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It’s already too late for 2007, but if you are interested in history, remember this for the future years.
In Germany, every second Sunday in September, we have Heritage Day or “Day of open Monument”.
This means that monuments, memorials, historical gardens, archaeological sites, etc, which are normally not open to public, will open their doors for free visits. Often, there are even special guided tours.
This day is meant to increase the awareness of our past, in my opinion an excellent idea in today's world, where so many values get lost when hunting for money and power.
I was in Speyer on Monument/Heritage Day 2006, and took the unique opportunity to climb on the western towers, have a look from high above into the central nave even walk on top of the central nave to the eastern towers.
A very exciting, moving and contemplating experience !
For 2007, the theme was:
Places for contemplation and prayer - historical religious buildings.
For 2008, the theme will be - September 14, 2008:
Revealing the past - archaelogy and building/architectural science
The theme for 2009 is already published and it sounds very delicious:
Heritage Day, Sept 13, 2009
"Historical sites of pleasure/treat". It means that cinemas, theatres, wine cellars, breweries, cafes, parks, gardens, swimming places etc are open for special tours with special stories. Leave a Comment
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 If you need to run - look
for these signs :-) by Trekki
Some bigger cities do have automatic cubic or spherically shaped "boxes" which operate with coins (usually up to 50 Eurocents, some rip-off cities might even charge up to 1 Euro). Be prepared to have some change ready.
Some public toilets are still operated by lavatory attendants (thank you Germany for not yet having transformed all your inhabitants into automatically functioning brainless robots !). It is polite to also leave her change.
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Don't embarrass other toilet users by running through the wrong door – lol !
Men = Männer and women = Damen or Frauen, but more and more, pictograms are mounted on the doors by now.
(I remember one elderly girl coming back from he toilets, hysterically laughing. She misunderstood Herren for her.) Leave a Comment
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 Pharmacy sign in Germany by Trekki
They are usually open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Some, however, close during lunch break.
Note that most pharmacies close Wednesday afternoon, in accordance with medical doctors practices, which close at the same time.
Update (Nov 2, 2006):
Tess just told me that Mannehim's city pharmacies are open on Wednesdays as well; only in its districts closed on Wednesday afternoon. Thanks Tess.
Hahaha, again this tells me that I live in a town which is innovation resistent......
Pharmacies do offer emergency service for evenings, nights and weekends. This is usually done in rotation. You can find the pharmacy, which has emergency service usually on a notice board in the windows of each pharmacy.
I have checked the situation on prescriptions with my local pharmacy: foreign prescriptions are accepted; however it would help if your MD also writes down the active agent’s name, as some trade names available in your country might not be available here. Leave a Comment
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If you need to send postcards or letters, you can either go to the post office, or off the hours, draw your stamps from a machine. Luckily, the German postal service has realized that not only Germans do this, so the machine offers all European languages to choose.
Pic 1 shows one of these typical stamp machines, working with cash or any kind of credit card.
Pic 2 is one of the mailboxes, typical post colour yellow – either standing (as this one) or mounted on a wall. Check the signs when they will empty it (left side), even if it is written in German, you’ll find out easily when it is done.
Update, August 25, 2006:
well, the German postal service was good in the past. By now, they are a bit.... let's call it confused or overstrained with modern computer technologies.
I had several.... let's call them "interesting" experiences when receiving cards of packages from friends. Once, a friend had the last number in our 5-digit zip code wrong. The card travelled and travelled and travelled and reached me around Easter (it was a Christmas card...).
Next time, I was too stupid to inform a friend about my address change within Darmstadt. She sent a card to my old address... and got it back, as "the addressee was unable to be located"....
And another time, also during my address change, my aunt, sending me a card, announcing my uncles' death, got it back "addressee rejects acceptance".....
So judge yourself about German postal service reliability and intelligence.
Maybe you want to send your cards and letters via DHL or Fedex or UPS - or from back home.
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For most of visitors from abroad, German opening hours must be a nightmare ! So be prepared, in case you need to buy something.
Generally:
Shops and department stores are open Monday to Saturday only. Our antique laws forbid any kind of trade on Sundays and public holidays. However, there is one exception – the "Open Sunday", held once a year in some cities, allows to shop on Sunday afternoons.
Official allowed opening hours are Monday – Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
It still depends on regional regulations, how long the shops are open.
Banks and Public Services:
They are open Monday – Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 16:30 p.m., usually with lunch break between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, they are open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. without lunch break. Closed on Saturdays (and of course Sundays)
However, gas stations, railway stations and airports do have open all day round, depending on their regulations and the region. In bigger cities, the probability to find open shops in railway stations or gas stations of course is higher.
Special opening hours of museums:
Museums are usually open Tuesday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. (or shorter, depending on regional regulations).
Monday, museums are usually closed!
Some museums do extend their opening hours at one fixed day per week, usually Wednesday or Thursday. This should allow all people who work until late afternoon to visit museums also during the week. Leave a Comment
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Since 1997, a very interesting cultural event has established in Germany - Long Night of the Museums (Lange Nacht der Museen).
The concept is that museums and art or culture centres offer entrance to their exhibitions until late in the night.
The "entrance ticket" includes entry into every of the adjoined institutions and the use of public transport.
After it's first start in Berlin, it became quite popular and is by now (as of 2006) offered in more than 120 cities in Germany.
Usually, the institutions are opened from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.
(I have read that it is not only offered in Germany, but Austria, Poland, Amsterdam (museums-n8) and Paris (nuit blanche).
Check the Wikipedia link for further links to several bigger cities' Museum Night offers - some even have English summaries for their exhibition offers:
Long Night of Museums
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In most of the bigger and more tourist oriented German towns, you will find competent and well-informed and organised tourist information. Sometimes, they still have their old appellation Verkehrsamt.
They can provide you with:
Accommodation and restaurants (some even would book or make reservations for you),
Opening hours of museums, historical monuments and other sights of interest,
Information on cultural events,
Maps of city and region,
Guided tours and excursions,
Information for handicapped travellers.
They also sell postcards and regional guide books.
Usually, tourist information is located in a city centre. Some are close to the main train station. And some (as in Regensburg, Lorsch and Wittlich - the ones I know of) are in the city's town hall.
Opening hours are usually Monday to Saturday; some are even open on Sundays (mostly in the morning).
Nearly each city and village also has self-guided tourist information, more like a board with city map and information. These boards are usually located on the main streets leading into the cities. They are easily detectable by the sign I (I for information).
In my pictures you'll see two examples for these tourist information:
Pic 1: tourist information centre (in this case of Worms);
Pic 2: tourist information board with city map and further information on hotels and restaurants (in this case Eltville). Leave a Comment
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 Campsite entertainment by mustertal
In the Black forest don't miss,the waterfall's in Triburg or the largest cockoo clock in the world close by. Leave a Comment
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In order to make trip planning easier for you, I will list public holidays here. Keep in mind that shops are closed on these days and traffic jams, over-bookings and higher prices for accommodation are most probable then.
The following public holidays are held German-wide:
January 1 (New Year's Day),
Good Friday, Easter Monday,
May 1 (Labour Day),
Ascension Day (Thursday, Easter Sunday + 39 days),
Pentecost Monday (Easter Sunday + 50 days),
October 3 (German Union Day),
December 25 and 26 (Christmas).
Local customs:
Most companies do close on Fridays after Ascension Day and Corpus Christi. Consequently, a lot of Germans do use these days for long weekends.
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In addition, several holidays are only held in some of our states:
January 6 (Epiphany): only in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg;
Corpus Christi (Easter Sunday + 60 days): (see photos) only in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine Westphalia, Rhineland Palatine and Saarland;
August 15 (Assumption): only in catholic communities of Bavaria and in Saarland;
October 31 (Reformation Day): only in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxonia, Sachsen-Anhalt, and Thuringia;
November 1 (All Saints): only in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine Westphalia, Rhineland Palatine and Saarland;
Wednesday before November 23 (Penance Day): Bavaria and Saxony.
Special regional days:
Shrovetide, Mardi Gras is most public along the Rhine, so be prepared for festivities and closed shops on the Monday (and increased prices and shortage in accommodation might happen). This is 40 days before Easter.
December 24, Christmas Eve, is already celebrated as beginning of Christmas. This means that shops and public services are open only until noon. In Germany, on the evening of December 24 gifts are exchanged and the holiday is celebrated among the close family.
New Year's Eve is also celebrated; shops and public services close down at noon. Leave a Comment
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You’ll find worldwide operating banks, like Citybank etc, all over in Germany, but usually in the bigger cities. If you end up in a small village, you might only find German banks, where you can draw or get your money.
I’ll place here some pics of typical German banks and their logos:
Pic 1 is Sparkasse, easily to identify by their big red S with the dot on top. You’ll also see the sign “EC Geldautomat”, which stands for an ATM machine.
Pic 2 is Commerzbank, with its yellow writing, and this one also has an ATM machine (left side in the pic).
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