Hello from Germany

Hello from Nuremburg!

We are just about to set out on day 3 of our German Christmas market tour
and so far everything is great!

So far we have seen the Christmas markets in Frankurt and here in Nuremburg.
They are just as lovely as expected. Full of stalls of beautiful Christmas
decorations and happy Germans standing at tables (you don't get to sit down
much here - all the cafes have tables designed to stand at) drinking
gluhwein and eierpunch (eggnog).

The days are deceptively cold. So far the weather has been cloudy - I have
not seen the sun, so you get a bit disorientated and don't know what time it
is during the day. The nights are above zero - but the days only get to be
three or four. As you wander around the cold seems to seep into your bones.
I have become obsessed with scarves and have bought two!

The food is great. Nobody here seems to have heard about low cholesterol or
low carbohydrate diets. It seems like every third shop is a bäckerei or
konditorei full of delicious pastries or a huge variety of fresh baked
bread. We have been eating bratwurst on brötchen (sausages on breadrolls)
mit sahn (mustard) or Frickadelle (meatballs) from the market stalls for
dinner followed up by potato pancakes (cooked in lard) with apple sauce. Not
a sign of a vegetable - other than the potato or the cabbage in the
sauerkraut. I haven't been game to try the sauerkraut yet.

Everybody speaks English better than I speak German - my vocabulary is so
tiny! I can ask for directions and pick out the key words (left, right,
around the corner, at the end of the road) in the answers. It helps if they
point as well. I can kind of buy things - but as soon as they differ from
the script from the dialogues from German classes, I look blank and they
speak slowly and pick out words that a small child may understand. I am
grateful. I will miss being able to do even that much when we are in
Belgium, France and Italy. The Germans we have met have all been very
friendly and kind to bewildered tourists. They are quite inclined to strike
up a conversation and readily switch to English when we look bewildered.

We picked up the rental car yesterday. I am on the list as the second driver
- but I hope I don't have to drive. The Autobahn are scary - full of trucks
and cars whizzing by. We were passed by a Ferrari yesterday.

Although Frankfurt, Nuremburg and Wurzburg were all heavily bombed - you
wouldn't know it. The reconstruction must have been very faithful to the
originals. There are lots of beautiful ornate buildings, medieval walls and
cobbled streets. Like every traveller since forever- I wish I had more time.
Today we are going in to Nremburg to try and see some of the key sights by
daylight - then on to Rothenburg which has a famous Christmas shop.

Auf Wiedersehen!