Ein Schöner Wei(h)nachtsmarkt

Gestern nacht, wie Heidi und ihre Freunde, ich habe mit einer Freundin von mir, Stephanie (die spricht Deutsch auch), auf den Weinachtsmarkt in Kerrytown gegangen. Nur fünf Minuten von Kerrytown wohne ich -- über die Straße von Jake!

Ich gehe fast jedes Wochenende auf den Bauernmarkt [= farmers' market] in Kerrytown, aber letzte Nacht war ganz anders. Ich habe viel Deutsch und viele deutsch Akzente gehört, und ein Stand hat Glühwein verkauft. Glühwein finde ich sehr stark, aber das Getränk war warme und würzige. A really fun way to bring in Christmas, I felt.

And the best part was, I seemed to arrive everywhere right before Heidi, whom I ran into at the market, and stole the last of everything. Most importantly I beat her to the Brezeln und free Brezelbrötchen.

Given a choice between giving up oxygen or pretzel rolls, I'd have to think about it.

The big find of the night, though, was a woman selling foreign coins on necklaces. I was a little bit of a foreign-coin nerd as a kid and still have quite a few left over from my collecting days. Much of the woman's currency came from individual European countries before the Euro. Deutsche Marke, Italian lire, French francs... plus currency still in use like the Russian ruble and some Ukrainian hryvnia from when they were first printed, in 1992. I am 25% Ukrainian and had no Slavic currency from childhood. The 50-kopiyok coin I ended up with is worth a whole 6 US cents these days. :)

I'm munching that Brezelbrötchen as I type this and it definitely absorbed the flavor of the Glühwein from the air. Strong stuff indeed.