Market Day

Today, nothing exciting is going on. We are just going to take it easy around the house and get some stuff unpacked along with conquering "laundry mountain".

Yesterday was market day, as I mentioned at the end of my last post. OH! how I love market day!! I know I've mentioned the market before and the old town but I'm going to try and paint a picture so you can get a taste of why we love it so much.

You walk down the old cobblestone roads, barely big enough to fit a car going in one direction. The roads are lined with buildings that were constructed before the U.S. was a glimmer in anyone's eye. Some of them are people's houses with flower boxes in the windows and the old wooden shutters and some of them are little shops and cafes. As you come to the end of the road, the cobblestone opens up to a giant square, here they hold their festivals and of course the market. In the center is a large statue of Johannes Kepler himself - one the village's claims to fame and a beautiful fountain. The backdrop, you're surrounded with the old buildings of its time along each side of the square with the village church higher than all overseeing everything.

Booths are set up everywhere with all the local farmers' produce. I challenge you to find a cranky person in the bunch. You're always greeted with a smile and, in my case, lots and lots of patience with my broken German. You have the chicken farmer with his fresh eggs, chicken and noodles (egg noodles ;) ). There are the butchers with every kind of meat and sausages you can imagine - and even some you cant imagine. There's the cheeses and olives in all sorts of varieties. Then of course, you have the vegetables and fruits, everything that's in season: nuts, apples, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, I could go on and on. This stuff isn't brown or bruised or have to be covered in wax to make itself appealing. Everything is just bursting with color and smells and flavor. Yesterday one of the farmers had walnuts, I'm a sucker for walnuts. These, I promise, they were the biggest walnuts I've ever seen!! They are so big that when we got them home I couldn't even open them because my nutcracker couldn't get around. We also got a bunch of grapes (on top of everything else). These grapes are so dark and perfect looking, they look plastic, like the ones you buy in a craft store for a display. If you squeeze one, they stain your fingers purple and they are sooooo good!!! The farmer also kindly gave the boys a few extra white grapes he broke off from another bunch for free. They really enjoyed that! Of course, I think it was the first time they encountered seeds in grapes LOL. Going to the market really is a highlight of our weekend.