Tancat el mes d'agost

Everyone knows that Europeans take their vacations seriously, and if Americans could get past that puritan work ethic we've inherited we might also take our vacations more seriously. Don't get me wrong, Americans like to go on vacation. The great family road trip is a story shared by almost everyone I know. Funny, annoying, grating at times, the road trip is something we've all done at some point or another in our big, gas-guzzling American cars. However, I know very few people working and living in the U.S. who have more than two or three weeks vacation each year. These are cherished days off, but they are also days that people use on a piece meal basis. One day here for a long weekend at the nearest lake, another day to stay home and catch up on chores or your favorite TV shows. You get the idea. This, I believe, is the norm for most middle class and maybe even upper-middle class Americans. We don't abandon our normal routine for three whole weeks at a time (if we even get that much time). Europeans, however, disappear from their home towns for a whole month at a time (not ALL Europeans, I know, but very many of them). Barcelona in August is a ghost town, as far as locals go. There is an abundance (over abundance, I would say) of tourists, but very few actual residents of Barcelona. Most amazing to me is that stores and restaurants are closed, sometimes for the entire month and definitely for two or three weeks of the month. I've seen signs all over the city that read "Tancat des de l'1 fins al 31 d'agost" (closed from August 1-31). So serious are these store owners about taking their vacation that they are willing to sacrifice whatever money they might have earned in one of the busier months for tourism in order to get out of town. This would never happen in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, this is not a criticism. I applaud this point of view. Imagine the effect it might have if people in the U.S. would appreciate the benefits of an entire month of relaxation. We might be more neighborly, happier at work the rest of the year, more well-traveled and perhaps even more open to other cultures (that's a stretch, I know), and certainly we wouldn't be so damn tired all the time. We might even be able to relax our shoulders for a second and unclench our teeth. How wonderful, and unusual!