Celle Christmas Market

Poor Jess had her leg in a plastic support and a pair of crutches, but she and Tim managed to take me to the Christmas market in Celle.

It was very pretty. Not too large, so were were able to get about ok, without too much difficulty, but it was still certainly busy. What a lovely town. I'm already looking forward to going there again. It reminded me a bit of Chester, with the old buildings, but it was definitely European, even if it is a similar age.

The market was lovely. Very pretty Christmas stalls and lots of things to look at and admire. Some were terribly over-priced, but others were quite acceptable. We had bratwurst and gluehwein at one of the stalls, and were good enough to take our glasses back. The 1 euro deposit wasn't much, but the glasses weren't special enough to forgo the fee!

(I managed to stand on Jess's poorly foot. Oh, she did cry out. One of the stall-holders saw my horrified face as it happened - I'm not sure if he felt worse for me or her!!)

As well as walking around the market, we had a little look at the town. Tim had parked in a good spot, so Jess didn't have to limp too far.

Bergen-Belsen

Not a nice place to visit.


Jess hadn't been yet, so I took her. It is very near her house (we could even have walked, had the weather been better). This is not a place for everyone to visit, but I genuinely recommend it. I visited Buchenwald as a teenager and it left a profound effect on me. The things that people are capable of doing to others is astonishing.




We walked around the grounds in the drizzle. Although she know of their existence, I don't think she fully understood the nature of the concentration camps. Who possibly can - apart from those that witnessed first hand? I explained everything to her, as best as I could. There were several guided tours taking place. Most of the visitors were students. A sad thing to learn about your homeland.

At first, we didn't know where the museum was, and actually only found it by accident. It is a huge plain grey building. So austere, that I thought it was a private block of some sort. Even the doors looked forbidding. Thankfully, I understood the writing, and realised that the cafe was inside, along with everything else. We went in, and spent quite a long time inside. I don't know how many tears I shed that day, as I do again now, writing this.

Afterwards, we went to the railway platform where the prisoners were dropped off. There was a quote there; "And now the end begins".

German Geo-caching

Jess and i went for a walk around her side of the town and did a bunch of geocaches. Most of them she had done before, but a couple of them had eluded her.

It is very flat around there, and there was a tarmacked lane that we could walk along, so it was perfect (until the farmer dug up the cow-poo!). This is evidently a regular walking area, as there were several benches on the way around.




Needless to say, we found all of the ones we were looking for. I also handed Jess my Help4Heros coin, which has now travelled some 3,000 miles. She will set it on its way again shortly, in the hope that it finds it's way back to Spain. We will see.

Bergen, Germany

Had a lovely trip to Bergen in December, to see Tim and Jess.

We were lucky to see a lovely layer of snow, without there being enough to cause any disruption. We went swimming on the Friday, which meant wet bottoms to our jeans, but that was the worst of the problems!

The pool in the town was lovely. A 25m pool, with separate diving pool and an annexed paddling pool. This was particularly lovely, as it was glazed on 3 sides, so we could sit in the warm and watch the snow fall. At one point, an inflatable was installed, and, in order to accommodate it, they raised the floor of the pool to just 90cms or so. Very clever.

I refused to jump off the tall diving platform, but I was brave enough to dive off the spring-board! Not the most elegant of dives, but fun non-the-less!



Their flat is lovely. Although it is very close to the railway lines, the trains only run a few times a day, to the goods yard. Central heating and double glazing meant I slept wonderfully well! Next time I need a relaxing break, I know where to go!

Merry Christmas

Very best wishes to all.

We had a lovely Christmas at home.

A bimble up to the pub at lunchtime ended up as a very pleasant few hours. Thankfully for Maiti (the new landlady) there were plenty of people booked for Christmas dinner. The restaurant looked lovely. She had also laid on a disco and karaoke session, so I'm sure everyone had a good time.

We returned to a perfectly cooked turkey - one of the best I've ever had. Needless to say, we were too full to even think about the pudding! Perhaps we'll have that for New Year's Day!

Comedy Parade

Dragged ourselves out again at midnight, ready for the Comedy Parade.

Sad to say - what a poor show this year. The parade was much smaller than in previous years and the floats were not much more than tractors or small trucks with bits of card on them.

This is not meant as a criticism. There is no money around now, to spend on decorating a truck or trailer. The little money that can be spared, is used for the costumes, to show a team effort. And an effort there still is. There were fewer political floats this year and quite a lot of plain funny ones. Everyone still made it a fun occasion. The bands were as noisy as ever - no chance of sleep for anyone this week. On top of that, it still took 1 1/2 hours for them to pass by.

I had no idea what some of the other things represented. Two of the troupes had lots of rabbit that lay on the ground randomly. No idea why. There was also a lot of references to the police, but something else has evidently passed me by.

The most effective one, had a working BBQ on it, and they were actually cooking as they went. The smell was wonderful! The funniest thing I saw, was a man dressed up in full safety gear, with harness etc - the thing was, his safety line was attached to a supermarket trolley (being pushed by someone else) full of drinks for the troupe!

The final float was very clever. They had made a giant book (copies available to purchase from the Town Hall) depicting the l'Olleria Festes and each of the troupe were dressed as either a page in the book, or one of the events. Needless to say, the festival queen was a man in drag!

Once they had all passed by, we bimbled up to the park, where the band had already started. I felt sorry for them. Most of the youngsters would be drinking in their filas, rather than watching the band. Still - they get paid to play until 5 am, so they do.

I think we need a sleep this afternoon - so might well miss the horse display. Never mind.

Fiesta Time

And it's that time again... l'Olleria en Festes

Friday 23rd was the first night of celebrations, with the crowning of the Queen, along with the proclamation of the festeras and members of the courts.

Saturday 24th - Comedy Parade
Sunday 25th - Horsemanship Display, then the Bulls
Monday & Tuesday - Bulls
Wednesday - Bulls and Brotherhood (Fila) Parade
Thursday - Paella Night and Fila Parade
Friday - Offering of Flowers
Saturday 31st - Moors & Christians Parade
Sunday - Children's Parade
Monday - 2 Battles
Tuesday - Parade and Children's Show
Wednesday - All back to normal!


We strolled into town to watch the festival queens walk up the town in their finery. There was a lot of organised chaos around the main square, then, they were paraded through the town to the park. It was lovely. They were led by some of the filas, then there were the little girls and then the 18 year olds.

As they all walked up the main street to the park, their families and friends followed. We spotted all sorts of people that we knew. The parents of Anna chatted to us, and then we saw Rafa and his beautiful daughter (9 months old already). His sister Lorena and wife (another Anna) were there too. It was lovely to chat to them all.

We stopped for a drink before wandering up to the park and once were were there, we spotted Paco and Victoria. It was an excellent social night.

Once again, we will have our paella with Paco's family, which will be lovely. (He makes such a good paella, he's won the competition in the past.)