1936 On the Continent

price of the room, would not satisfy me. Generally it consists only of coffee, tea or chocolate, different kinds of rusks, butter and marmalade. It is a special concession if an egg or a small piece of ham is given, and anything ordered in addition to this meagre menu, according to English ideas, is charged extra in the bill.
    As however in very good middle-class hotels no more than 5 or 6 marks a day is charged, and in some a good room with breakfast can be had for 3 to 4 marks a day, this small supplement can really not be regarded seriously. The German hotels expect their guests to take at least theirbreakfast in the house, and even if they do not always raise the price of the room in consequence of not doing so, it is certainly the thing to take breakfast in the hotel, and is also more convenient and pleasanter. There is plenty of opportunity for going to the fine coffee-houses, quite an unknown experience for us English, at other times of the day.
    In most German towns the hotels are round about the railway station. When only staying one night in a place it is not of much use going to any other part of the town, as the square round the station and the neighbouring streets provide accommodation for every purse and all requirements.
Pensions
    Pensions are very popular in Germany, and are classed as small hotels. Often, and especially at the watering-places, they occupy a whole house, but as a rule only one or two floors. They are more intimate than the hotels, and therefore specially indicated for longer visits for the sociably minded. Their prices are rather different from the hotels, and one cannot generalise—a first-class pension charges more, naturally, than a second-class hotel. “Pension” does not mean what it once did, that meals in the daytime must be taken in the house, as they nearly all give room and breakfast. The best and most reliable belong, as is general in Germany, to an association, the lists of which are to be found in every foreigners’ travel bureau.
    A speciality of Germany, but to be found also in Switzerland and Scandinavia, are the so-called Christian Hospices, which are, on account of their standing and quietness, indicated for ladies travelling alone. Their name has a religious significance only for those who value the fact that there are generally rooms set apart for devotions, but there is no obligation in this connection. Visitors do as they like in the Christian Hospices the same as elsewhere, but he who is not looking for the lighter kind of adventure or, as they say in Germany, seeks a “stormfree dwelling,” will not err in going to a Christian Hospice.
    The information bureaus are glad to provide travellers also with the addresses of private houses, so-called private lodgings which, particularly in the smaller towns, arepleasant and give an opportunity of getting in touch with the people. One must, however, beware of strangers who haunt the railway stations offering first-class accommodation. The police and the foreigners’ travel organisation have for the most part eliminated: these undesirable persons, and the extraordinary care for safety in Germany guarantees that the stranger no longer runs much risk, but it is easy to get hold of a wrong address, and to be cheated if nothing worse.
Police
    In this connection I was made very forcibly aware of the German policeman, nicknamed Schupo. All respect, they say, to the famous English police, whose difficult duties are so efficiently carried out, but the German Schupo has some characteristics which are foreign to the English policeman. Every German policeman considers himself at the service of travelling foreigners. He knows about almost everything and takes pains to give the best and most detailed information. It often happens that a German policeman leaves his post to help a tourist in some way or other. In the large towns there is a great increase in the number of policemen who speak foreign languages—in Berlin and Munich the custom was introduced of giving them an armband showing the languages they speak. In Berlin there is a policeman, whose beat is in the Unter den Linden, who speaks six different languages.
    As I had already learnt more than enough from my son about the Youth Hostels, my travelling companions abandoned this subject with surprised smiles.
Tips
    My neighbour the jeweller, who had so far talked to me in very good English with a slight foreign accent, suddenly announced that he wished to explain