Two Quick Notes:
Wednesday late evening, May 28th, 2014, Bielefeld

1. Our friend Michelle Budig, who has spent a great deal of time in Germany, had warned us, humorously, of a specific German practice which we have come to understand personally. It turns out that virtually every bathroom here, including every hotel room bathroom and many restaurant bathrooms (all the ones with only one toilet), has a toilet brush in it. That is not so that the person who cleans the bathrooms has a convenient one in each bathroom. That is so that each person can clean up after themselves if needed. After all, no one likes to clean up after other people's ****.  Michelle told us that once she was staying in a hotel in Germany and got yelled at by the woman who cleaned her room, for not using the toilet brush herself. We appreciate being forewarned, as we do not want to be yelled at. It would make us feel too much like our moms were yelling at us.

2. Tomorrow is Ascension Thursday, which has little meaning in this very secular society, but remains a national holiday. It has turned into Fathers' Day (although officially this is now Men's Day), which is a day that gives German men permission (which I think they already have all the time, anyway) to drink, but this time without their mothers or wives complaining, I guess. Everyone tells us it is a holiday because it is the day Christ went up to heaven, but I don't think many of them will go to church.
Since it is a national holiday, ALL stores will be closed. We asked if any museums will be open; the woman at the reception desk downstairs looked it up and told us that the history museum will be open; "it is the museum about the Nazis," she said. We looked at each other. I asked,  "And it will be about the bombings, too?" "Oh, yes," she assured me. We looked at each other again. "Maybe we'll go hiking instead," Don said, and I nodded vigorously.