German shopkeepers save me hundreds of dollars

by on February 6, 2007

Maryam whines that most of the shops we’ve walked past the last couple of days have been closed.

Whew.

We’re escaping Germany with hundreds of Euros still in our pockets. Thank you Germany!

Seriously, had a great day yesterday in the Black Forest. Wonderful place to take a drive and have a few walks.

Favorite scene? Traffic stopped all of a sudden. For what? A guy leading a flock of sheep down the road.

I got video of it, but don’t have time to put it up this week. It gave me some ideas for a show. Maybe the “TechMeme flock” after seeing the linking behavior of bloggers lately.

  • Good to hear that you enjoyed your stay...and as far as the shops (or their opening hours) go: Haha! If you're living over here, you're so used to it (not open on sunday, etc) that you don't even think about how weird it might seem for other people...and believe me, we're already happy over here that most stores have new, longer, opening hours on saturday (they used to close down at 2pm the latest a few years back)...
  • Good to hear that you enjoyed your stay…and as far as the shops go.
  • vrb
    enough about linking.
  • Robert,

    It’s a natural yet amusing scenario for most of us on sights, similar to the one you’ve mentioned. Here in India, even though I reside in an urban concrete jungle, it’s not unusual (at times) to find Mama Cows along with their little ones bringing traffic to a predictable halt.

    Allan
    http://allanfernandes.wordpress.com/
  • Germany sounds like Western Australia: trading hours out of the 19th century. Cant shop here on a Sunday either, or even buy alcohol unless it's from a pub!
  • I'm jealous, the Black Forest is one of those "wanna see it before I die" places. Would love to see some photos!
  • Patrick Schriner
    The ban on shops being opened on sundays has been lifted last year (effectifly, as it changed from federal law to state law). There are already shops that are open after 8 pm, and some states are in the process of lifting all restrictions. The unions are putting a fight against it though.
  • Hi Robert

    Glad your visit was a positive one. I live quite close to the Black Forest. I was skiing there last week - in sunshine. It is a beautiful part of Germany. Here are a few snowy pictures from 2005. I think it is great the shops are closed on a Sunday. Somehow, we always manage to have enough groceries to last us through Sunday ;-)
  • Thomas
    Seriously, shopping on sundays is for people who do not know how to plan. Think about it - would you want to be serving people all sunday long and have your day of when all your pals are working?

    I am living "over there" and feel quiet happy with time on my hands on sundays that is usually shared by friends and family! As to australian shopping times ... I was in Vienna last week. The stores in the city center close at 1900 ... and that is the capital of Austria.
  • Robin
    I'm looking to go to Black Forest later this year so would like to see some photos of poss.
    We started Sunday shopping in the UK a few years ago and it's one of the worst things. Now there are traffic problems every day of the week, every day seems the same. People only have the same amount of money to spend so do we need it? It used to be nice that many more people did something different on a Sunday; played sport, visited family, chilled out. Now all I hear is people moaning about the pace of life - no wonder. I try never to shop on Sundays unless it's a real emergency and I feel like I have a break from my ususal day-to-day routine.
  • > Seriously, shopping on sundays is for people who do not know how to plan.

    Seriously, a sentence like that is for people who do not know how to think.

    > As to australian shopping times … I was in Vienna last week.

    See what I mean?
  • when the shops are closed you have more peace in germany too wich is rare ;-) so it helps when people leave our country thinking its all good jolly in the black forest ... thats beeing "incognito" caught in the act with the sheeps ;-)
blog comments powered by Disqus