O Canada

This Christmas I got to spend 2 fabulous weeks at home. I made the most of my time there - hanging out with my family, day trips to visit my super-duper friends, reading, hot-tubbing, drinking gallons of eggnog (mmm)... It was brilliant.

On one of those oh-so-laid-back days, Mom and I wandered on down to the main street to catch a glimpse of the Olympic Torch as it ran through town. We weren't the only ones! Lots of people braved the cold to see it pass on by:

First we waited. Then we watched as about 35 cars passed on by marking the coming of this well-known object.

Phew, 45,000 km... that's quite a run!

We did manage to stand on the right side of the street though. Right infront of us was a group of kids, as the man walking down the street handing out flags to the youngins passed us by - Mom embraced her inner child and asked for one too:

Yippee!

Now I'm not going to say that the Torch was a junior burger... it was a pretty neat experience. You just couldn't blink, or you'd miss it. It was over SO fast. Well, he was running...

Short and sweet. With a very spiffy uniform to boot.

Sandy

One fine morning at the Fire Station...

Hi everyone! I'm back again to take you to the past :)

There have been so many adventures I've been able to experience since I've been in Germany, not the least of being the ability to hop on a bus/train/plane and be in another country in an hour. But some adventures happen closer to home. Friends of ours celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in the middle of December. This meant that I got to take part in the big celebration. And let me tell you, it was a lot bigger than I expected.

A few days before the party, the couple's friends get together to make a ridiculously long garland out of pine branches; we're talking 10 or 12 metres long! On that fine Saturday morning we met up at the local volunteer-based Fire Station with a truckload of pine trees, twine and two 12 metre ropes.

It was a fair amount of work, cutting the branches into smaller pieces and tying them to the rope to make the garland. But with lots of friends, coffee, cookies and Glühwein time just flew on by.

The next step is to gather up a whole lot of silver decorations, truck the garlands off to the party locales and decorate them. We put on garland over the door of the hotel where the main party would be, but the second garland was the really fun one.

Quiet as a mouse, you bring it over to the couple's house, and, without being discovered, drape it over the doorway or railing. Once you're just about finished, you start to make a lot of noise to call the couple out for a mini celebration. We pulled out a stone drill and a brick to fool them into thinking we were boring holes into the wall of their house!

Here we are carrying the garland along in the snow - it sure was a cold night to put it up! But, we were rewarded later on with a mug of Glühwein to warm those cold fingers.

As you can see, mittens didn't really work when you were trying to tie the decorations on. So something warm at the end of the night was needed!

It sure was a fun way to celebrate an anniversary and a new cultural experience for me. Living abroad is so much fun!!

Sandy

A month of Christmas

Today we're not jumping quite so far into the past, just to the lovely month of December. In some of the larger cities in Germany, the Christmas markets (die Weihnachtsmärkte) last all month long. So I took every opportunity I had to check out some of the Weihnachtsmärkte near me.

Ok, so that's a little bit of a lie. My first Christmas Market wasn't really close to me... I went back down to Bamberg for a weekend to visit with some friends. I stayed with a friend in her fabulous house on a hill - the view over Bamberg is stunning!


The next day, the crisp winter air just begged to be walked around in, so Franzi and I took off to meet up with friends and enjoy a Glühwein.


As you can see, the open-air markets consist of a bunch of stalls selling anything and everything. At one place you'll pick up a paper bag of Schmalzkuchen (little puffs of deep-fried pastry, kinda similar to funnel cakes), at another they're selling hand-made soap, then you'll pass a Glühwein stand before walking past a stall selling little Christmas knick-knacks.

Walking through the market left us all sufficiently chilled and in need of a mug of Glühwein. Glühwein is the German name for hot spiced wine. It's absolutely delicious - red wine with hints of cloves, orange and cinnamon... Mmm. On a cold day, a single mug hits the spot like nothing else.

Unfortunately, around this point in time, it started to rain. Doubly unfortunate, all the standing room with a roof overtop was full. So we improvised and stood in the large Christmas tree next to the stand.

On another weekend, this time a little closer to home, I went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Celle. Celle is already a beautiful historic city with some houses dating from the 1500's. Add a Christmas market, with it's lights and garlands and tantilizing smells, and it becomes absolutely picturesque. In one corner is the "Old Market" set up to look like it's popped out of the middle ages. There was a blacksmith and a man carving rocks, an old set of stocks... It was a neat little place to look at.

Here are a few shots of the streets decorated for the Weihnachtsmärkte:

This is a shot of a Glühwein stand. The structure itself is a large version of a traditional German Christmas decoration. Set on a windowsill or mantle, the candles themselves would be lit and the hot air would cause the fan up top to slowly spin.

Here we are again, at the Hannover Christmas Market, enjoying a Glühwein amidst the hustle and bustle of people enjoying themselves at Christmas time.

"Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr" everyone :)

Daaay Tripper...

Well I've finally got my photos all sorted out and ready for your viewing pleasure. We'll be jumping back in time today - all the way back to September of 2009. On a unseasonably warm day, Megan, Paul, Ian and myself took a trip to...

the ZOO! (you can insert your favourite creepy music here)


I think Megan is the only one who looks sufficiently scared as we wander through the mist...

And the scares didn't stop there. The first animals we happened to run across were the pelicans. Who didn't have any sort of fence separating them from all the tourists who came to see them. So you could pet them if you really wanted...


This particular bird tried to eat Paul shortly after this picture was taken...

Our nerves sufficiently rattled we popped on the safari cruise to relax - watching the rhinos and hippos from a safe distance.

See? We're all looking much happier :)

Further wandering brought us to the highlight of almost any zoo trip: the monkeys!!

Monkey see,

Monkey do.

A little more playing brought a whole heck of a lot of laughter to the day, before we traipsed off to India to check out the local elephants.

This guy was really curious. He came right over, stretched his trunk across the barrier and let me pet him. Which, I'm sure, had nothing to do with the tantalizing smell of french fries wafting from our direction...

Next stop: Bird House! Smelled fantastic...

Give me a real big smile this time!

Afterwards we took a gander through the Yukon before checking out the childrens park - it was the petting zoo that totally grabbed our attention. But before we got there, we took a small detour.

A little sliding:

Wheee!

Dancing:

Jaw-dropping:

How's that for the best buck-teeth you've ever seen?!

And since no day is complete without a tractor ride, that's how we ended things off.

I hope you enjoyed today's blast to the past, and will join me soon as we move further forward in yesterday.

Ciao

Wieder in Deutschland

After two fantastic weeks home in Canada over the holidays, I'm back in Germany for the second half of my year-long adventure. I apologize for the lack of posting... hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things this year. I do have lots to share from the month of December, but you'll have to wait until I get all my pictures sorted out.

My flight back over to Germany was mostly uneventful and really really long. I really wish I could sleep better on planes - I was awake for 29 hours. Ick. And then you throw jet lag on top of that! The lack of sleep wasn't the worst of it though. We were delayed in Toronto because they needed to de-ice the plane. Something I have absolutely no objection to - I like my planes to be safe :) But it did mean that I missed my connecting flight in Frankfurt and had to wait 5 hours in the airport for the next one. So instead of getting home at 3:00, I rolled into Schwarmstedt around 9:30. Double ick. But I did have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to keep me entertained.

But I'm safe and had a warm bed to fall into at the end of the day, so I'm not complaining.

Bis bald

Sandy