what i did over the weekend

on saturday i went shopping down the hauptstrasse and to the christmas market again with alexis and his spanish friend carmello. this was the second time i've been there and the magic of it still has me enthralled. it just looks so quaint and like a postcard that you can't resist walking around and feeling all christmas-clucky. and this is from someone who had never gotten into the christmas spirit. ever. for those that don't know the christmas market is in the three different squares down the hauptstrasse and includes stalls that have everything from children's wooden toys to candy and gingerbread, clothes such has hats, gloves, beanies, general market stalls and food and wine. the food is very traditional fare, mainly with meat like wurst and steak on offer. there is a stall that has half metre long sausages in a roll. quite tasty and helps to line the stomach when you start to consume all the gluhwein you can to stay warm. the wine, which i am very partial to, is called gluhwein and it tastes like apple and cinnamon. i am in love with this wine and have already brought a bottle to bring home. it's served hot like sake and really helps to warm you up when the temperature is about 3 degrees. the best part is that when you get it it comes in a mug that you get to keep, or if you have enough mugs at home you can hand it back and get some of your money back.

after the market alexis and i went out with some other friends, matthias and paula, to a spanish restaurant for tapas. i've had tapas before in mannheim and i was a little wary of this, as last time, if you have been reading this you'll remember, i ate unknowingly tongue. ech. this time however i was prepared and asked about everything i ate before i ate it. somehow i just don't trust the spanish anymore when it comes to food.

on sunday alexis and i went hiking in the heidelberg hills, which was fantastic. a friend of mine i met through facebook took us on the trek and showed us some fantastic sights, including an old ruined monastery from centuries BC and an old nazi auditorium. which i am told is still used for things that it shouldn't be used for, but also on mayday the local students have a party up there - getting drunk of their arses etc.

that night we went out to mannheim to watch a choir and small orchestra perform one of johann sebastian bach's christmas cannons. i didn't understand a word of it and only caught on what it was about near the end. something about mary and the three wise men. i turned to alexis and said, 'i know what this is about! the christmas story!' he just looked at me like i was stupid and pointed to the front of the program i was holding to a picture of the three wise men giving the baby jesus gifts and shook his head. i giggled at being stupid. the odd thing about this performance was that you don't clap until the whole thing is over. i found it weird that you don't clap at the end of each of the three sections and the first time i went to do it i was lucky i stopped before i started. alexis must have thought i was one of those uncultured westerners. i however just laughed and kept harassing him with a, 'can i clap now?' whenever there was silence.

after this performance we went out for dinner with my friend from facebook and a few of his friends at a french restaurant i can't quite remember the name of. the food was amazing, but alexis ordered some australian wine with his meal, and i'm sorry to say it was awful. maybe we keep the best wine for ourselves or something, cause i've had way better wine at home. some of which i'm sure is still sitting at mum's house, unless her and pop have drunk it all. in which case i will not be happy. damn drunks! lol.

so that's what i did this weekend gone. pretty exciting stuff, but i haven't gone into much detail on here, mainly because i want to spend a little more time detainling everything and eash one would take up heaps of room. i still have to talk about the heidelberg schloss and strasbourg france, but that will all have to wait as i'm going back to the christmas market very soon ans i don't have the time, but luckily it means more half metre wurst und gluhwein ahoy!

tchuss