Adjusting to the time here, are we? Ummmmm … I woke Dan at 8:58 because I think maybe he’d have slept even longer, and I woke up only 30 minutes or so before that. So I guess the answer is that we are slowly adjusting. Having no sun makes it more of a challenge, along with the very short days.

We sat around a bit, and ate some of the persimmon bread Dan made. Greg sent me a video via WhatsApp … it was snowing in Kaiserslautern! No snow here when I looked out the window. Yet.

But then Dan said, “It’s snowing,” and, sure enough, the white stuff was coming down. Not enough to stick, but still, it was pretty.

We finally headed out, looking for the coffee place we went to last time we visited here. Either we’ve forgotten where it is or it no longer exists! Eventually we wound up at a chain bakery spot we’ve been at before. It was fine.

Shortly after that we decided to take the tram to the train station, because we’d been told we might want to see the new area behind it. The train station isn’t exactly lovely.

Trouble was, we couldn’t locate that new area. I guess we are blind! So we walked a very small amount and eventually took the tram back to the Altstadt so we could find lunch. We wound up in a place I had initially made fun of: Frittenwerk. It actually wasn’t bad if you feel like having a thing full of fries, covered in a sauce, with falafels and various other things (or, in Dan’s case, chicken schwarma — and there were other choices as well). And it wasn’t too costly either. But of course I can’t say we ate a truly healthful meal. (Not a great image of my food since I only thought to take a quick pic after I was nearly done!)

At that point we headed back home so we could rest up and get ready for our next adventure: our first concert of the trip!

Taking the tram, we went to Mannheim. Prior to the concert we met up with Greg and Jan, who had come directly from work, and went to dinner. We even did dessert … partly because we didn’t want to get to the venue so early we’d have to stand outside in the cold!

The venue … and quite a line. Actually, two lines, going in from each side.

Finally, it was time … and hello VOCES8! Being a huge fan, I was delighted when Greg had written to say he could get tickets for this concert. It was fabulous. Truly. I didn’t purchase a program, so I’m not sure who the two new faces were: I know Molly Noon has left the group, but Blake Morgan was also missing. I don’t think he’s left, but of course I don’t really know. There was no mention of who was singing (they usually do a song that introduces everyone), so I guess I’ll never know who those two “subs” were. But they all sounded super!