When The Aisles Are Bare...
Everything in Germany closes on Sunday. That means grocery stores too. Of course restaurants and cafes are open. Some bakeries open for a few hours. Because the shops in the train stations are allowed to stay open open on Sundays, if I were really desperate, I could go to nearby Mannheim and shop at the grocery store in the train station. Otherwise, the closest gas station, which is pretty well equipped with groceries and sundries, is where it's at.
We always make a point to pop into one of our five grocery stores sometime on Saturday, but yesterday we actually went to all five! I was looking for fresh vegetables for Saturday's and Sunday's dinner, but the aisles were bare. I managed to pick up some tomatoes, a cucumber, the last of the string beans and a bunch of radishes, but leafy greens were in short supply. In fact, everything was picked over.
Friday was a holiday, Epiphany, in our neck of the woods, which meant that, yes, everything was closed. I'm not sure if that delayed grocery shipments or if stores just ordered less because they were open one less day during the week. Perhaps everyone was in a cooking mood. Whatever the reason, what a surprise it was to see the aisles bare.
--Tracy Schneider


