Today is another public holiday here in Germany, Pentecost Monday, or Whitsuntide. May and June are good months for public holidays, what with May Day, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. Unlike public holidays in the US, where sometimes it seems that only the post office and bank are closed, in Germany pretty much everything is closed, just as it is on Sundays. There is usually one bakery in smaller towns that is open for 8-11 so no one is without their fresh bread, but other than that, you better break out your bicycle or go for a walk like everyone else if you don’t want to be cooped up in the house all day.
All of these days off is another one of those benefits of living here. Only a few months of the year have NO holidays whatsoever. December and January are packed with them, what with Christmas and Boxing Day and New Year’s and the one I like to call “We Three Kings” (January 6). February has none, March or April have Easter, which of course also includes Easter Monday and Good Friday (again in contrast to the US, where there is no such thing as Easter Monday). The list below is for the state of Baden-Württemberg, which, with 13, has more public holidays than some of the other states. Nordrhein-Westphalia, for example, only has nine. READ MORE »
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