Osterhase? Nur solange der Vorrat reicht

April 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Nur solange der Vorrat reicht” is one of those standard German sentences that you often see on any type of special offer that a shop or online vendor advertises for.  Quite simply it means “while stocks last”.

So, as in the English equivalent, you might find that an offer is particularly popular and goes out of stock.

However, this being Germany there are rules on how long a product has to be “in stock” for a shop to be able to claim this, so that they do not purposely have very few available and just use the offer to get people to enter the store.  In the event that they do run out without a certain amount of time, they have to offer the consumers who want to take advantage of it the chance to receive the product later at the advertised price. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Easter, Shops Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Will you be the “Palmesel” on Sunday?

April 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A donkey - ©iStockphoto.com/GlobalPWith this Sunday being Palmsonntag – Palm Sunday, one of the questions in many German families this weekend will be: “wer wird der Palmesel sein?” (who is going to be the “Palmesel”?)

The Palmesel – literally the “palm donkey” – is a nickname given to the last person to get out of bed on Palm Sunday.

The tradition is not new, but it has mutated over time as it was originally used to refer to the last boy to enter the Church on that day.

Of course, the term refers to the donkey ridden by Christ into Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion, and since the middle ages German towns have held Palm Sunday processions – some with live donkeys, others with wooden ones.

Filed Under: Easter Tagged With: , , , ,

Why are there no lorries on the roads on Good Friday?

April 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It’s always nice to be returning from holiday or a weekend away on a Sunday, as there are very few lorries on the roads.  The reason for this is something called the “Wochenendfahrverbot”, a part of the German road-users law (StVO) which prohibits lorries from using the roads on Sunday before 10pm.

There are some exceptions, such as those delivering fresh produce, but in general it means that the roads, especially the motorways, are fairly empty and flow faster.

A hot cross bun - not something you usually see in GermanyBut what about on Good Friday?

When I was asked this yesterday, I thought I might be in for a lot of research, but in the end the answer was simple.  Just look in the relevant paragraph of the StVO.  That paragraph is known as §30 Abs. 4 – and contains a very straight forward answer.

Good Friday is listed by name as a day on which the Fahrverbot applies for all of Germany.

And before the same question comes up again next week – Easter Monday is too.

Filed Under: Easter, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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