Usually a day I reserved for doing the crappy things that I didn't like doing the rest of the week. You know, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, long runs for training, that kind of stuff. But I never really felt restricted on what I could do. Unless of course you ran out of beer. In Minnesota there were no liquor sales on Sundays.
In Germany though, they are serious about their Sundays being a day of rest. Grocery stores, department stores, fast food chains, they're all closed. The only thing that's open are locally owned restaurants and cafes. Recently a German court upheld the law to restrict trade on Sundays as sacrosanct.
So instead of hiding in their houses behind TV's and piles of laundry, the Germans really get out and enjoy the day! My girlfriend, Gerri, and I recently went to meet some friends to go ice skating by a palace. I was expecting a few people as it was a sunny day but what I found was surprising. There were thousands of people outside enjoying the day. Families, couples, friends, singles, young, old, canine all just out having a great time being together. There was ice skating, curling, hockey, sledding, and if you didn't like any of that there were plenty of people just walking around and watching. We stopped at one of the outdoor stands to get a glühwein and a bratwurst.
It was awesome to see everyone out enjoying the day. I know we do this kind of stuff in the States a little bit but this is on a totally different level. There was no special event or movie being filmed, just thousands of Bavarians enjoying a Sunday afternoon. And it's like this every Sunday. I love it!
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