Week 33: The Mosel Runnith Over

Last weekend we made another trip out to some Weinachtsmaerkte. This time we first went to Bernkastel-Kues, which we had visited just before Thanksgiving as they were setting up for their Weinachtsmarkt. Since that time, we have had a lot of rain in our area. After returning in December, we were getting rain almost every day. Since we don't regularly pass by a body of water as part of our daily driving, we hadn't realized just how much water had fallen from the sky until we arrived at the Mosel, just outside of Bernkastel. We noticed that where we had ridden our bikes along the river earlier this summer was completely under water. And once we arrived in Bernkastel, we found the below sign at the entrance to the lot where we normally park: Hochwasser (high water). 

High water on the Mosel

We, of course, wanted to see the destruction a bit closer, so we walked through the parking lot at the water's edge, passing by the cruise ship docks that had both ends now underwater. Additionally, as you can see in the video below, the river is moving quite swiftly. And, man, does it look cold. We were very glad to be standing on the bank.

The main point of the trip to Bernkastel was to find Jason's X-mas gift, which I had seen at other Weinachtsmaekte, but was not to be found in Bernkastel, so we took a ride down to to Trier, where I found just what I was looking for: a Fruestueckbrett (breakfast board). It is essentially a small cutting board that Germans often eat breakfast from. Breakfast usually consists of bread, cold cuts, honey and fruit, so you don't have runny eggs or lots of bacon grease to contend with. Jason had been using our cutting board as a make-shift Fruestueckbrett. This way the cutting board can go back to its normal and intended usage.

The view from our bedroom after snow

On Sunday we awoke to a dusting of snow outside our window. As you can see above, it gives a nice look to our neighborhood. Since I had yet another work trip that needed to begin on Sunday night, we took a drive up to Frankfurt on the slick roads (we passed one car that had ended up in the ditch), but with Jason's New England driving skills, we made it without a hitch. In Frankfurt, we spent some time at the Modern Art Museum, where there were a number of very cool exhibits, including a collection of shadow boxes that displayed what appeared to be the contents of the artist's desk. 

Following our intake of culture, we walked through yet another Christmas Market in Frankfurt, before Jason dropped me at the airport for my plane to Hamburg. The Christmas Market was set up along one of the main shopping streets that winds through the city (the Zeil). Jason had been there last spring prior to meeting up with me when I first arrived, but this was my first visit. Since it was Sunday, all the shops were closed, but the Christmas Market provided more than enough distraction as we walked around. It was a pleasant way to end a weekend before another long week of work. 

Week 32: Weihnachtsmaerkte

It seems like two weeks behind is about how it working. So, a few weekends ago we visited our first Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in Trier. We met up with a Meet Up group of ex-pats from Luxembourg City and spent the afternoon drinking Gluewein (mulled wine), eating an assortment of German fair-style food and checking out the stalls of crafts people. As you can see in the picture below, the market is very popular, with people coming in from the surrounding area to enjoy the festivities. 

Crowds at the Trier Weinachtsmarkt

One of the problems with having a wine that is heated, is that sometimes you have to wait for it to heat up. Gluewine is not a particularly "good" wine--one of my German colleagues calls it "horrible", but he also hates the very idea of Christmas markets, so take from that what you will. It really requires being heated to taste at all appetizing. The stall that we found selling the wine for cheaper than anywhere else (it was for a good cause! building schools in Africa, or some such thing) had a problem keeping up with the demand for heated wine and we had to wait on more than one occasion for the big warming pots to do their thing. Nothing like standing out in the cold in a big crowd waiting for cheap wine that brings you closer to your fellow man. Kumba-f'ing-ya.

Present at every Christmas market (at least any that I have seen so far) is a large Christmas pyramid. While I've had the below picture for about two weeks, I had no idea, until just searching on Google two minutes ago, what it was called. Yet again, the Internet saves the day. Anyway, they can be very intricate sculptures, with many various scenes and quite a bit going on. The one below, again from Trier, is a bit simpler than some of the others we have seen.

Weinachtspyramide in Trier

Following our visit to Trier on Saturday, I was off on a work trip that Sunday afternoon to Nuernburg, which is located about a 6 hour train-ride west of us in Bayern (Baveria). Nuernburg is famous for a number of things, including its particular type of sausage (which are spiced similar--at least in my mind--to an American breakfast sausage), Lebkuchen (a type of cookie that tastes similar to gingerbread), Nazi rallies during WWII, WWII related trials and, of course, the Christmas market.

I was told by multiple people, and the Internet, that the Nuernburg Christmas market was not-to-be-missed, so I took a slightly earlier train that I otherwise would have to spend some time walking through the market. It is is a very large market, with many different crafts people and a wide selection of food. Since I was there on a Sunday evening, the crowds were light and I had a nice time wandering through the market. Unfortunately, since it was so dark out, I was unable to get any good pictures of it with my phone, but when I ran across the children's area, I saw the carousel in the below video--it has two floors! Luckily, the video is a bit more forgiving that the still camera when it comes to light, so you get to enjoy it as well. 

Another Catch Up Post

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't end up trampled under crowds on Black Friday. Jason and I were back in the States for the week of Thanksgiving. We had a great time visiting friends and family and especially enjoyed climbing at Rock Spot with Jason's siblings. One of the big events for this trip back was Jason's 15th high school reunion. The best part of that evening was the bar we went to after the reunion, where a friend's sandwich was taken by a drunk girl when he left it for a moment to go to the rest room. Her response, with a mouth full of sandwich, was: Yeah? So what? 

Jason headed back to Germany on Sunday evening, and I headed out to Concord, Mass to spend the week in the office and in the wonderful Best Western (Plus!) at Historic Concord. One of my colleagues says it smells like dirty socks. I think the smell has improved slightly with the addition of the "Plus" to the name over the last year. (One thing to note: if you are booked in a Best Western in Europe, do not despair! They are really classy joints here--the largest and nicest hotel room I have stayed in outside of Las Vegas was a Best Western in the Netherlands.)

My company has been growing recently, so there were a number of new faces in the office, including a new boss for me, who started that Monday. If nothing, I have good timing. There was also a cube realignment, which, for a space management system that is supposed to be flexible and easy to change, took a surprisingly long time to complete. I, luckily, was able to find my favorite chair and a desk to sit at, so I was content for the week.

The base from the bike trail

I returned to Germany that Friday, ready to face a busy week and jet-lag. Jason was kind enough to help keep me awake the Saturday I returned, mostly by watching TV shows with me. He was off, though, for the week Sunday, on a cultural education trip to Hamburg. I, in an effort to get my clock back to normally, went out for a  mountain bike ride in the cold and wet woods. I miraculously avoided the rain drops, and had a really nice view of the base under the cloudy sky, but was *covered* in mud on returning to the apartment, as the pictures below can testify.

Covered in mud

There is a pair of shoes under there...somewhere

While Jason was up in Hamburg, learning the details of the current German and European cultural landscape, I had a work trip that involved three cars, two trains and two planes. I supposed it really involved four planes, but 2 of them, headed to Hannover, were cancelled due to snow in Munich, and the fourth was found mostly by accident when asking in jest how to get to my next destination by the next morning. It turned out that the place I was headed, this small city two hours outside of Hannover, has an airport and the plane was leaving that evening, though delayed. Proof that it is always worth asking and that every cloud has a silver, though often slightly tarnished, lining.