December 11

Written December 12

Friends and Families ,

You may be getting tired of our Christmas Market diaries, but it is still just halfway through the season, so I expect there will be more. Today, we tried a new town, Sommerhausen, near Würzburg, toward Frankfurt from home. A friend had recommended it and the prospect of a new village less than an hour away sounded right.

Sommerhausen was indeed a very nice village, sitting along the Main River, surrounded by vineyards. The Christmas Market was exceptional, since it was not the normal kiosks but mostly displays in the local shops, castle, and wineries. We managed a red and a white glühwein, a piece of gingerbread, two tastes of local "moonshine", and a pair of "leberkäse" sandwiches (kind of like Spam) . Not healthy perhaps, but festive.

We also made a couple of purchases. The first was a very cute hand puppet. The kiosk had lots of fuzzy and fun animals and we were charmed. After we bought, I read the label and noted that the dolls were made by a company in Emeryville, California, a long way from Sommerhausen, but a reminder of home. We also bought some wood "sculptures", this time from a craftsman in neighboring Ochsenfurt.

All in all, a good Christmas Market and a nice Saturday afternoon.

We do have some more markets coming up, but those will wait for our house guests.

John and Marianne