I do like the way that some of our local farmers fill in any spare scraps of land with flowers or odd rows of beans and courgettes. It makes a much prettier view than just one solid single crop. I imagine it also attracts more bees and butterflies.
It’s that time of the year again…
… Yes, late Summer. When the Christmas stuff starts appearing in the German supermarkets.
They’ve still got all the Oktoberfest produce in too.
I only popped in for a carton of milk!
Filed under About Germany, food, German festivals, Life in Germany, shopping in Germany
German beauty branding fail!
I was in the German town of Brüggen this morning when I spotted a couple of hair and beauty salons.
Their names definitely did not tempt me to go in….
Filed under About Germany, Life in Germany, shopping in Germany
German women – we know your secret!
With the Oktoberfest coming up, strange and unfamiliar products have been appearing in almost every aisle of the supermarkets up here in Northrhine Westphalia. Everything from Weisswurst to Lederhosen to funny little handbags with Edelweiss embroidered on them.
But yesterday I spotted a new line in the ladies’ underwear section. The Dirndl Bra.
This is clearly the secret weapon used by German women to turn their otherwise normal looking bust into that impressive ship’s prow which juts out of every Dirndl-blouse. Not so much a push-up bra as a piece of lace-edged scaffolding. Even the size of the box is scary!
German ladies… we know your secret!
Filed under About Germany, German festivals, Life in Germany, shopping in Germany
Stolpersteine in Emmerich am Rhein
Today I was visiting Emmerich am Rhein – a town on the border between Germany and the Netherlands.
While I was walking through the town centre, I came across a group of brass Stolpersteine – small plaques in the pavement reminding passers-by that holocaust victims had once lived in the house they are passing. Stolpern means to stumble – so these are literally stones that you stumble across.
This set remembers a family of three from Emmerich who fled the national socialist regime and escaped to America.
This was the first time I’ve seen Stolpersteine remembering people who actually survived the war – most of them record death in one of the concentration camps. I hope the Gompertz family settled in America and had a long and happy life after the war.
Filed under german history, Life in Germany, travel in germany, World War 2
Scary clothes-shop windows in Germany
Going clothes shopping in Germany has become a disturbing experience of late.
Many normally respectable stores have completely changed their clothing range. For example, when I was in Mönchengladbach yesterday, I passed an otherwise normal department store and the shop window looked like this.
I should point out that this type of clothing – the Dirndl for women and the Lederhosen for men – is not what Germans wear in normal life. You may come across people dressed like this in Bavaria, but not up here. A Rhinelander wearing a Dirndl or Lederhosen would be like a Londoner wearing a kilt and sporran. If you see someone in this garb, they are either a very lost Bavarian… or more likely an American tourist. But most definitely not a local.
So why are these weird foreign clothes everywhere all of a sudden?
The reason is the upcoming Oktoberfest. The Oktoberfest is Germany’s biggest beer-party, and the most famous of all is the one on the Wiesn in Munich. In an un-Germanic fit of anti-logic, the Bavarians hold the Oktoberfest in September. Possibly to confuse non-Bavarians and thus prevent them turning up until all the beer has been drunk.
Filed under About Germany, German festivals, Life in Germany, shopping in Germany
Kleve…. Anne, Holbein, wild flowers and scary scary swans!
I was in Kleve today – a small town on the border between Germany and the Netherlands. Best known in the English world for its most famous daughter, Anne of Cleves. Anne, of course, was the unfortunate lady who was matched with Henry VIII of England. Henry sent Hans Holbein over to paint portraits of Anne and her sister Amalia, both of whom he was considering as candidates for his fourth wife. (This was the Tudor equivalent of online dating… but without the internet it was rather unwieldy). It would appear that Holbein’s portrait of Anne was the Tudor equivalent of a nicely photo-shopped image. Henry chose her, based on the portrait… but when she turned up, he was less than enamoured with “that Flemish mare” – and allegedly the marriage was never consummated.
Nowadays in Kleve, Anne’s over-flattering portrait is still very much in evidence – which suggests it is well worth getting a decent photo done for your social media profile picture if you have an eye to posterity!
There were a few cool things in Kleve. The first was the fantastic (though rather dried out) wildflower planting all around the city car-parks.
The other was a beautiful if slightly disturbing statue in the centre of town… anyone have any idea what this is supposed to signify?
Filed under About Germany, german art, german history, Life in Germany
Cool stuff for kids in Germany
When I was visiting Kempen I also spotted these cool street-sculptures which double as entertainment for kids.
German markets
Everywhere you go in Germany, there seem to be reminders of former markets. Not that Germany doesn’t have markets nowadays too, of course. But in past times, they seemed to have one market per type of produce, at least judging by the old street names. I was in Kempen this week which has a marketplace which claims to sell only butter (there was a market on at the time, though it seemed to be all fruit and veg).
There was a bit of confusion about the Viehmarkt (cattle market) – which apparently used to be a horse market. These days it’s a car park. How appropriate!
I also visited Rheinberg which arranges its markets very neatly, next to each other. So you can pick up your fish and also the wood to cook it on. How marvellously well organised!
Whatever market is on, it’s so much more fun than buying produce in a supermarket.
Austerity in Germany?
When I was in Wuppertal this week, I noticed that the Germans are economizing on street signs. Looks like it’s going to turn out to be a false economy…
Either that, or they’re planning to change the names of the streets on a regular basis….
Filed under About Germany, Life in Germany, travel in germany