HEIDELBERG
We took the tram to Heidelberg on Dec 15 to do a little more Christmas shopping and see the Christmas Market.  The Christmas markets are different in each area.  Well, some things are consistent between them but there are local craftsmen and artisans that have their things to sell.  I like the hand made things the best.  They are a little pricey but hey, things like that take time to make so I would rather buy something made in Germany than made in China.  Next year we plan to be in Germany or another local country for Christmas and go see some other towns Christmas activities.  We thought the rain may keep some of the crowds down but it was crowded anyway.

It was VERY crowded as you can see.

You can see the Castle up on the hill in the background.

Along with things to sell, there are local entertainers.  This guy is a magician, I thought he was pretty good.

We had dinner here.  This restaurant has been here for about 400 years.  The food and service where very good.

We saw this set up from a window while waking down the street.  At least there is ONE company that is doing well enough to put on a very fancy Christmas party.

CHRISTMAS MARKET
I went into town again to the Christmas market.  Steve and I also met the Bishop near there and he showed us a fantastic chocolate shop where the guy makes all of his own chocolate.  Someone might be getting some for christmas.

This isn't the chocolate shop that we bought from today, this is one of the vendors in the Christmas Market.  This is in all the Christmas Markets around here.  It all looks like tools but it is chocolate, at least that is what they tell me.

I was cold so I had a cup of hot Kinderpunch.

SHOPPING
November 15th, 2012 - The Real (like Walmart) store that is a 35 minute walk from here had a grand opening today.  They had a lot of free samples of food and drink and to buy on the way into the store and on almost every isle inside the store someone was giving free samples.  I didn't try the alcohol drinks offered but there were plenty of people there to try them and the store was very crowded.  The samples I tried where all good but I didn't buy any except the fresh bread.  I'm still finding small things that would be nice to have in the apartment and if I know the item won't be coming on the boat with our "stuff" I might buy it.  I try not to buy more than I can lift if I decide to take the bus back home.  Today though I bought TOO much to lift so I walked home with my heavy cart.  Trouble is, when the cart is heavy, it tends to stop abruptly when it hits a rock on the path so I dumped the entire load once today when it jerked out of my hands and crashed.  I got warmed up and had a good workout putting it all back into the cart and pulling it home.  It was cold out, about 36 degrees F so I had to take off my gloves, scarf and coat to cool down after that spill.  You might find some of the photos of the vendors interesting.

This is the hall entrance to the Real store.  Usually it is empty.   Later more stores will be going into the areas on both side of the hall.

Guy on stilts and carrying a shopping basket.

Giving free ice cream cones and being a comedian and magician at the same time.

Free champagne samples. 

Free alcohol samples of many kinds, and of course you can buy them if you want them.

Leergutannahme means "returned empties".   This is where you can take your empty plastic, and glass bottles and put them into here, get a receipt and get cash at the register in the store.

This guy had a LOT of empties to return.

There was live music, sounded pretty good, both American popular songs like Beach Boys as well as German songs.

There where a LOT of guys in line for Tattoos.  Pretty girl doing them,   SOO...      

Sandwich stand outside.

Serving rotisserie beef, I THINK?

My heavy cart, 95 euros (~120 dollars) worth of stuff.

Shopping and Walking
I did a lot of walking today.  I visited our local store but also walked to the Real store (like Target) that is 2.6 K (1.6 miles) walk each way.  Much of the walk is through the park in our back yard.  I'll post some photos of the park in the next entry.  I also walked around both lakes with a couple that lives on the same floor.  I think it is good to try to talk to them, they don't speak English and I'm learning German.
This is the cart I made/use to get the heavy stuff from the store.

Saturday October 27th we found a large shopping mall.  Really big one with about 100 stores.  It was cold outside so maybe that is why is was so crowded.  I should have taken a picture of how many people was in that mall.  A lot of them were eating at the many many restaurants, everyone of them seemed to be full.  We only bought a pair of gloves for Steve.  I think I'll go back on a weekday to see if it is less crowded.

Shopping
Yesterday after the weather cleared I went to the shopping center that is a 5 minute walk from the apartment.  I went there 4 times.  Each time I came back with items for the apartment.  It is really neat to be able to walk to bakery, fresh produce market, drug store, regular market, gelato shop, job search service office, trolley, beauty salon, optometrist, 1 euro store, post office all in the same small shopping center.  I didn't get everything I was looking for but I did find about 80% of it there.  We will go to another shopping area sometime this week.  I couldn't find dishwasher soap, peanut butter, cooking oil or spray and some things we want for the apartment.  Some of it might of been there, I just couldn't find it.