Waldkirch

On Sunday, we walked to a little city named Waldkirch. It's located about 25 km northeast of Freiburg and our hike took us through lots of farms and woods and a view villages/towns too. The reason we went on this adventure was two fold: to get out and see the countryside and to attend a Christmas Market and Christmas exhibits at the Elztal Museum. 

Lots of firewood stocked. There were bundles of sticks and nicely stacked wood behind those wheelbarrows, but only one course, then it's all thrown in. 

Really lovely farm scene, except maybe for the power lines, but I think the windmills are even nice. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't mentally prepared for how long it would take. I was thinking 3 hrs. And in my mind we left at 9 am. We took the tram to the end of the line which helped get us about 5 km under our belt. But we started walking at 10 am. At 2 pm, I was pretty disenchanted and discouraged and tired.Edwin wanted to be carried by me and we were climbing a hill, so I was moving slow. But I started to think "the hike is beautiful and there is still lots of time until the Christmas Market closes and there will be plenty more markets to enjoy in the future, especially with my mom, who might be more willing to really look at everything." That helped lift my mood and made it easier to enjoy the next scenes.

John carried Edwin most of the way. 

This was a really cute house with a traditional roof. 

We got to the museum around 3 pm. It was packed with people, but then again, it was also a small space with many little rooms that were dead ends. Such are museums, I guess. We breezed through looking for food in particular. We found Schnitzel Brotchen und Apfelsaftschol (veal that had been battered and fried on a roll and sparkly apple juice). It was really nice to sit for minute. It was short though because we ate so fast! I'm sure faster than a German would.

These ornaments were one of my favorite parts. And one of the things I felt completely comfortable photographing. I'm always hesitant to photograph in a place were artisans are selling. I don't want them to think I'm trying to steal their ideas. And I'm too shy to ask. There was a table of Waldorf-y dolls and ornaments and figurines of all sizes. I took one terrible picture.

But back to the ornaments above. I really like these. I think they must be made from something simple (flour and water?) and then molded. The molds are where the intricacy lies. I love the pairing of the white ornaments and red rose hips? crabapples? on the tree.

Before we left we both had a piece of cake and coffee. Now that's German. John had Schwartzwald. I don't know what I had - white cake in layers, one of which had red fruit jam in between. We rode the train home at 6:30 pm and didn't eat and get to bed until late. Edwin thankfully fell asleep though on the walk from the train station to our home. He hardly crawled all day and I think that was hard on him.

It's way past our bed time! In other quick news, we've been enjoying our things from Elmstein. We got diaper covers, clothes, yarn, cast iron, recipes, spices, soap, books and much more! It was a little Christmas. I still have a sore throat and postnasal nastiness, but hopefully it will continue to clear. I've been waking up in the middle of the night parched, so I have been trying to drink more water throughout the day.