back at the beach (briefly)

I was home for Christmas and am back in Deutschland already. That felt like entirely too short a trip. Still, got in most of the important things: a walk to the beach; a bike-ride on the boardwalk to visit King Neptune and pick up sandwiches from Taste; a solid amount of Christmas shopping (oh, U.S. dollar, how I love you); the inaugural trip to Virginia Beach's shiny new Trader Joe's; plenty of cooking and eating and of course, lots of time with the family, Sunny included. Had to miss out on my grandmother's 85th birthday dinner at one of the taverns in Colonial Williamsburg, which was a bummer -- damned snow. Still, good trip overall, and it was so good to be home.

make no plans

After having done something every single night for a bunch of nights in a row, I wrote this in my planner for today:



I really intended to stick to that, too. And then my friend Tarina, who is a flight attendant, unexpectedly ended up laying over here rather than elsewhere in Germany, and said, "What are you doing tonight? PLEASE SAY YOU WILL HANG OUT WITH US."

Turns out I completely suck at not making plans! But hey, it'll be fun.

One of my favorite near-work places to go during lunch (when I am not running around buying Christmas presents, that is) is World Coffee, over on Kaiserstraße. The other day I ordered a chocolate Wocochino, which turned out to be hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream and chocolate sauce. For some reason I was thinking there might be some coffee in there, but no. Coffee did not have any role to play here.



Delicious, though.

salzburg

I'd long been planning on visiting my friend Suz in Salzburg over this past weekend, but sickness (on Suz's part) and work (on mine) made it look like a no-go until six o'clock rolled around on Friday and I realized . . . no one was asking me to stay in town.

I messaged Suz. "Hey Suz," I said. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better!" she said.

"Glad to hear it!" I replied, then very subtly said, "Sooo, if I were, hypothetically, to get on a train tonight and show up in your town tomorrow morning, what would you do?"

"Hypothetically," Suz said, "I would pick you up from the train station. Does this mean you're coming??"










I'm a little tired for it, but oh, it was worth it. There was Christmas cookie baking. There was latke making (may I briefly point out that I am obsessed with that blog, oh my lord). There was Glühwein drinking. There was eating (so much eating). The highlight of the eating, other than our homemade latkes with apple sauce and creme fraiche, may well have been yesterday, when we discovered the joys of Kaspreßknödel -- fried cheese and potato and bread dumplings, which were served with either soup or sauerkraut. We went for the sauerkraut, and were in no way disappointed. I eyed my portion up warily, thinking it looked huge; clearly I underestimated the degree to which I am currently a German/Austrian food-snarfing beast. That meal did not stand a chance of existing long enough to get cold. And oh, was it cold in Salzburg. But there was snow! It's hard to think of anything that will get you more in the Christmas spirit than drinking Glühwein and eating a pile of hearty Austrian food at multiple different Christmas markets while the world around you is crisp and white.

mainz

Went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Mainz with my friend Anne on Sunday.







I had never seen a Weihnachtspyramide before. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of it. But basically it's a rotating tower (usually table-decoration size; this one is about twenty feet tall) that has Christian and traditional figures on it, along with candles.

Speaking of candles, I had not realized that anyone still put candles on Christmas trees, but Anne tells me they do. I'm sure it must be beautiful . . . just keep that bucket of water close at hand.

return to fantasyland

I went back to Freiburg last weekend for Thanksgiving, which Katherine summed up pretty awesomely (trust me when I say that you really want to click that link). Freiburg is really magical in wintertime, all lit up, in a way that Frankfurt doesn't quite manage -- I think it's something to do with Freiburg's tiny winding streets, the narrowness of the Dreisam path, and of course the Bächle.




I love going on trips that start with a train ride. Frankfurt's central train station used to be all that I knew of the city -- I still think it's gorgeous.




I love and miss Freiburg's Münsterplatz market.