Friday, December 23, 2011

December - part I - in which we attended the Christkindlesmarkt

This was my second December in Germany, although this time I am home for Christmas.  It was a delightful month.  Here are some stories, and maybe a few pictures if I get inspired to add them though my photography skills are deteriorating.


Early December I made my way to the Christmas market in Nürnberg.  It is know as the Christkindlesmarkt and is supposed to an excellent one.  Accompanied by Karen, Melissa, and Markus all from work we went to check it out on a Wednesday after work, hoping it would be less crowded than the weekend.  Well as we arrived, the crowds of people were all streaming out...  The wind was whipping sleet in our faces, and lightning was etching itself across the sky.  It only lasted about 15 minutes, cleared out the market, and then left us to enjoy the market in peace.  Definitely a memorable start.  (trash cans began filling up with wind broken umbrellas).


We all picked up some hot drinks.  Karen set one down on a counter of a nearby booth to take a picture.  I noticed the dirty look the booth owner gave her. "psst Karen," I said, "you probably shouldn't leave that there."  She wasn't too concerned though.  When she retrieved her drink we realized she had put it directly on top of the sign that read in German "Do Not Set Your Drinks Here!"  Oops, I'm a foreigner and can't speak German, is the motto that gets us through situations like that unscathed even if it's not entirely true sometimes  =P  - I'm obviously American, and then we had a Canadian, Austrian, and one German, but she would pretend to be Dutch when necessary, making us the perfect combination of clueless foreigners. 


Arriving in the rain





This has already turned into a full entry, so I'll stop here and talk more later.  I've gotta run spot my brother lifting downstairs...
laters,

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