Not really directly relevant but I just thought I'd mention that I found food shopping in Germany (Koblenz, Bonn) to be a miserable experience. You could choose between very poor quality and poor selection supermarkets for a reasonable price, or good quality but quite expensive city center specialty shops and open air markets. It was funny, going on my research stay I was dreading the shopping experience in Poland but it never occurred to me to be worried about Germany. Poland was fine - full mix of supermarkets from very cheap low end ones to great high end ones with what by NYC standards are reasonable prices, whether local minichains or massive Carrefour stores. (I'm a bit of a food nut and love to cook so this was a pretty important issue for me)