Happy Valentine's Day!

Some of you are probably fed up of hearing about Valentine's Day, in previous years, I was also fed up on February 14th but believe me - it makes it all the better when you do find someone special to share it with. 

We went on our first date... Yep, after nearly five months, we realised that we hadn't actually been on a date where we met each other at the venue, so on Monday, we both made a special effort to go to our own flats in the afternoon to get ready and then meet at the restaurant where we first met in September for a nice meal.  I was surprised at how nervous I was and how special it made the whole evening, but it was really nice.  I've seen many people complaining at this time of year about why should one night be special - if you love someone, you should show it all the time, well of course, and we do that too.  Some friends were having special meals cooked by other halves or just spending time together watching a film...well, I'm pleased to say we still do that every day - long may it continue.

The Flat

This post is long overdue since a promised a few photos of the flat back in September but here it is at long last.  Hopefully a little bit of encouragement for some of you to get those flights booked and get over here.

My kitchen with its very own guard dog.

The bedroom

Office

Sofa bed for guests!

Living Room

I would have posted more piccies but I still haven't got to grips with landscape / portrait photo options on my laptop so possibly more to follow.

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.