Fulda

Hello!  How are you?  Hope you had a lovely weekend.  It has been raining and gloomy for the last 4 days here in Germany, but today my prayers were answered and the sun came out. I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me and I am soaking it all in because we are supposed to have more rain and possibly snow for the next 10 days. After dropping Ivy off at school, I just stood there with my face towards the sun and soaked it in for a good 5 minutes.  I wish I had time to go for a walk, but Mondays are the day I go grocery shopping. We were completely all out of food and if I don't go in the morning that means I have to take the girls with me which to be honest I would rather have a root canal.  So off I went to the store, but I am planning to find some time this afternoon to soak up some up those glorious rays of light. I am honestly not sure how I am going to get through winter here as I am used to living where there is a fair amount of sun all year round.  I could feel myself getting depressed yesterday. One day at a time will have to be my motto for the next couple of months.  Anyway, with another rainy day on the agenda I decided to take the girls to Fulda where they have a children's academy a mix between science museum and art museum.  Sadly, I read the website wrong and it was closed when we got there.  Ugh! Silly me as Fulda is a good hour from our house.  Oh well, no use of crying over spilled milk right!  We made the best of it by touring the Stadtschloss, Schloss gardens, and then headed over to the Abby before we went in search of lunch. If I am to be honest the schloss isn't worth the money to go inside.  Thankfully, it was only 8 euros for the all of us, so I consider it a donation. The schloss today is mainly used for weddings and concerts.  There was a small exhibit of carnival costumes and memorabilia, but you will not find rooms of filled with lavish decorations.  I am going to back track a little for a second, so bare with me.  When we were parking our car we saw all these people decorated in all these fun costumes. Wasn't sure what it was all about, but as we were walking into the schloss I asked a man what was going on and he explained that it was the beginning of Carnival. This left me a little confused as Saturday was actually St. Martinstag another holiday that celebrated a Roman soldier who converted to being a Christian and later a monk upon seeing a beggar with no coat he tore his cloak in half.  We looked for those costumes hoping there would be a parade or something, but it turns out we had missed it.  I asked a friend when we got home about what we had seen and she explained that on November 11th at 11:11 the council of the 11 storms the city Rathaus and take away the keys to the city until the end of Carnival in February also known as Fasching.  There is a whole program that goes along with the season, and if you are interested you can check it out by clicking on this link.  Germany officially started celebrating Carnival in 1823 and it is a mixture of religious and pagan traditions.  Much of the program won't begin until after Christmas, but it is fun to see all the different celebrations here in Germany.  After visiting the Abby, we grabbed some cake and pretzels at the bakery then walked up to the city center to find the butcher where we got some salami to make ourselves some sandwiches. Then we headed home at it was starting to get dark and it was super cold outside.  We will go back in the spring.  I really want the children to play at the children's academy.  Have a great week!