Hannoversch-Münden

 What a pretty town. It's at the confluence of the Werra and the Fulda and together they form the Weser, starting just a few meters from here, the town hall. I can't imagine that the paint on the town hall was always so colorful, but it is now! At the top under the center gable are figures that come out three times a day - noon, two, and five - and the Glockenspiel plays. In the winter they could skip the 5 o'clock performance since it's way too dark to see anything!

This is the house (Victorian, 1900) where we rented a holiday apartment. The apartment (on the top floor - note the circles that indicate our bedroom and the living room) is almost as big as our house; the bathroom is bigger than our living room here at home!! Six or seven can sleep there and the owner says in the summer that's often the case. All that for 50€ a night - who'd want to stay in a hotel??

And the view from our bedroom window was pleasant - St Aegidius where Dr. Eisenbardt, the itinerate doctor celebrated in the Glockenspiel is buried.

It was just steps from the city center and - it's small - we got to know it well. There are hundreds and hundreds of half-timbered houses some dating from the 1500s and a lot of them really, really crooked! I could get dizzy walking down the street.

There's a Schloß, too; seems most towns have a small palace of some sort. This was begun in the 1500s and of course part of it is no longer there. Inside is the town library, the local museum and government offices. Probably some empty space too, I'd guess.

The doors of many of the homes were so interesting - different styles from different times, lots of color, lots of carving on the beams of the homes some of it quite complicated.

And since it is the "Three River City" there was lots of water to look at too.

When we weren't out doing touristy things and walking up the hill, we read and I crocheted and we slept late and we had a relaxing time.

Happy New Year to all.

May the year be peaceful .

Happy Holidays

On December 24 we got together with Mutti, Christoph and Tina and her parents at Christoph's place. This time Klaus didn't have to play chef - Tina had set out everything for Raclette.



Here they are at the table - festive oversized hats on the chair backs, too!



And here's what you do with raclette - put all kinds of goodies on the small tray and put it under the raclette grill in the center of the table. Like fondue, you all get really warm before the meal is over!! It was tasty and casual and leisurely.









Afterwards, we exchaged presents and found our way home by train at midnight.

Then Santa came to our house and we had a lovely breakfast of pancakes and orange sauce, opened all our lovely gifts and took a deep breath.

Merry Christmas!

This and That and the Other

A little quiz:

What costs more: A or B??

A: A piece of Spanish moss

B: Three bottles of good German wine

You know the answer already: this little piece of Spanish Moss costs €9.99 at the local garden shop and the wine (delivered TO OUR HOUSE from the winemaker!) was €3.30 average. Michelle, you have a GOLD MINE in your back yard !! Can you even imagine that people sell it - or worse, buy it ! Seems a bit like selling roaches.

René, Rima and Amina were here last weekend. Mom and Dad visited the art exhibit at the museum and we took Amina on a train ride. There's a new connection between Vegesack and the furthermost part of Bremen - Farge. They had a grand opening all weekend and since we all love taking the train, that's what we did. Here's Amina with Dr. Balloon and her gift from him.

Later we made cupcakes. This Lillifee character is so popular here - and I think Amina likes her most because she's pink. So, pink cupcakes. Just from licking my fingers while getting the icing poured convinced me I didn't want to bite into one of these things; we sent them all home with René and Rima.

Today it was FREEZING. It didn't snow or rain, but there was so much moisture in the air that all the branches of the trees and shrubs were covered with hoar frost; everything was white and bright and oh so pretty. Cold has its good side. This is a scene from our back terrace. Wow.

Upkeep Update

This time of year, postings are a bit more sporadic. It's busy, though that doesn't mean that I'm getting done all the things that need doing. Not even close.

It's a bit of a relief that the 3rd semester Biomimetic students at the college are giving indivdual presentations right now; that means I don't have to prepare lectures for them. On the other hand, there are evaluations and grades to assign which can be equally demanding!

But it is Chrismas time and that means there's the Christmas market. I don't know the history of why that is such a loved tradition in Germany, but it certainly is. Larger cities - and Bremen with less than 700,000 souls counts as "larger" - have markets that go on for almost four weeks before Christmas. Vendors with goods - to sell for gifts or to eat and drink on the spot - are in the downtown area and open for business every day. There are the small carousel rides for the little ones, too. In smaller towns like Affinghausen where Werner comes from, there is a market on just one weekend in December with local raffles for goodies and - naturally - Bratwurst.

Here's a collage of the Bremen Weihnachtsmarkt. I thought it nice that all the trees were decorated with garnet and gold bows. The cups held Glühwein - mulled wine or literally, wine that makes you glow - very popular this time of year at the outdoor markets!

Wish you could enjoy it with us.

Baby Dylan's Stocking

The Christmas sockings for Hunter, Hannah and Hayden were all wonderfully indivdual, special and personal, in my humble opinion. And Dylan's is - I suppose - the last of the stockings for the grandkids. But since I have this medium for broadcasting, her stocking gets s bit more attention.

What a challenge! What else could I come up with? I love buying little bits of things - linen, fabric, lacy odds and ends - without knowing what I will do with them. Finally, it came together. Miss Dylan has a stocking just for her: a tree of old lace and ornaments that I hope will speak to her: an apple, a rose, FSU colors and megaphone, Bremen Musicians. And lots of love.

Food? More Food !

It's been a week and a half since our Thanksgiving dinner. We had bought more Brussels sprouts than necessary - an understatement - so we had to use them. Who knew there were so many things you could do with Brussels sprouts? Amazing - we've had plain old leftover sprouts, turkey and BS casserole, BS with cream and garlic, and even BS soup. Don't try to read too much into this. BS is just BS.

Here's the soup. Actually it's quite good. The recipe - isn't Google incredible ? - from a cook in Australia, says the soup is so tasty that you wouldn't know it was BS. You do. But, no BS, it's good!

In addition to all the Thanksgiving leftovers, I made oatmeal one morning a few days later and there was a bit - well - left over. Maybe we could fry it, Werner said. Fried oatmeal? That sounded weird, but I googled "fried oatmeal" just for fun and - of course you believe it - there were LOTS of recipes for fried oatmeal! Here's one - really good. What won't people eat?

Christmas Season

... here again. Already. Can you believe it?? As usual, I am not ready.

But some of the trappings of the season are done. We sat down to breakfast on Sunday, the First Advent, and lit the Advent candle. This year we opted for one candle instead of the traditional four. With four candles, each is lit on consecutive Sundays, adding one each Sunday, so they burn down at different rates - that doesn't sit so well with Werner, these uneven thingies on the table. I like this, too.

The greenery is from a little "bouquet" of evergreens we bought at the market plus things from the yard and the miniature Pointsettia that I keep buying thinking I can nurse it through till Santa comes. We'll see what happens this year.
Then it was off to René and Rima's for their annual First Advent family luncheon - ten of us this year with her parents, Lex and Monica, us, Mutti, Monica's cousin Ruth (plus Amina of course, though she doesn't eat all THAT much!).

René's kitchen just gets more and more refined. This year it was clear soup with braised dove followed by monkfish on saffron rice, then doe filet and stag filet chops with caramelized shallots (again? someone said !) and puff pastry horns filled with wild mushrooms. Yes, a bit heavy on the meat but all of it was simply delicious. First class.

I brought a cranberry bread, thinking they might have it the next morning, but they served it along side Monika's chocolate bundt cake and Rima's mother's Lebanese cheese cake. They were all well received, and with a couple of requests for the cranberry bread, I was happy.

Amina had to rest between courses - the meal lasted a good three hours - and here she is being read to by her cousin Sarah.

Sigh. Now it's Monday. Two classes down, three more tomorrow, so good night.