Pre-Christmas Doings

Between busy-ness and my unforgivable lazy-ness, entries on the blog have suffered.  Here, an offering that might suffice.

Rima, René and Amina were here overnight for the ritual Weihnachtsmarkt visit.  Since Amina's first ride on the "Snow Train" several years ago, she thinks the Christmas season is incomplete without it.  OK, we can do that!  (Actually, Werner and René can do that;  Rima and I enjoy watching.)

The little family arrived late afternoon and after a quick tea and cookie we were on the train to the city!  This year was quite different from the last - NO snow!  Thankfully, also no rain.  The days before had been just awful - cold and lots of rain with some snow mixed in;  the right clothes for that kind of weather do not exist in my universe.

The Bremen Weihnachtsmarkt is a real draw for not only the towns all around but the countries all around.  Busloads come from The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, as well as lots of towns in Germany.  Since Bremen is so poor, we don't complain, except of course when it's so full you can hardly walk around, much less get a mug of mulled wine.

But once again we were lucky and hit it at just the right time - enough folks to make it lively but not so many that we felt squeezed.

The Nativity scene was set up.

There were Bratwurst to eat, of course. Ketchup for the little kid.

Lots to look at.

And - finally - the Snow Train.

We went back home to feast on coq au vin and then drag ourselves to bed.  All in all, a quite satisfying day!!