Shopping

Today is the last Saturday before Christmas. Stores will be closed tomorrow (like they are every Sunday here) so we were out most of the day tracking down art supplies. We have to do something while we're here besides walking around gawking at buildings and bakeries, so Gary will be sculpting, and I'll be painting. Our flat is roomy enough to accommodate both. We also shopped today for groceries, to last us until life gets back to normal after Christmas Day.

So, the subject of this blog post is shopping!

Check out the prices for French Chardonnay at the local Aldi. There's no added tax, either. (And yeah, yeah, I know it's not cool to like Chardonnay. I like it anyway.)

You can also buy sauerkraut juice.

And if you like schnitzel but also love animals, you can get this:

If you want a bag for your groceries, you have to buy one as you check out. No grocery stores offer free bags, so if you don't have one with you, you need to be prepared to carry your purchases using your hands and opposable thumbs (I know -- so weird ;-)  ). It's not at all difficult to stuff nylon bags in our pockets, which accommodate all kinds of purchases.

Another thing that I wish legislatures in the U.S. would adopt (and stop caving to the grocery industry lobbyists) is the "trash" counter. After you check out at a grocery store here, you can remove all extraneous packaging and recycle it on the spot, as we did with the cardboard wrapping around my yogurt purchase today. (My only wish is that my yogurt came in one large container instead of four small ones. Baby steps, eh!)

Removing the cardboard...

... and leaving it at the store

With these trash counters, German grocers are motivated to buy from sellers who don't over-package. As a result, Gary and I produce a lot less trash here than we do in the U.S.  

We stopped at a couple of art supply stores today, and I was enthralled by the way German stores sell wrapping paper:

It's not wrapped in plastic -- imagine! And it's so pretty, I think I'll need to pick out some to bring home.

We've been here a full week now, and still haven't gone to Hamburg or Berlin or to visit friends -- and I haven't even shown photos yet of our flat. The nice thing about spending 8 weeks in a place is that you have lots of time to get around to it. We'll get there -- and meanwhile, happy Samstag!