Had a great visit with Blythe of The Blythe Spirit… my first expat meeting of the minds. I was actually nervous about what it would be like to sit down with a virtual stranger I’d met on the internet, but it turns out my fears were unjustified. We found lots to talk about (much common ground), had an enjoyable, albeit smoke-filled, (damn germany for not passing the no smoking law!) meal and I wish her well with the rapidly approaching arrival of her baby boy. I was also on my best behavior and think I managed to come off as almost normal… heh.

As for Nürnberg’s christmas market, it was more or less what I was expecting. Crowded, overpriced, kitschy… and good christmas fun. Sydney got a little claustrophobic though. Imagine being small and all you see around you are tall bodies holding cigarettes & mugs of smelly wine. Still, she managed to add to her already impressive collection of tinkerbell paraphernalia and also stocked up on candy canes at the atlanta ’sister city’ booth of the market… all of which made it a resounding success in her eyes.

After several hours of Christmassy fun we ate lunch at a mexican restaurant on the periphery of the market, then we explored Nürnberg’s walled city and castle before heading back to our hotel for the night. Sunday’s traffic was light for our drive home, we even made it in time to stop off at Wal-Mart for some unheard of sunday retail therapy. I’m getting spoiled to sunday shopping… which is going to make it all the more painful when january rolls around and we’re back to normal hours.

On this day..

• I'll sleep when I'm dead. - 2006