Visiting Philine, Again, in Münster, Germany

 

Now that we're all getting older (!), we've decided twice in one year is NOT too often!  When we last visited our photoblog friend, Philine, after Easter in April, it was because she had just moved into a senior-living community, following her last apartment renovation and knee replacement.  We wanted to see how she was doing.

And besides, yesterday was America's Thanksgiving holiday and, because I miss that American holiday more than any other, Astrid and I decided to take a 2-night mini-vacation just for ourselves, with the chance to see Philine AND a Xmas market all in one "swell foop."

So, we left mid-morning this past Monday, arriving at our favorite Fletcher hotel, in Lochem, in time for lunch:

It's only 1.5 hours from home and is in the woods.

On a rainy kind of day, we decided NOT to go traipsing about but to stay cozy inside.

It's one of those hotels that has all kinds of nooks and crannies,

and almost no one was there that afternoon.  We had it all to ourselves.

After settling into our room at 3, we later came back down for some 5 Crowns,

accompanied by nachos and beer.  Just what the doctor ordered.

The next morning we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast, not needing to leave until 11:30 for our meetup with Philine in Münster, Germany, at 2 pm:

Whenever Astrid finds a hotel for us, we make sure it has a good breakfast.

It's one of our guilty pleasures when we vacation!

Münster, Germany, is 1.5 hours from the Lochem, NL, hotel, but we gave ourselves plenty of time by leaving at 11:30, knowing we could wait for Philine in their lovely lobby.  She arrived promptly at 2 pm, all bundled up with her rollator, ready to tackle the nearby Xmas markets.

And, yes, she treated us to glühwein with waffles and we treated her to roasted chestnuts.

To be honest, it didn't even matter to us that it wasn't yet dark, especially because

the crowds were still small enough to navigate easily over the cobblestones.

We even got to see plenty of Xmas eye-candy!

We had only TWO hours with Philine at the Xmas markets (we visited 3 or 4 of the 6),

but it was more than enough to get our fill.

We said good-bye to Philine in her lobby at 4 pm, and arrived back at our hotel just before 6 pm, ready for a quiet evening, sorting through our photos and playing another game of 5 Crowns:

Don't worry if you don't know the game.

But Astrid won all 3 of the games we played this trip,

with NO POINTS on that last game after Münster!

That's unheard of (tho' Ruth's husband did it once)!

Anyway, it was another leisurely breakfast on Wednesday morning before driving back home by noon and was just what the doctor ordered!  If I can't have Thanksgiving, I can at least have a Xmas market!  And because it really did uplift my spirit, we may decide to do it every year with Philine, if possible.

And now it's time to trim the Xmas tree and decorate the house for the season.....