The annual Christmas Market

is open once again. I took a stroll around it on Sunday. I don't think much is different from the past years. The tree is set up in the middle of the Square. It has hundreds of yards of lights strung around it, the kids' wishes on cards will most likely soon appear and the mayor will make his appearance next Sunday to switch on the lights. You can't tell the bottom branches of the tree have been re-attached by professionals after they were supposedly removed by some jealous neighbors of the owner of the tree. You really can't.

The stage is where it's always been: off tho the side that gets the most sun during these short days. The reindeer are kept in their pen for the curious to see and the merry-go-rounds seem forlorn, waiting for the children. The cabins for merchants are probably the same in number as they were last year and not much has changed in the goods being offered. Visitors could still get the woolen socks and sweaters, the welt hats and vests, the linen totes and runners, the wooden coasters and iron hooks. Or candles, rag dolls, and amber jewelry if they liked those more. Perhaps there are a few less sellers dealing in mulled wine and sauerkraut but none so far tempting passersby with corn dogs or bubble tea.

Are you a vegetarian vegetarian?

was what the waitress asked Mike after he had put in his order. You see, he wanted to get a veggie burger in an American inspired local restaurant belonging to a small chain. And she thought she recognized a real vegetarian so she just had to make sure not to get him the usual side dish of beans with bacon bits. Instead, she came up with a salad of fresh greens. Kuddos to her for understanding a vegetarian diet. Oftentimes it seems that servers in restaurants do not fathom that dishes like cauliflower soup or sauerkraut or potato-barley mash aren't necessarily vegetarian.