Oktoberfest 2009
Posted on July 22, 2009, under Living in Germany, daily life.
Only 59 days until the opening of this years Oktoberfest (www.oktoberfest.de) and the tent preparations are already under way. Compared to this time last year, the building works seem to be a little behind.
This is a still taken today from this webcam.
These “tents” are engineering pieces of art. Some of the larger ones can seat 8,000 people in them. Sometimes the definition of “tent” seems lost on tourists. These structures have kitchens, solid walls, multiple levels and balconies. There are 14 tents, which can seat 110,000 people. Many of the tents have beer gardens around them so if the weather is nice it is probably a good move to stay outside. The only disadvantage is that you may not hear all the live music from the Oompah bands.
Smoking at the Oktoberfest
This year again smoking is allowed in the Oktoberfest tents, they cite problems with dealing with crowds as to why they can’t impose the smoking ban. Some tents have said that they will try to enforce that in the earlier part of the day that smoking will be prohibited. But in a tent with 10,000 people this may be quite the challenge.
Drinking at the Oktoberfest
This year a litre of beer will set you back €8.30 to €8.60, last year it was €7.80 to €8.30.
SEOktoberfest
There are plenty of parties going on at the Oktoberfest, one I would like to go to is SEOktoberfest , but entry to the event runs at €5,000, which is a little out of my range for a startup SEO. If you do have the money and you want some great drinking buddies then I would give Marcus Tandler a shout ASAP. If you can’t afford €5k, then one tip is to get to the Weis’n early. This means getting there before 9am at the weekends and before 5pm during the week.
Eins, Zwei, Drei – Gsuffa!”
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