Salzburg Christkindlmarkt

Well, I've finally hit the home stretch. Only two more days in Duelmen, and then on Friday I leave for Bochum to meet up with Emily. The next morning we take off at the crack of dawn to go to Duesseldorf and begin the long journey home! These last two days are going to go by far too slowly...

This past weekend Emily and I flew down to Salzburg, Austria to spend a few days reacquainting ourselves with the southern German-speaking area. It was freeeeezing cold since we were nearing the Alps and were dealing with a higher altitude than normal, but at the same time we got to see some snow for the first time this year. Not a bad trade off all in all.

We flew in on Saturday around noon and stayed until Monday evening, and pretty much explored the city inside and out. We went to all of the Christkindlmaerkte (what they call the Christmas markets in the south, rather than Weihnachtsmaerkte). We had our fair share of Gluehwein and big pretzels, and got a ton of Christmas shopping done at the same time.

Probably could have made it a two day trip, but we ended up filling our extra time at the end of the trip by seeing Disney's new movie "The Frog Prince" in German, which is surprisingly well dubbed. It was definitely nice to have a break from being outside in the cold winter weather.

Upon my return to Duelmen, I immediately had to begin mixing some sugar cookie dough for the following day. Keep in mind I didn't get back to my apartment until one in the morning, so that made for a very tired Mary at school on Tuesday. Cookie baking commenced at my friend Nina's house (she's one of the student teachers at my school). Matthias and Florian (two other student teachers) joined as well, but let's face it - they were primarily there to provide moral support and to serve as taste testers. Long story short - many many cookies, and a very tired Mary. The good news - they were crazy about the cut-out sugar cookies. All of the cookies will be making it to the Ref-tisch (student teacher table) tomorrow, so hopefully they will go over just as well there.

So yes, currently working on packing and trying to concentrate long enough to finish my lesson plans for Friday and to finish up my Wisconsin grad school app which is due on the 20th (!!!). Wish me luck...

I've included some pictures from Salzburg for your viewing pleasure - ich wuensche euch eine schoene Vorweihnachtszeit!!! :)

Center of the market at Residenzplatz

Emily and one of the large Brezen (pretzels) at the market. Think this one had almonds and marzipan...?

Lights in Getreidegasse - famous shopping street

Center of the market at Domplatz

So. many. nutcrackers.

These things are everywhere. They're smoking figures, and you basically put a cone of incense in their hiney and the smoke comes out their mouth.

View of the Festung (fortress)

Tree at Residenzplatz

Bridge across the Salzach River

SNOWWWWW!

View of the Festung from Mirabell gardens

Emily striking a pose next to Mozart...showcasing the Mozartkugeln

Emily and I at the Festung with a view of the city in the background

FIRE!

They had a marionette museum inside the Festung. No explanation needed for this picture.

View of the market at Domplatz from atop the Festung

Me and Emily at the Festung

One of the vendors who was selling tasty liquors

Ice skating with the help of my penguin friend

Proof that I can still ice skate after five years of not having done it.

Emily was better than me...

Never thought I'd see a disco ball behind the Mozart statue...

Pic of the ice rink where we skated - located at Mozartplatz