[danielbln]

Yeah, Berlin is a great city for many reasons, but its administration is not one if its strengths, to put it mildly.

The surrounding lakes are definitely nice, just not compatible with the climate for say 8 out of the 12 months, so a better/cheaper/more accessible selection of indoor pools would be nice. And a solution to the cesspool that is the open air pools, where a certain demographic is ruining it for everyone (and has done so for decades).

[hylaride]

> but its administration is not one if its strengths, to put it mildly.

You've just described the whole country, TBH.

[h4ckerle]

I don't know where you live or what experiences you've made but I just had a look into my municipalities online appointment system and there are 5 slots free to book just for tommorow.

[hylaride]

I lived in Germany about a decade ago.

The Germany federal government’s procurement process is kafkaesque at best (especially the armed forces); Germany spends as much on defence as France, yet France has a nuclear deterrent, nuclear subs, a nuclear aircraft carrier, and a sizable fighter jet fleet - all domestically designed and built. Germany’s government barely maintains its kit.

The railways are late a third of the time. The Swiss want to ban Deutsche Bahn trains because they’re causing so many problems.

The German telecom operators are terrible. Domestic internet is slow and the cell phone networks are the same.

The country just doesn’t invest in itself and when it does it can’t effectively execute.

I’m not saying Germany is a shithole, but its government bureaucracy is generally terrible and business administration lackluster (and yes, there are exceptions to the rule).

I’ll add that I’ll tear the shit out of my home country (Canada) similarly. We have similar issues with government procurement.

[CaptainZapp]

> The railways are late a third of the time. The Swiss want to ban Deutsche Bahn trains because they’re causing so many problems.

That's not quite correct. What the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) started to do is to not allow German trains onto the network if they're massively delayed (I think massively being more than 15 minutes), which, of course happens a lot.

My take is that it's partially educational (as in get your shit together if you want to use our network) and partially it really is a logistical problem and messes up the network.

The train network in Switzerland is used so densely that allowing too many delayed trains onto it has a serious impact and would incur knock on effects.

[nicbou]

Berlin just does it worse, even though it has greater challenges that explain it.

[lippihom]

Check out the public pool in Kleinmachnow during the summer - far fewer crowds and very nice water.