Sushi!

Last night was Sushi night.  As you can see from the picture we tried a nice sample of sushi bites and enjoyed them so much that Nico bought a sushi recipe book!

So that's one more ticked of the list of thirty and one more recipe to add to the repertoire!

Christmas

Christmas was more hectic than ever this year.  Well, December in general was really with the Christmas markets, visits from friends and family, the end of term and finally the long journey home but it was worth it!

We spent two weeks catching up with friends and family as well as trying to get around as many sights in England as possible - to show Nico the country's best side on his first visit there.  The first view was of course the white cliffs of Dover as we arrived on the ferry on the Wednesday afternoon following a stay over is Brussels, Belgium. 

Christmas was spent with family - seeing my beautiful niece on Christmas Eve, and all the family on Christmas and Boxing Day.  The following week we visited Whitby with Gran and the Lakes.

Following New Years at Hayley and Simon's we went to York with them.  Now we are back in Bremen following an even longer journey back.  We were lucky enough that the snow stopped on both sides of the Channel long enough for us to get back safely and started again as soon as we arrived back in Bremen.  Well, it started again in England.  Here there is still snow on the ground from before we left but it is holding up so far at 11 degrees! 

Winter in Bremen

Well Winter has well and truly arrived over the last couple of weeks with the start of the snow.  It hasn't been as bad here as I hear it has at home so no snow days but it has made the city very christmassy!

In the Market Square in Bremen

Icicles on the car!

The frozen Weser

Rachel's Visit

Rachel's visit last week coincided nicely with the start of the Christmas Market here in Bremen.  I had been to the Christmas Market here when I lived in Oldenburg four years ago but barely made it out of the section that surrounds the main station - I really missed out.

Rachel arrived on Thursday evening (very early so that nobody was there no meet her - thanks Ryanair!) and we went to a little restaurant near the flat before having an early-ish night.  Then after work on Friday we headed to the market and also met up with Linda. 

Here we are with the special Christmas Musicians

 

 

 

And here's Rachel with the regular ones

We had lunch in the market - after discovering a range of vegetarian options that I never knew existed, we settled on a delicious fried cheese selection!  Nice and warming and filling before we started on the Gluehwein.  Before we got to that however, there was another essential stop for any visiting vets - especially those who work on a farm:

After this we met up with Linda and enjoyed a couple of Gluehweins.  We headed down to the Schlachte where the best part of Bremen's Christmas Market is.  There's even a medieval section with all kinds of things including magic wines (that help with memory and eyesight for example!) soaps, incense (to cover up ancient drug smells probably, Mum) and spices.

We also had a Gluehwein down here where the Pfand cup (where you pay a bit extra for your drink and get the extra back if you take the cup back or have a nice little souvenir if you don't) was the cutest little boot ever so Rachel kept hers.  I will be going back for mine later and post a picture then.

Rachel made a friend

Freimarkt

The end of October also saw the celebration of a local festival called Freimarkt which is basically a huge fair with rides, food and drink.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't as pleasant as the fairground when we decided to visit but it was still a good night and well worth a visit.

Aachen

Shortly after the October holidays, on Halloween weekend, I headed to Aachen to stay with Amira - my Erasmus friend from Barcelona.  I had been to Aachen before to carry out work experience when I was seventeen but the memories were hazy and we had a great weekend rediscovering the city.

The Holidays

Sorry about the lack of updates...again.  I will try to do better.  October was a hectic month for me though.  I was home for two weeks during the school holidays, although actually away again, this time in Venice, Italy with Dad and Bri for a few days within those two weeks.  Then it was back into the swing of things here.

So the holidays started off with a big surprise for my Gran who had no idea that I was coming home and got (hopefully a nice) shock in the M&S cafe when I walked up to her while talking to her on the phone, pretending to be in Germany.  We got to spend some quality time together while I was back which was nice too. 

After quite a lot of catching up including meeting the beautiful baby Olivia for the first time and seeing how much my beautiful baby niece Caitlin had grown while I was away, we headed to Venice for a bit of exploring.  Here are some pictures.