German Blue Laws

It was not long ago that stores across Germany all closed between 4 and 6 PM daily and were closed on Sundays. Today things are much more liberal. Many stores are open until 10pm and closed on Sunday. This of course has a large impact on how you organize your weeks and specifically your weekend.

Most of your food shopping for the week needs to be done on Saturdays. For Pam and I a typical Saturday starts with a trip to the Farmer's Market in the Square in front of the Tiefburg in Handschusheim. There we will buy our produce, some chicken, eggs, as well as flowers and some other things. We will later go to the Rewe, the local grocery store and get other canned goods and such that we need.

On Sunday there are no stores open, only restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir stores and tanning salons. Traditionally, Germans will use Sunday to go walking. I am sure that this traditions varies with where you live. Here in Heidelberg, there are miles of trails and the idea is to walk to a specific location and to then stop and have a some cake and coffee. You do this with family or with friends or both. It is a very nice tradition and stores not being open is OK, most of the time....except on holidays when they are closed Saturday also!

Nov. 1st is a holiday in Germany. It is the day to remember your descendants and to visit the cemetary. This seems like a fine holiday, but why did it have to be this particular Saturday. Pam and I had just returned from the US the previous Monday and had absolutely nothing in the house to eat. All week we had looked forward to shopping on Saturday....only to walk out the door and around the corner....to see cars parked in the lot where the farmer's market is supposed to be!