The Five Dopest Things About Germany, By Papi Fimbres

Papi Fimbres is the drummer for Máscaras, Sun Angle, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical and a million other bands, including the duo Dreckig with Shana Lindbeck. He just returned to Portland after a six-month sabbatical in Germany, so we asked him to tell us about the most awesome things he discovered about living there.

1. The legal drinking age for beer and wine is 16. You can drink in public, and you can drink in the car—except if you're driving, of course.

2. There's no "last call." So if you're done with a killer show and you still wanna rage, you can always find awesomely weird late-night punk dive bars that serve until you've had enough. Also, the bartenders drink all the time while they're working, too.

3. Each town pretty much has its own brewery inside some old 12th-century brick-and-mortar building, and they're usually fucking great and cheap.

4. As scary as this may seem, you can drive as fast as you want or can on the Autobahn. The Minden dudes were just a tad bit scared at this, but they got used to it once we realized that we had long-ass drives all across Germany.

5. Because that part of Europe is so old, there are so many gorgeous buildings and incredible architecture all around. Some cats take it for granted because they've been there forever and don't find the time to just stop and look up. It's incredible to see these historical monuments still standing after all these centuries.

SEE IT: Dreckig plays Rontoms, 600 E Burnside St., with Copy and Amani, on Sunday, April 3. 8:30 pm. Free. 21+.

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.