May 1st - European Labor Day

Yesterday was a lovely bank holiday! The 1st of May is called International Worker's Day and is basically the equivalent of Labor Day, celebrated in almost every Country except the U.S. Everyone celebrates it differently in Germany, according to region. And once more, I am happy to find myself in the Southern part of Germany, where there's a big tradition to live up to: hiking through the woods with a wagon of beer and a 'ghetto blaster' (A.K.A. an obnoxiously large boombox).

 

photos taken by Jessi Hegendorf

 

We started around noon and hiked up the vineyards into the woods past the forester's house, then made a big loop around a few lakes, bought some sausages from the Red Cross tents in the middle of the forest (where hoards of Germans were gathered, naturally), and passed the residence of the Graf von Adelmann (the former earl of Kleinbottwar), before heading back down to our garden to BBQ for dinner. The fields were blooming yellow with dandelions and canola crops, and Fabi pulled our wagon as we marched through the warm, but cloudy weather for five hours.

 

I was actually pleasantly surprised at people's reactions to us. You'd think that elderly people wouldn't appreciate us walking through the vineyards with beer and music, but a few of them danced along, wished us a fun party, smiled and thought back to the days when they would have done something like that. A few thanked us for playing classic rock and roll, and a few jokingly tried to snatch a few beers.

Back at the garden, Fabi turned our firepit into a makeshift grill - which required some inginuity and a few cereal boxes to get going. But eventually we feasted on salad, grains and garlic baguettes with our sausages and steaks. Later on, the sun finally came out from behind the clouds. We sat at the picnic table and chatted while other caravans with beer wagons made their way up and down our street.

At around 8:00pm, the guests left and Fabi helped me clean up and load the tables and chairs back into the garage stall. Then I did some dishes and read part of my next Ken Follett novel, and Fabi went to watch the soccer championship on TV. (Don't ask me which one, I'm clueless about sports.)

We spent the entire day outside, enjoying good company and not thinking once about work or responsibilities. And the best part was - everyone around us did the same! Germans are fierce workers, but just as fierce relaxers!