Opening Day

We've been back in Germany for about a week now after spending a good part of April in Canada. Admittedly not the best month to visit, but the weather wasn't as bad as it could have been and we accomplished (most of) what we set out to do. We did our taxes, and instead of packing more our remaining belongings in Canada in a shipping container and waiting weeks to get them, we decided to take advantage of the fact that there were four of us -- two of our nieces came with us -- and jam as much as we could in our luggage for the trip home, including forking over a bit of extra money to the airline so that we could each take an extra suitcase. We did manage to bring the important stuff with us, but there are still some things we'd like... just a fair warning to any of you who plan to come to Germany in the next while. If we find out, we may saddle you down with extra luggage.
The jet lag hit particularly hard this time around for some reason; despite having a weekend to recover, our first days at work were brutal, and we're still not entirely back in the groove. But the weather has more than compensated for our troubles, and after a cool start to the week the temperature has been steadily climbing the clouds gradually fading. Today was the high point, with not a cloud in the sky and the mercury hitting 30° (86 F). Today being a Saturday, the implications were clear. It was opening day of the European city lifestyle. People descended on the old city center; strolling through the pedestrian-only zone and sipping drinks at outdoor cafés.   

The city center is never actually closed during the year, it just lends itself well to fair weather as you can imagine. And despite the sudden heat, thankfully people didn't take the North American approach to summer apparel and strip down to the bare minimum. Elena had to work, so after dropping her off I thought I'd get a jump on the week's grocery shopping to leave the rest of the day free for a bit of yard work, odds and ends, and of course just enjoying the day. I should have known by now that many Germans also plan their Saturdays in the same way -- not just when there's good weather -- and so when I went to the two grocery stores where we usually do our shopping, both of them were already packed and had long lineups at the checkouts... at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning. I should point out that the entire downtown pedestrian zone is set up as a farmer's market on Saturday mornings, and also has many customers with baskets in hand at 8 o'clock. By late morning much of the produce is gone and vendors begin packing up their tables and trailers. By early afternoon there is no trace of them, and the area is wide open for people to enjoy the day along with a scoop of gelato.