On Sunday we went to Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg for their Christmas market. There was a community bulletin that was distributed that listed many markets all around Germany and the Bad Münster one was listed as "WELL WORTH VISITING!!!" That, to me, sounded like it had great potential, and because it was only about an hour away it was an ideal option, given that any thing much further away starts to introduce exponential complications with Evelyn. It was also described as being in a park, which I thought would be an interesting change of pace from the various metropolitan markets we've visited.
The distance was shorter than going to Trier, but there was no good route on the autobahn, and so we wandered through countless little German towns along the way. After about the 15th time of adjusting my speed every five minutes from 100km to 50km as we entered each minuscule town, the charm of the cute little villages was losing appeal. I noticed that the Germans aren't nearly as big on decorating their houses with lights as Americans are, but they do seem to be particularly fond of another decoration: the "Caught-in-the-Act-of-Breaking-and-Entering Deflated Santa." As I was driving, I wasn't able to catch a picture of this phenomenon, but I was able to find a couple of examples online:
As you can see from the second picture, often there are multiple Deflated Santas on a single residence. This duplication does not seem to pose a problem...perhaps it is a theory as to how Santa's able to cover so much ground in one night. I am most amused by the sagging, lifeless look all of the Deflated Santas have in common. Morbidly, to me, somehow he seems as if he'd be positioned just the same if he were hanging from a noose as from a ladder. Disturbing? Yes. Thank you, Michele for bringing that lovely bit of holiday cheer. All this to say, I am greatly amused by these Santas and their status as Christmas decoration of choice here in Germany.
Anyway, we finally arrived in Bad Münster and after a little wandering around we were able to locate the market and find a parking garage in which to park. The market was indeed in a park, nestled against the backdrop of a rather interesting rock formation. The temperature was in the upper 40s which made it more pleasant for being outdoors, but sadly I think adversely affected the ambiance of the market. I can imagine if it were snowy or even icy, the trees in the park would have glistened beautifully and it would have been quite lovely. As it was, things were just damp and brown. There were many tasty looking food booths and I sampled a brat on brotchen (I love how in the picture it almost looks as though Evie is holding it) and a stick with some kind of chocolate covered fruit--grapes I think...but if so, they were the biggest grapes I've ever seen. We also bought some freshly made lebkuchen (gingerbread) with chocolate, but er....that didn't last long enough to get a picture.
We'd walked the perimeter of the park and meandered through the several rows in the center when Evie began to get tired and hungry. Packing it in, we headed back to the parking garage. Once at the car, I unloaded myself of all packages and bags so as to be able to pull Evie up out of the carrier. Then I needed to set her temporarily in her car seat so that I could take the carrier off. Because she was hungry, we were going to do some on-the-go nursing in the car. About this time I noticed that there was a car idling behind us, obviously waiting for our parking spot. I motioned to the man driving that we were not leaving.
"You don't drive?" he shouted back, sounding rather irritated.
Nope. No driving here. Move on, buddy. I know he saw me with Evelyn, and it looked as if they had an infant as well, so you would think they'd understand, but they waited there behind me for several minutes.
The drive home was uneventful, save for the mob of deer that dashed across the road a few miles out from home. I was on the lookout for crossing deer, but they surprised me all the same given their speed and numbers. There must have been at least four of them that shot out all together. They sort of bunched up as they re-entered the woods, like a group of people scrunching up while exiting an escalator after someone who's taking their sweet time clearing the landing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment