Impeccable timing


köln

Today was my free day — a post-conference breather and a chance to explore Köln, rather than lurching off on the next available plane. So I did! First thing this morning I grabbed a map and headed off on a walking tour.

First thing: after a gloriously warm and sunny weekend, it’s raining. A constant drizzle, punctuated by occasional dribbles of heavier rainfall. Not fun to walk in, and the grey skies made for terrible lighting conditions — I took a few horrible photos and gave up.

Also, today is apparently the first day of Pentecost, and Germany takes their religious holidays very seriously. At the conference, I learned about ‘silent days’ — a number of official holidays in Germany in which you are prohibited from being too danged cheerful. Theaters are closed, parties are prohibited, and there is no dancing allowed. I was told about one protest march against these policies, in which they were shadowed by police officers who were poised to arrest anyone whose walking looked a little too flamboyant, looking like a dance move.

They clearly need a dose of Kevin Bacon and Kenny Loggins.

So today almost everything was closed. The streets are dead and damp. The Chocolate Museum was closed! (Although we can’t blame religion for that one, they’re apparently closed every Monday.) I got in a few hours of walking, at least, and it was generally quiet and contemplative…a change after the drunks who were singing loudly outside my hotel room window at 2am last night. It’s a pleasant city, and I’ll have to come back some time when the Catholics are a little less authoritarian.

Comments

  1. says

    I told you so!
    About our horrible institutionalized religion

    Theaters are closed, parties are prohibited, and there is no dancing allowed.

    That’s not quite correct. Public parties and dancing are forbidden, but you can have as much fun in private as you want to. Still fucked up. There are several attempts to change those laws, because the culture is changing anyway. 30 years ago you’d only get requiems on the radio on Good Friday.
    Also, it’s the last day of Pentecost. ;)

  2. JohnnieCanuck says

    Whether it’s the seventh Sunday after Eostre or fiftieth day after Passover that’s only one day. First day, last day, same day?

  3. says

    Yeah, I’m living in a similarily crazy land. But at least some shops and museums were open yesterday in Gdańsk, because of one of the now-minor catholic holidays. I always laugh when someone mentions it, because “Zielone Świątki” (the green holiday) sounds like a “pothead’s day”.
    And we don’t track them. I always end up confused why everything closes down. Or end up coming to work and finding out it’s closed. Most – even minor – catholic holidays are national holidays in Poland. It has it’s perks though, obviously. Like five-day weekends, and shopping sprees that are obviously good for business.

  4. says

    I am lucky to live in CZ, where we do not have that much religious holidays, but since I work in Germany, I have a day off when these religious insanities are in place. What pisses me the most are those two holidays that are always at thursday (I never bothered to lern their names or what rationale lies behind them). That irks me to no end, because it is extremely impractical from the point of view of free time. Obligatory day off in the middle of the week is of no use to anyone, especially not when the shops and offices (in Germany) are closed.

    Whenever there is a religious holiday, including Christmass, my blood pressure goes right up. I hate those holidays and everything they stand for.

    I did not know about the dancing prohibition. I am now sorely tempted to sit in my car, go over the border to the next town and dance in the streets… It seems that ermans use those holidays anyways mostly to go over to CZ for cheap shopping, so why not abolish those religiouos holidays altogether and replace them with something more sensible? Religious holidays should not be granted by state at all (including Christmass). If someone wants a day of for some stupid cross-waving and cracker eating or whatever, they can take day off of their law-guaranteed vacation accoount.

  5. says

    It’s not just catholics, either. We’re in a nominally protestant canton (Zürich), and absolutely everything is currently closed. Every single Sunday is just the same, too.

  6. MadHatter says

    I’m in Luxembourg and for the first year I was here I got surprised by the (random to me) religious holidays where everything shut down, including the grocery stores and buses, in the middle of the week. Also on Sundays, though at least many buses still run on a reduced schedule.

  7. says

    No partying on *Pentecost*? WTF? The ex-Christian in me is doing a facepalm. Seriously, go read Acts 2, and tell me if “people thought they were drunk” sounds like a solemn occasion….

  8. Matrim says

    Huh, interesting. I knew that stuff was closed on religious holidays, but I didn’t realize the whole “silent day” thing was…well…a thing. Then again, I lived near a US military base, so maybe the Germans didn’t concern themselves as much about what was going on there.

  9. David Marjanović says

    Whether it’s the seventh Sunday after Eostre or fiftieth day after Passover that’s only one day. First day, last day, same day?

    That’s Pentecost Sunday. But because Pentecost is so mind-blowingly important, Pentecost Monday ( = today) is a holiday, too. The only other such case is Easter (Easter Monday is a holiday). Impossible to tell for Christmas, where St Stephen had the great timing of being martyred right on the next day…

  10. magistramarla says

    Matrim,
    Youngest daughter just moved back to the states after living near Ramstein.
    Her husband was often on flight status for weeks at a time, so she had to keep up everything at the house.
    She complained bitterly about Sunday being a “quiet day”. She worked six days a week, so Sunday was her only day to catch up. She quickly found out that she couldn’t mow the lawn or wash the car on Sunday.
    She was not a happy camper in Germany.
    Also, we were there recently because my hubby had some official work at three bases, including Ramstein. I happily took my retired military dependent card and went shopping at the BX. I was shocked to find that Germany requires some sort of special tax card for retirees, since the country doesn’t want any American retired military folks who live in Germany to escape paying taxes.
    We did our shopping when we got to Aviano and found that as long as we had a military ID and a credit card, the Italian base was only too happy to take our money. Sort of left a bad taste for Germany for the hubby and I, too.
    We would love to live in Europe at some point, and so far, England and Italy are our top choices. Hubby says that he likes the Netherlands too, but I haven’t been there yet. He’s watching for a job opportunity in Europe, but NOT Germany!

  11. Matrim says

    @13, magistramarla

    Sunday was my catchup day too. I know I mowed the lawn a few times, never had any complaints about it from the neighbors or my landlords (though I imagine the latter were just happy they didn’t have to do it). I really liked Germany, it was probably the second favorite place I’ve lived.

  12. ospalh says

    @5 charly:
    Well, a lot of Germans take one day off work on the Friday after the Thursday holiday, and get a four day weekend for the “price” of one day.
    A lot of these holidays are bunched together around this part of year. There is one last holiday for the Catholic states Thursday next week (Corpus Christi or “Fronleichnam” which has got the mocking nickname of “Happy Cadaver”) , and then there are no more holidays until October 3, one of only three secular holidays we get.

  13. richardh says

    Museums closing on Monday (instead of Sunday, for the benefit of weekend tourists) is a common thing in Europe. They often also have one day a week when they stay open late with free admission.

  14. David Marjanović says

    Museums closing on Monday (instead of Sunday, for the benefit of weekend tourists) is a common thing in Europe.

    Tuesday is at least as common. Restaurants and other businesses that depend on customers having their day off also often have a “day of rest” other than Sunday.

  15. Irmin says

    @#9, Eamon Knight

    No partying on *Pentecost*? WTF?

    Nah, thankfully that isn’t true. The gloriously named Tanzverbot is issued statewise and there are only very few states which have this in place on Pentecost (and then, only in the morning). The most common restrictions on public events are on Easter, Volkstrauertag (lit. “people’s mourning day”, non-religious), Totensonntag (“sunday of the dead”) and Christmas/Boxing Day.

    Still a phenomenally backwards institution, this Tanzverbot.

  16. says

    I was shocked to find that Germany requires some sort of special tax card for retirees, since the country doesn’t want any American retired military folks who live in Germany to escape paying taxes.

    Shocking, isn’t it. People having to pay taxes.
    Like the rest of us.

  17. chigau (違う) says

    Maybe America™ could help retired veterans who live abroad with their local taxes.
    *said with a straight face*