The Historic Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA

What is it about cemeteries?!

Here's the short version, as shone on Facebook shortly after we were there.

And now, the longer version....

Where was I all those 25 years when I lived in Atlanta?

The thing is, it's been there since 1850...the Oakland Cemetery.

And if you look carefully, you can see the  Atlanta skyline in the background.

Daughter Amy was the one who thought up this day trip for our free Saturday, 17 October.

 And the five us went together:  Amy, Dennis, Astrid, Nicholas and moi.

You could safely say we were all gobsmacked...

...even down to the tiniest details, inside and out.

Do you think "they" minded us peering into their final resting places?

Because famous Atlanta people are interred there, we were on a mission, with a map, to find them:

Margaret Mitchell Marsh (author of Gone With the Wind)

Bobby Jones, Jr (the "greatest amateur golfer ever," from the 1920s)

Maynard Jackson, Jr. (the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, serving 3 terms)

Some areas of the cemetery were dedicated to particular groups of people:

The African-American Grounds

The Old Jewish Burial Grounds

The Confederate Memorial Grounds

It wasn't hard to tell which were which.

But it was the individual gravestones that struck all of us, I think.

Like this one, for instance, of such a wee child.

And this one from someone's ingenious imagination.

Tombstones everywhere, in remembrance of loved ones.

Stairways to heaven, perhaps?

With plenty to remind us of ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

At some point in the middle, we walked across the street to the Six Feet Under Pub & Fish House,

across from the cemetery and overlooking it.  Who comes up with such a name for a restaurant!

You wouldn't have to ask me twice to go back to both places again one day/year.

Both were totally worth the time and effort.

Thank you, Amy, Dennis and Nicholas!

Happy New Year

On this very last day of 2012...let's say Good-Bye to this past year and Hello to 2013.

Lucky for us, we had a dusting of snow 3 weekends ago while we were out in the polder, driving to our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant.  All the images today are from that trip (no snow since!):

All the guys were out fishing or just being lazy.

That's what the sun does to you on a brisk, cold day!

The canal at the restaurant by the parking lot had a thin layer of ice.

I am a huge fan of the Dutch pollared willows.

And that day was perfect for snowflakes in the restaurant windows!

The drive home after we ate was bright and sunny.  Soulful and therapeutic.

Did I mention I love the Dutch polder!  So do the ducks and swans.

As the sun sets on 2012 and now rises on 2013,

may we all feel the warmth and wisdom of the Universe.
Happy New Year!

(stock photo image)

The Köln Christmas Markets

As we all know, timing is everything!  So, this day before Christmas, here's the Frohe Weihnachten from the Köln, Germany, Christmas markets.  Well, 3 of their 6, that is:

Frohe Weihnachten = Merry Christmas in German.

But first, as we entered Germany from the Netherlands, we made a pit stop at this German windmill:

Surely by now you can tell the difference between a German and a Dutch windmill?

This Geismühle is 700 years old and is one of the oldest preserved windmills from the Lower Rhine region.

As we drove into Köln and parked at our hotel, then took the metro to city center, we started getting impressions:

As so often happens, everything centers around the big church and city hall.

But more on that later....

Snapshots.  Impressions.  Things to put on the back burner....

 ...while looking for a place to eat lunch!

We wanted German bratwurst and sauerkraut, the real thing.

We asked and were directed to the Früh restaurant.

More German you cannot get.

And with our tummies full...we started out for our first of 3 Christmas markets:  The Cathedral Market.

The Dom is Cologne's Cathedral, the backdrop for this first Christmas market.

Did I mention that Köln was the first city to start the Christmas market in Germany?

That's why we wanted to go there this year, to see what all the fuss is about!

And because we were there, we decided to visit inside the cathedral before moving on.

Before going in, these merry gentlemen made us believe in our youth again.

Construction began in 1248 and was completed in 1880.

As cathedrals go, it may be the darkest we've ever seen on the inside,

though you can't totally tell by these inages.

It's a magnificent structure and is visited by many...like a museum.

The operative words...like a museum.  We had no interest in lingering.  In fact, if anything, it was so dark, we needed to leave, and we did.  It's not something we always feel inside Roman Catholic churches, but this time we did.  (If I remember, I'll remind you of that when I show you the church we visited the next day in Nijmegen, NL.  But that's another day, another time.)

Once outside, we refreshed ourselves with hot chestnuts...and some German eggnog!

Time for Christmas market #2:  The Altstadt (Old City) Market.  You actually just walk from one to the other, separated by 2 or 3 or 4 blocks:

At first I was thinking...once you've seen one you've seen them all.  NO!

Each market has it own flavor and art and and theme and shops.

And of course, it was mid-afternoon by now.  It all started looking magical.

By the way, that's the old city hall in the bottom-right image.

Yes, they even had ice skating there!

We especially loved how all the merchants were in costume!

From there, we went to our 3rd market of the day:  The Angel Market:

Don't you just love having separate themes!

Interestingly, this was the one market where all the workers seemd like angels to me.

Seriously.  They looked at me and smiled.

Can you imagine working for 4 weeks at a Christmas market day in and day out 

with millions of visitors from around the world in your face?

You'd have to be an angel, I do believe!

It was a great way to end our day.  It felt like it was late evening but it was only 5:30p.  But we were tired and didn't need to see anything else.  Our appetite was fully whetted.  In fact, we decided we didn't need to return the next day.  Instead, we drove home via Nijmegen, NL.  But as I said, that's another day, another dollar story.

For now, it's time to say Merry Christmas to one and all!  Next week I'll say Happy New Year!

(from Web Images)