Photo by: Jean Gerber ()
Looking for ways to celebrate yourself or the women in your life today? Here are just a few ways to do so in Germany:
Random acts of kindness
Has a female colleague, relative, neighbor or friend made a difference to the quality of your life? Honor her with a bouquet, sweet treat, fruit basket, gift certificate or a simple thanks for all she does for you.
Women in history as role models
For an outing combining history and beauty spots, visit the Museum am Strom in Bingen, which presents not only 2,000 years of culture and history along the Rhine River but also a detailed look at the life and times of Hildegard von Bingen, abbess, saint, visionary, writer, composer, healer and advisor to emperors and bishops. For true goosebump moments, board the ferry and cross the Rhine into Rüdesheim, where high upon a hill perches the Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard, founded in 1165 by the saint herself. Here reside some 48 nuns ranging from 33 to 94 years of age. As a functioning abbey, services are held at several times throughout the day. Evening prayers known as Vespers are recited at 5:30 p.m. most evenings. You can’t actually see the nuns, but the sounds of the services half-sung and half chanted from behind a screen is somehow all the more compelling, particularly given the church’s high ceiling and spectacular golden mosaic of Jesus Christ.
Network with women in your city
Women’s networks organize activities to mark the day including presentations, exhibitions and/or concerts in the Town Halls of Stuttgart, Wiesbaden and elsewhere.
Watch women on screen
When planning to see a movie on the economy, it’s important to know if the characters will be speaking your language. At a number of art film houses in particular, many films are screened “OmU,” which means in their original version with subtitles. Films marked “OF” or “OV” mean the film is shown in its original version. Beware, however, that the original version of a given film isn’t necessarily English! The Caligari Theater in Wiesbaden is showing RGB, a documentary about the life of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg at 8 p.m. March 8 in its original version with subtitles. The Union Cinema in Kaiserslautern offers a showing of On the Basis of Sex in its original version at 6 p.m. March 13.
