Last weekend Charles and I did what most self-respecting Dutchmen do before Christmas. We went to Germany. More specifically, we went to a Christmas market in Germany. We chose Bremen.
It was actually our first incursion across the German border since we got here. We've been meaning to go for quite some time. The trip to Bremen took about 2.5 hours, but there are other, closer German towns and villages we could visit in less time. Part of the problem is that I've been too chicken about not knowing any German (apart from "ein," "bitte" and "danke") and about how their traffic rules and road signs might be different than here in the Netherlands (they're not).
Anyway, we threw the Maui in the back of the car and drove over to Bremen. Except for the weather (damnable rain!), it was great! Bremen has a gorgeous town square with buildings dating from the 13th century onward. The whole place was decorated with lights and Christmas trees. The square and other streets in the city center were filled with market stalls selling gifts, toys and ornaments. But I don't think many people actually go for the shopping. (Everyone complains about the prices.) They go instead for the FOOD. For every stall selling gifts, there is another stall selling food, sweets and the ubiquitous "glühwein" - mugs of sweet, hot wine mulled with cinnamon and cloves.
Charles isn't much of a spiced wine kind of guy, so I didn't force him to buy a mug just so I could have a sip. Instead I stuck to the "kinderpunsch," and he had some hot orange juice and vodka thing that ended up not being very good. I think it was okay because the bratwursts and gigantic pretzel we shared made up for it. They were DARN TASTY.
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