May Day

Today seems to be something of a national holiday in Germany. In the US May Day goes by unnoticed, probably because at one time you could lose your job as a suspected communist sympathizer if you were caught at a May Day celebration. Here, no one showed up for work and there was a parade and events in town. I was still sick (I stayed home Wednesday) so I slept in but V took the kids to see what was going on. The restaurants put out extra tables and chairs outside on the street. They had games for the kids to play and a big ribboned maypole that was carried and put up in town. M was very excited about it and got dressed up for the occasion.

We were warned not to travel today, that there would be large protests by socialists against neo-fascists in Kiel and Hamburg. In Ploen everything seemed nice and peaceful.