The first day of spring was officially March 20th, which many of my friends and family in Canada were extremely happy about, especially after all the dreadful -30-40 days they’ve had this winter!
While this winter has been pretty warm in Germany (although winters here overall tend to be overcast and grey), the sunny and warm weather we’ve been having in the past few days have been an extremely welcomed change. All of a sudden, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming and the weather forecast is predicting 15 degree weather all week long!
Whats going on?! (Never fear, spring is here!)
You know spring has arrived in Germany when…
- The entire city is outdoors. Suddenly everyone wants to sit outside in cafes even though they need a blanket and jacket to stay warm (and Germans think Canadians are crazy!)
- Rather than rows of heart shaped chocolates in the supermarket, it’s rows and rows of Easter bunnies.
- There are line ups in the ice cream shops.
- As a Canadian, it’s also now ok to buy ice cream without people thinking you’re crazy.
- Beer festivals like the Starkbierfest have started again and Frühlingsfest is just around the corner.
- Freezing in your dirndls and lederhosen is no longer a concern anymore!
- You find yourself googling beach destinations.
- You can stow away your heavy winter jacket! Goodbye winter boots! So long gloves! Good riddance scarves! (Just joking Germans wear scarves all year round).
- People are much happier. People even apologize when they bump into you and customer service now slightly exists!
- You start receiving tons of emails from Ryanair for summer flight deals
- You develop a great desire to go bikini shopping.
- All of a sudden, all the mannequins in shops are wearing shorts and flowy dresses although no one is wearing that in real life (except maybe the Canadian expats…they’re easy to spot since the shorts come out when the weather is warmer than 15 degrees)
- Checking the weather forecast for the week is no longer a daunting task.
- BIKES EVERYWHERE.
- You find yourself taking the tram more than the subway so you can enjoy some sunshine on the way.
- There are strawberries in the supermarket again!
- When it’s 5pm it’s no longer dark outside!
- There are surfers at the Eisbach river in the Englischer Garten in Munich (ok that one’s a lie…they’re always there even in the dead of winter. You can see that as either extreme dedication or insanity)
What are your favourite things about Spring?