Sunday Shopping...

Hey all! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was very low key... Dinner with friends on Friday, went to the gym and hung around the apartment on Saturday, and Sunday was spent cleaning, studying German, and shopping... Overall, a very relaxing weekend. :)

Our Sunday shopping experience was quite a treat though. Traditionally, stores are not open on Sundays in this area of Germany. Sunday is typically a day meant for rest, quiet time, and spending time with family. (And, when I say a day of rest, I mean it's literally a day where you're not supposed to do any type of work... You're not supposed to do laundry, clean, wash the car, or do pretty much anything that can be thought of as "work"... Interesting. However, being that Brian and I are Americans, we are not of the same mindset as the Germans... Therefore, we still tend to work on Sundays. :)) So, needless to say, having stores open on a Sunday was a big treat! ")

Apparently, they have an event (yes, having stores open on a Sunday here is considered an "event"! :)) such as this, about 3 - 4 times a year. This was the first time Brian and I had ever attended a "Sunday Shopping" day, so we weren't quite sure what to expect... And, upon our arrival downtown, we were definitely surprised by what we found! :)

The downtown area of Friedrichshafen was PACKED!! There were people everywhere! They had food booths set up around the downtown area, dance groups dancing in the street, a stage set up for bands, carnival rides, fire trucks set up for the children to go through, and all of the downtown stores were open for business... I've never seen so much excitement about shopping on a Sunday! :)

Brian and I stayed for a bit and did a little shopping (well, actually I shopped while Brian waited outside! :))... However, it was actually more fun to wander about and soak up the atmosphere... There was so much excitement in the air! Unfortunately, it began to rain later in the afternoon, so Brian and I headed back home... The walk home was quite interesting... The rain was coming down pretty hard, so we both managed to get pretty wet! :) It kind of reminded me of when my sister was visiting this summer, and we had to walk home in a torrential downpour! :)

And on that note, I have to head out to run some errands and head to the gym... Happy Monday! Miss you much!

The sign advertising "Sunday Shopping"...

One of the rides set up downtown...

The stage where all of the bands were playing...

And, of course, Brian brought his camera along so we got some good shots from our walk home in the rain! :) Love the vibrant fall colors!

A statue in downtown Friedrichshafen...

The leaves are starting to change... So pretty!

At this point in time we knew we were going to get drenched during our walk home... So, instead of getting upset about it, we had fun with it. :) This is the point where I started to feel like Mary Poppins with my umbrella, so I started running down the sidewalk and was trying to kick my heels together! I know, I'm a dork! :) Also, you can tell I was getting wet by that point... Check out the bottom of my pant legs. My jeans were wet up to my knees by the time we got home!! Oh the joys of being short! :)

But, at least I managed to do it without falling! :)

That's us in the traffic mirror...