After we stood in quite the long line for our coffees and bread of choice (I think Dan had a croissant. I know I had a brioche.) we sat and enjoyed our treats. We get vouchers for each day we are here, but so does everyone else in the hotel. I’m not sure Mille Fuelle was prepared for the crowd that showed up nearly all at once.
After going back up to our room and dressing warmly we went out and the flexible goal was to get to Bryant Park, because I had read its Christmas market was open today, and it appeared all the others weren’t. So off we went, on a little over two mile walk.
And Lisa HIrsch, this one’s for you!:
At the same time, Brandon was on his way down from his place, and shortly after we arrived at the Christmas market he did as well.
As to the Christmas market: it just doesn’t have the magical feel that, for instance, the Nürnberg one did. Plus, as Dan pointed out, it’s so different when you can’t buy gluhwein and walk around with that.
But since Brandon connected with us we left that spot and aimed toward Grand Central Station, just to have a look-see. (Yes, we’ve been there before, but it’s still fun to see it.)
More walking as we were deciding where to get a bite.
We had a bit of food and drinks at PJ Clarks.
Then it was time to get back to the hotel to gather up some things before going to the Bronx. Our walk back included a bit of Central Park.
Brandon suggested getting a car to get to Jameson and Meghan’s and I was quite fine with that. Yes, it costs more, but sometime it’s just the easiest thing to do.
Jameson and Meghan had food set out when we arrived, and we sat for a good amount of time eating and drinking. Oh … and watching (sort of) White Christmas.
Eventually Trivial Pursuit came out. I’m really not great at that game — especially anything in sports or geography. And I didn’t win. Hats off to Lia!
Then it was another car home. The roads are fairly empty and the drive both ways was so much faster than it frequently is. So now we are back in our room, and we plan on a very slow and easy morning because later on we have much to do. It will be the final full day for this trip. Sad, but true.
Our day began with our hotel room coffee and some research about restaurants in the area. I narrowed things down to five that had been on the hotel’s recommendation list. Whether going by what they say is wise or not depends on who you ask, I suppose, but we went with their recommendations so there you go.
Our first task when we got outside was to visit each one. I had mapped them out so we went in a good order. (And doesn’t it just warm your heart to see McD’s there. Argh!)
But first … wait! What is this BLUE STUFF I’m seeing in the sky? Why am I squinting? Heh. Yes, we had blue sky and it was sunny enough I contemplated coming back for sunglasses. That was a first!
Restaurant #1, La Chistera, looked fine, but didn’t exactly grab me. #2, Le Paresseur, was one we’d seen last night. I thought it looked nice, and it had a small menu that did include things we’d eat. (We don’t eat beef.) #3, L’Alchimista, was a bit confusing: we saw the address and the name of the restaurant but you couldn’t see in the windows or anything. Walking around the corner we saw, in a different building, the same name. I’m not sure what that was about. But in any case we decided to nix that. #4, RoseMarie, just didn’t hit me. Maybe my problem! But also they have no web presence that I could find other than social media and I’d have to call to make reservations. #5, L’Angelus, looked nice. Three options for a plat (our main), one being vegan and the other two worked as well. We narrowed it down to #2 and #5 and finally settled on #2, primarily because we had a bit more choice, as well as knowing we had to choose something! Reservations were made. They will limit our stay, they say, what with our early 7:30 reservation. People eat later in Europe, and I find it a bit of a challenge to adjust to that.
But enough of that! No one even really needed to read that paragraph. Hah!
From there we walked in a rather random manner, thinking maybe we’d eat lunch soon.
But then there was a shop that caught our eye and we grabbed croissants for the time being. At least we didn’t go crazy and get the really sweet stuff! (Okay, maybe mine was a chocolate croissant.)
More walking randomly when, ta-da!, we arrived at the Christmas market I thought would suit us best. Go figure. Before entering, we stopped to take in the view, an aqueduct, and more.
Then it was Christmas market time.
And vin chaud time.
And lunch. Could Dan finish all of this? (I had a pretzel with brie.)
No, he couldn’t!
Walking back we first heard a bunch of very loud drumming which we attempted to catch, but didn’t manage: there were too many things we wanted to stop and photograph.
But then we heard singing and came across this wacky group.
Following that was the not wacky group in a pro-Palestinian protest.
More walking…
… and we got back to the square near our hotel. There we saw a Syrian celebration.
There was a photography show nearby about Gisèle Freund, a photographer I’d never heard of. It was quite interesting, but I finally totally lost it — I simply needed to close my eyes. So back to our room we went.
(Side note: I hate that I don’t have the energy I used to. Stopping in the afternoon drives me nuts as I know it means I am doing less than I’d like. But so it goes. Age does its thing.)
After our rest time we went back out and enjoyed a walk before dinner. First we went to the Plaza de Comédie, and I asked Dan why it was called that and I realized we need to look that up, which I have since done. Duh: the Opéra de Comédie is at one end of the plaza. Shoulda thunk it!
It was fun to see the lights, as well as the kids on the carousel.
The crowds are fairly crazy at this point.
We finally made our way to dinner. Le Paresseur wasn’t open when we arrived, but a few minutes later they opened the door and we, along with a family of three, went in. They disappeared into another space, so we never saw them again and I wondered if it was a private area, but who knows? Our table was chosen and we sat. Then we managed to figure things out from the French menu (thanks to Google translate!), and ordered things. Our appetizer was fabulous. (We shared, but I could easily have eaten it all myself.)
Side note: at one point the lights went out. I’m not sure if it was during the appetizer or the mains. But it appeared they knew exactly what to do as one of the servers ran out the front door and another followed and soon all was well again. It was funny, though, how quiet it got when it first went dark! I rather liked it.
And yes, we had dessert as well. (It’s what I think of as our fancy schmantzy meal out, after all.)
What a night this was! Many thanks to the lovely restaurant for a memorable meal.
From there it was a quick walk to the hotel. We even managed without using our phones!
So now goodnight … we have one more day here (with no plans, really), so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
We started quite slowly today, which is probably a theme on this trip.
Our first goal was to make sure we knew how to reach Palais Garnier (easy!), and if the restaurant I’d made reservations for was what we wanted (no! — and why is a fast food place asking us to make reservations anyway?).
I’d been warned that the Palais Garnier had a horrible huge ad and false facade on the front … sure enough, it’s still there. Too bad.
Since that fast food restaurant spot wasn’t going to do it for us we walked back to the hotel street and checked out places there. The opera begins at 7:30, so those that opened at 6 or later just seemed too iffy, so we found something that will be open earlier and we’ll just hop on over there. I am guessing we’ll be early enough that it will be easy to get a table. I saw this tile work on the corner nearby … felt like we were back in Portugal!
After heading back to our hotel to put another layer on (the wind was making it colder than I expected), and checking the weather (no rain), we went back out. Our sort of flexible goal was to get to Notre Dame, so we walked in that direction.
We don’t walk fast. It’s more of a casual amble. And we look around constantly. It was a random walk, so if we saw something that caught our eye we’d go there.
Near the Louvre we looked for lunch. Up til then we’d only had coffee, so it was time. We ate tremendously healthy stuff. I can’t say it was fabulous, but it sufficed.
Eventually we wound up at the Christmas market by the Louvre. To me it was more of a carnival than a market: they did have food and drink, but we didn’t get anything. We did love the singing reindeer. That sort of made the visit to the market! Crazy thing is that I used to listen to a guy who did YouTube videos where he sang three or four parts and put it all together and this sounded just like him. I know he’s from France, and I know he’s fluent in English so maybe it actually is …?
And then out we went … and it was sprinkling. WHY do we trust the weather apps? (And why don’t we carry our umbrellas in any case?) Because of that we put a hold on Notre Dame: if the rain got worse we’d be seriously uncomfortable. So we wandered. A lot.
And of course we “discovered” things we’d never seen before! This place: Domaine national du Palais-Royal. We just sort of ended up there.
And roses … in December?!
Getting back to the hotel my watch said I’d walked over 7 miles. My feet said so too. With an early dinner plan I decided a little bit of rest would be good.
We went out to dinner at the place right across the street and had a very simple meal: I had onion soup and Dan had a salad.
Finishing that we went back to the hotel and dressed for the opera.
As is typical we were a bit confused on our directions: I have decided I will never understand this part of Paris! But we got to the opera … and what a place it is!
We had box seats. Not too shabby!
I really enjoyed The Rake’s Progress. The orchestra and singers were super. The great conductor was Susanna Mälkki, someone I really thought was fabulous at SFSymphony. This is our final outing for a performance on this trip. I’m so glad we got to attend so many.
So far no plans for tomorrow, but I suspect we will make our way over to Notre Dame. I’m sorry we can’t go inside, but I gave it my best shot: I checked any time I woke up in the night, and at other times of the day as well. They just never had any I could grab. Rats!
We woke early today — okay, early for me anyway, since it wasn’t all that early (7:00 AM). But we had to finish our packing, have a bit of breakfast, and take the street car to the train station. Then we caught a fast train. We were in a small room on the train where only six people could sit. When we arrived what I assume was a father and son were already in. As we got settled at least one of them went out to smoke. When they came back the entire room reeked. BUT … hooray! … thankfully they hadn’t reserved those seats and the (quiet, non-smoking) couple that had purchased those specific seats could tell them they had to move. Whew!
The train only had three stops (IIRC) before ours, but it was a longer, 3+ hour trip.
And now … hello München! (Or Madrid Munich: you choose.)
I was grateful that Greg and Jan knew where to go to catch the local train which took us very close to our hotel. We checked in early, but our rooms were ready so to our rooms we went.
Shortly after settling in we all met downstairs and went to an area that might have a Christmas market. Well, that’s what some of us thought. But nope. Not a Christmas market. We decided eating outside wasn’t something we wanted to do anyway: it was cold and windy, and rain was threatening. So nearby was a beer hall and we got a light meal there.
From there we walked some more. And more. In the cold and rain and sometimes tons of wind. But it was great to get out and about and we did eventually find an actual Christmas market.
So we wandered. With tons of people. We went past what I think Greg said was city hall. We walked more, ending up at a high end store Greg wanted to visit. I saw some gorgeous Bavarian jackets that I loved, but I can’t justify spending the money on one. (Jan had loaned me one of hers for our nice dinner in Riquewihr. I guess that will have to suffice.)
We ended back at the city hall because we thought we would hear the famous carillon and see the characters go around and all. But no, that doesn’t happen at 5:00 PM in December. By that time the Christmas market was so full it seemed unsafe. Greg mentioned that as well. I was happy to go down to the subway (or whatever they call it here) and escape.
Back in our rooms, I took a less than 10 minute nap and then it was time for dinner
Greg and Jan had been at Maison Massard before and Greg made reservations for tonight for the four of us. Oh my was it ever good! I suspect this is our last “fancy” meal with them, so I was glad it was amazingly delicious, and the servers were so excellent.
Then it was a slightly sprinkly walk back to our hotel and it was suddenly 10:15 PM. (We were at the restaurant for over three hours!)
Tomorrow we have a concert at 7:00 PM, but other than that I don’t know what we’ll end up doing.
Well, maybe not every Thursday, but since we have this one last full day in Heidelberg at Jan & Greg’s we did a wee bit of laundry. One fabulous thing about merino wool, though, is that it doesn’t need washing as frequently as other materials. So our laundry load is much smaller than it would be if we were washing synthetics.
After we had coffee here at the house, and got the laundry into the dryer, we thought we’d visit the smaller Christmas market near the house. Alas, it must only be open on the same days the farmer’s market at the square is open, as nothing was going on at all. So instead we went to a nice coffee place for brunch and coffee. We are going to attempt to make this a two meal day, which is something I always do at home and much prefer on trips as well.
Getting back to the house we finished up with the laundry. Then it was time to say our farewell to the Haupstraße, Altstadt, and larger Christmas market. Tomorrow we have a morning train so today it’s our last chance to go there.
After a very quick look at the market we went back to the house, figured out our transportation, and got ready to head to Mannheim for one final concert.
Dan checked the weather. No rain. So we didn’t take our umbrellas and by the time the street car reached the train station it was … you guessed it! … raining. Ah well. We had hats and rain can’t dampen our spirits even if it does so to our clothes.
We reached Mannheim easily and walked to our restaurant, waited for Jan & Greg, and then had a nice meal.
Then it was a brief jaunt through the Mannheim Christmas market.
From there we went to the concert hall. We had a bit of time still, so we had drinks and pretzels. After that it was into the hall and a concert with Albrecht Mayer and ZKO (easier than typing their name). What a wonderful concert it was! When he played a Bach encore I confess I cried a bit. I was just so very moved. So now I’ve seen and heard to of my faves: VOCES8 and Albrecht Mayer! Next up will be another fave so stay tuned!
Bravi tutti!
Tomorrow all four of us head to another city. You’ll find out where when I post tomorrow!
We weren’t exactly sure what we’d end up doing today. I was fairly certain we’d nixed the Documentation Center option since most of it is closed (and it required a bus ride of, I think, 30 minutes or so), but we had the option of a museum or two.
First, though, coffee and a light breakfast! (And that was after showering and moving in an extremely leisurely manner.)
Leaving the coffee place (a spot called Auckland, in case you are interested: coffee was good and we shared avocado bread and a salad with egg slices) …
… we decided we would check out one of the recommended churches. When we got to St. Lorenz we saw there would be an organ recital at 12:15, so we hung out for a fair amount of time in order to hear one of the largest organs in the world. The organist wasn’t exactly top notch, but it was great to hear the instrument! While the church was originally Catholic it became Protestant during the Reformation. I was surprised to see all the Catholic work still in the church after seeing so many in Scotland that had destroyed anything that hinted at Catholicism.
From there we walked over to Trödelstuben restaurant (the one we tried for last night). What a place it is. I can’t imagine working there: you have to navigate a stairway that twists a bit and it’s narrow. The kitchen is on the second floor, which is where we sat, but there is also a downstairs.
We both had potato soup and some garlic-cheese bread. It was just right for this overcast and cloudy day.
Walking, we saw a couple getting their photo taken in front of the trees. So why not?
Then we walked to another church, Frauenkirche — Church of Our Lady Nürnberg. This one remained Catholic after the Reformation, but they do acknowledge that it became a Catholic Church after a progrom in, I think, 1349, when a Jewish synagogue was burned down (there is a Star of David in the church somewhere, but we looked and didn’t find it). It has quite a bit of a modern look, even while having a lot of the old in it. We didn’t stay all that long, as there wasn’t much opportunity to wander and right after I snapped this shot Dan told me no photos were allowed. Oops! (Everyone, it seemed, was taking iPhone photos, and the person watching over things didn’t say a word, so I doubt it’s much of a big deal.)
Finally we went to St. Sebald’s (Sebalduskirche). That was my favorite of the three.
This little area was dedicated to children who had died. People could take a star and write a child’s name on it and hang it on the tree.
More from the church:
Then it was time for a treat, of course. We went out of the church to find it raining very lightly on this day when the weather app said there was 0% chance of rain. Ah well!
Going to the Christmas market I did a very tiny bit of shopping, and then we found a place that would satisfy both of us: I had a macaroon and Dan had lebkuchen.
From there it was back to the hotel for a bit. My eyes were so tired! I set my alarm so I wouldn’t sleep too long, but I simply had to rest.
After a bit of rest time, we went down to the lobby because, Dan having his great status and all, we were given a voucher for a free drink and snack. It said it included the high end wine, beer, or drink of our choice. But of course there was the disclaimer “at the discretion of the hotel”. In truth I got whatever red wine they were serving at the time, Dan got a beer, and there were no snacks at all. But who is going to complain about free stuff … right?
Then we went back up to our room to dress for the cold, but no rain jackets since the chance of rain was 1%.
I’m sure you can guess what happened while we were out, yes?
Yes, we got wet.
We went up some stairs for a view of the market:
At the same spot we heard a choir we now heard a brass band.
We were looking for pretzels because I had read that one must get a pretzel while here. But where?!We looked and looked. Finally we saw a young woman with one so we asked her (she and the man with her were from the states … Iowa or some such place). She pointed to a stand and said, “But I got the last one!” We looked and looked, but never did find any. Ah well. I think we’ll survive.
We finally went back toward our hotel and the first Christmas market that we had originally thought was the market.
We had some flammkuchen and then a last Nürnberg gluhwein, but we couldn’t use our souvenir cups up at the closer market. Such is life. We suffer. We suffer in silence. (Name that musical.)
Now back in our room we already finished up the remainder of the marzipan we purchased yesterday and I’m having a cup of chamomile tea. Soon it will be bedtime. already my eyes are feeling awfully heavy.
Tomorrow our train doesn’t leave until after noon, so we have a good amount of time to just relax, maybe go out for a bit, and then walk to the train station.
We began rather slowly today: it had been raining last night, and it was cold enough we decided that maybe taking our time would be a fine idea. But eventually one does have to just brave the cold.
One idea for today was the Documentation Center. Alas, it is currently under renovation and much is closed. I’m not sure we’ll get there this time. I suppose that means we’ll have to return sometime.
We went in the direction of the first Christmas market nearby, and then continued on, looking for a place to get coffee. Eventually we ended up at the entrance to the walled city that I remembered from the time we spent about one hour here, between wherever we came from and Bayreuth. Finally we found a coffee place that had a table for us to sit at. No way did we want to have to be outside!
Coffee and “we aren’t going to eat much” were obtained. Hah!
Then we continued our walking …
… ending up at the castle. It was breezy and quite cold, but we managed to stay there for a bit of time. Dan had his camera and was making photos while I just took my iPhone. I just haven’t had any interest in using the Fuji on this trip, and I think for travel and iPhone really does suffice. My Fuji is better for my flower photography at home. Somehow on vacation I don’t want the distraction.
After the castle we went back down to the big market, taking a bit of a side trip to investigate more. We even saw where the World Wide Web was stored! (C’mon, you know you think I’m hysterical.)
Then it was Kartoffelpuffer. Those are fried potatoes (kind of like has browns but not) and while I had applesauce last time it was cranberry for me this time, and Dan had the garlic sauce, I think.
We knew we wanted something a bit more after that, so we had another meal of the three little sausages, sauerkraut, bread, and mustard. Yep, tasty today, like it was yesterday. Both the potatoes and the sausages were eaten standing up outside, which is how most everything is devoured at the markets. Somehow the cold isn’t as bothersome when one is eating!
We ambled more, had some gluhwein, and bought some candied mixed nuts, which appear to be another popular thing here.
Oh … about the gluhwein. When you buy a small cup of it you are charged a fee for the cup. You can choose to keep it or return it and get your money back. Each town has their own cup design. I was tempted by the Heidelberg cups but was strong enough to resist keeping them. (We have too many cups at home as it is!) But this time we opted to not return them. The next stand we visited for a drink explained that we trade in our used cups and get fresh ones and aren’t charged another fee, so we opted to do that with these. Today we again exchanged last night’s second cup for new ones. Kind of handy … and yes, we’ll be taking home these souvenir cups. Just because I was strong in Heidelberg doesn’t mean I’m continuously strong! (After drinking our drinks we both attach our cups to our bags.)
Finally, we decided it was rest time (and iPad time), so we went back to the hotel. I fell asleep (no surprise since I’m still not sleeping at night) … hope I sleep at least a bit later, but we’ll see. I know a nap is not the best thing for insomnia.
Did I mention our hotel is at the border of the red light district? Sigh. We are avoiding going that direction. Don’t want to see it if I can help it!
When it was time to go out again we researched a spot for dinner: we didn’t really feel like a Christmas market dinner. Dan found a really nice place so we walked there: it was in a quieter area, right near a canal (yes, canals in Nürnberg!). In front of the door was a sign saying no availability for seating. In fact there were two signs. But of course we still had to ask (as did several groups after us). I went back and asked about tomorrow evening. Nope. So we will go there at 1:00 tomorrow. It just looked too nice to miss and reviews are excellent.
Photo from near the restaurant:
From there we walked to another place I saw, but it was full as well. And another. Meh … looked like Christmas market food.
Saw some horses …
… saw musicians, too! (Hah!) These tiny things are very expensive!
Finally Dan suggested one he’d read reviews from earlier. And yes, we could get in! We weren’t seated in the large room where loads of people were, or the smaller, quieter room that also appeared full at the moment. Instead we were in a side section that had higher chairs (like bar height) and only had two tables. FINE by me … I could hear! Plus we saw the kitchen, and were able to watch them work (very quickly!), hear them sing a few times, and watch the servers who sometimes looked to be arguing but who knows? I ordered carp and Dan, doing the “when in Rome thing” ordered the pork. I think mine was better.
When we left the restaurant we were greeted by rain. Well how ‘bout that? We both can now be glad we brought our rain jackets. We bought a new kind of drink for us, and I’d explain how it’s made but I really didn’t fully understand it. Something about soaking cones in rum and them pouring that into something … blah blah blah … patty has brain freeze and can’t really remember. But it was not as sweet as gluhwein and definitely better than the “winter warmer” I had last night.
We walked by more stands and Dan seemed to think I would want some marzipan.
Dan wasn’t wrong.
After buying that, though, we knew we needed to get back. The rain was starting to threaten us a bit more. So “home” we went.
Chamomile tea was made (for me) and we both had a bit of the marzipan.
Tomorrow … well … maybe a museum? (They are closed on Mondays.) We shall see. I’m always happy just to wander. I’m good at that!
Happy December! And where is the time going? This trip is speeding by … kind of like the train we took today.
We woke up far too early today, but we had to catch a streetcar and if we missed the 8:16 we’d have to call a car to get us to the train station. Of course waking too early meant I had way too much time, because I always pack the night before. But so it goes. We did get to say our goodbyes (for now) to Jan and Greg — if I were them I think I’d stay under the warm covers, but it was nice to see them!
It was very cold at the streetcar stop: If I’m remembering correctly it was 28° at that point. But we were well dressed and it was okay for the amount of time we waited.
We got to the Heidelberg train station with no problems, and after getting a coffee and something to eat we went to our track and not too long after got into our car.
This was a regional train which meant there were lots of stops and we couldn’t reserve seats, but neither were a problem In fact everything was going quite smoothly.
Note … I said was!
When we got to Frankfurt we had 1 1/2 hours to wait for our next train.
We wandered a bit (in the freezing train station and just outside so we could say we’d been to Frankfurt), eventually going in to get another bite just to escape the cold. Then we decided to get out of the eating area to verify the track and all. Hmm. Our train wasn’t showing up where I thought it would be. So we went to the information booth.
Um. Oops.
A rather serious young woman said, I thought rather pointedly, “Your tickets were for the airport train station, not this one,” or something similar was told to us by the woman there.
Brief pause so I could wonder if we were going to have to pay a lot to get new tickets (day of tickets can be costly).
“But you can catch that train here at 12:22, track 9.”
Whew!
WHY I bought the tickets beginning from the airport is a bit of a mystery to me, but since things worked out just fine I’ll just let it go. You can bet, though, that I then checked the next trains we will be taking (not today, mind you: this train is our final of the day).
Our train now was an ICE rather than regional, so we were in lovely first class seats that were reserved (next to two couples who never stopped talking, but somehow hearing people talk in another language kind of lulls me to sleep). I had worried that someone might have grabbed them when they were empty at the airport station so I was glad to see them empty.
Both on the first leg and this one there were many places where we saw a lot of frost (or was it light snow?). The entire trip was cloudy and frequently foggy. There were some lovely towns and beautiful mountain scenes. Taking photos from the train is never all that great but …
And then we got to our next destination.
Hello Nürnberg!
Nürnberg is known for its Christmas markets. Finding a hotel that would allow for cancellations, in fact, wasn’t easy as it normally is: they hardly need to offer that due to its popularity. I think they have the oldest Christmas markets in Germany, and I know they get tons of visitors.
We headed to our hotel, starting on the cobbled streets and then realizing that the directions took us on the outskirts so we’d be on surfaces better suited to our roller cases. (But I sure do miss our packs!) Our room is quite nice, I think, because Dan gets an upgrade due to his gold status with United. Good thing he allows me to share the room!
After resting up for a short time and charging our phones so they would last, we headed to the Christmas Market. I had looked on a map and it said a fifteen minute walk was ahead of us, yet we were there in less than five minutes. Strange! But okay then. We walked around, figuring we’d scout out the food spots before deciding what to get. When we got to what I assumed was the end I think we both thought it was nice, but not as big a deal as we expected. Still, it was fun.
Now if you play “Whamageddon” I will be kind here and say do NOT have your sound on when this video plays. Am I nice or what?! But c’mon … just give in. It is December first and I’ve already lost the game! Or maybe not … you can barely hear it. Darn!
We thought we saw a few more things ahead, so we walked on. Some stalls were closed and I said, “Maybe those are the crafts and trinkets and those close at night. Or maybe it’s because it’s Sunday.”
But we walked on some more and … um … well … what we saw five minutes from our hotel was NOT the real, huge, crazy Christmas market! Maybe it’s an expansion? Dunno. But the real thing … well it’s pretty darn huge and the crowds were crazy.
We had the necessary gluhwein. We had the “Drei im Weckla” that I had read was a must have in Nürnberg. We had lebkuchen Dan remembers from his childhood. We bought a few chocolates for when we got back to our room.
We listened for a bit to a choir. I couldn’t imagine singing out in the cold … but then no one wants to hear me anyway! This is Peters Chor.
And we had one more warm drink because we we starting to freeze! Nearing the end of our walk it was about 30° (or -1° if you want to go with Celsius). I started to get pretty darn cold toes and I’m thinking I might buy a pair of socks to double up with my other socks (my shoes are plenty roomy) because cold toes are … you aren’t going to believe this I know … cold toes! And who needs those? (Hm. I’m feeling like a poem is in there somewhere. But maybe not.) My chin was also getting to the point where words were going to be harder to pronounce. But soon we were back at our hotel and that warm air we hit when we went through the door was wonderful!
Our “for the hotel” chocolates were enjoyed, and we both did the iPad stuff we do. We will see what tomorrow brings.
Today was a rather slow day. We woke and after coffee went to the local market (the outdoor sort) to purchase things for Thanksgiving which, for us, will take place Saturday.
We also picked up a few sweet things for breakfast.
After eating breakfast we went to get some flour so Dan can make bread for Saturday, and Jan picked up the flowers Greg had ordered for the house. (He always has flowers in the house and I just love it!)
After getting back home I eventually started to make my ginger carrot soup, with Jan helping (thanks, Jan!). I got it partially done and now it will sit until closer to our feast day.
I worked on some other things via my iPad and for some reason that caused me to get a headache so it was rest time for me. Greg was out doing errands, and Dan was on a walk. Jan was here at the house doing whatever she was doing and putting up with tired old me!
Upon Greg’s return we all walked down to the Christmas markets.
We had kartoffelpuffer (potato pancake) with applesauce for Dan and me and garlic sauce for Jan and Greg, so we aren’t talking to them any more. (KIDDING!) Oh, and we also had gluhwein. All was yummy.
Walking home … and yes, there are lots of cyclists here, even at night.
Finally back home we went (dropping in to some places for various things on the way). Bread, gluhwein ingredients … important stuff!
For dinner we had cheese, bread, salami, and some wine from our neck ‘o the woods that we had brought here. Then it was dessert. I did a rather stupid thing and bought an Alsacian treat that included nut and fruits but I have no idea what it’s called. I DO know it costs a monumental amount and I foolishly didn’t ask before buying. But so it goes … it’ll last a very long time on this trip, I’m sure. In any case, we had some of that, some jellies, and chocolates we purchased as well.
How much weight will I gain, I wonder?!
And then we all sat in the living room having lovely conversation. Or … um … maybe we were a bit tired for that! Hah! (It’s a crazy wide angle shot, I know, but it’s how I could get the dynamic three in the photo.)
