April 9, 2009
“Easter Holiday Begins”
First, let me share with you what I learned about the Easter or “Ostern” holiday in Switzerland, and as near as I can tell, the rest of Europe as well. Its a big deal here. Sure, as you’ve heard already there are little (and big) chocolate bunnies everywhere, as if they’ve lived up to their reputation for populating even in chocolate form, but beyond that this is a major holiday for the Europeans. With all the Churches, ancient, spectacular and omnipresent with their clanging bells every 15 minutes, I would have thought that everyone would be going for special services, but in fact its much like the States, maybe more so, the bunnies have taken over completely and our Savior is hardly recognized, publicly at least.
To my chagrin, on Thursday evening after work, I learned how much so. Not only is everything essentially shut down over Easter from Friday to Monday, creating a nice four day holiday where you can getaway, say to someplace like Italy, but as of 4:00pm on Thursday, before the long weekend, everything was already closing! I left work thinking I’d go to the post office (die Post), the bank (die Bank) and the Swiss Train System (SBB) ticket office (Reisebüro) to buy my train ticket to Luzern for Friday morning. My plans would be altered right from the get go though, because first the post office was closed, then the bank, and at 5:00pm I was the last customer through the doors of the train ticket office. What a surprise. Just when I thought I was getting the flow of things figured out.
You see, I had learned in the last few weeks that while most businesses, shops, stores, etc. close between 6:00pm and 7:00pm each day (and most are completely closed on Sundays, if not Mondays as well), Thursdays are for some reason a sacred shopping night called “Abendsverkauf”. So, as it was Thursday before Easter, I thought it would be a perfect night to head out into the nice weather and get some things done. Frustration. Okay, another lesson learned, I’m further assimilated. I headed home, picking up a 9 Franc pizza on the way to ease my pain.
Okay, so all that ramble out of my head, here are a few pics of the last few days, in no particular order, food & fishing friends of course, and some Easter Flowers which are popping up everywhere now. I’m preparing to head out to visit more Swiss and Italian fishing friends we’ve met in Alaska over the holiday weekend, and I’m certain that many more surprises are waiting along the way.
