Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Bourtange and Food

 

I spotted the cannons.

Sullivan saw these being fired. Nobody was firing them today though.

I had a lovely view from one of the cannons.

I enjoyed our visit to Bourtange. The weather was lovely and Bourtange is a wonderful place to visit.

Finally it was time to go back to Groningen.

But before going home we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Sushi Mall.

I got a really tasty soup.

Lots of sushi.

And Edamame.

After we ate Diana drove us home. It was a lovely and fun weekend!

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Farmers Market + Bourtange

 

On Sunday (September 11) we loaded our suitcase in Diana's car to go back home, but first we made a few more trips.

We visited a farmers market near Furstenau. It was part flea market, part fair, part cattle market.

I liked seeing the birds. I think these were quails.

There were fluffy feet chickens.

And turkeys. 

My owner told me she had turkeys once and that the male turkey was very aggressive, so I kept my distance just to be sure.

There were two guys with falcons and other birds of prey.

I once again kept my distance, but it was really cool to see these birds.

These guys were making rope.

We spotted hippos!

They were neck pillows, but a bit too expensive to buy one.

After the farmers market we drove back to the Netherlands, but we weren't going back to Groningen (city) just yet.

We visited Bourtange!

I love Bourtange. It's a small fortified town in Groningen province.

There was an autumn market at Bourtange, and I spotted a cool piggy hat. It wasn't in my size though.

The market was fun.

I also did some sightseeing around the town of course.

It's beautiful here.

Next: more Bourtange and food

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Korn und Hanse Markt and more

 

We saw lots of interesting things at the market and bought a few fun things.

I also spotted a building that had a helmet hanging on a pole!

Another intriguing building.

I really liked this cart.

These guys were wood whittling 

A hat maker!

Her hats were beautiful, but too pricey for us to get one as a present for a friend.

There was a really cool band playing at one of the squares. I think they're called Obscuratis. We listened to their music for quite some time.

After a snack we left and brought our shopping to Diana's house. Next we went to Meppen, where there should also be a market, although not a medievalish one.

The market tunred out to be very small and uninteresting, so we looked around the center of Meppen a bit.

This used to be the town hall, but now it's a restaurant.

Not sure what this building is, but I think it looked very cool!

We decided to get something to eat. I got a pastry thing filled with cherries and ice cream. It was very tasty!

Next we saw these performers.

One guy wore an insect costume and walked around while two others played jazzy music. It was very surreal and cool!

We went back to Diana's house afterwards to relax after a fun day.

Here is most of the day's loot.

In the evening Diana and my owner tried the friendship elixer. It was a lot stronger than the wine I tried, more like port wine than regular wine.

It was another cool day!

Next: another market.

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Korn und Hanse Markt (part 1)

 

On Saturday (September 11) we went back to Haselünne for the actual Grain and Hanse Market.

There were lots of cool things to see, like this Ferris wheel.

There was yummy bread and lots more tasty treats.

There were also games to play and my owner tried two. She won me colorful rock and a small bottle of hazelnut liquor.

There was a traveling museum as well. It showed old fashioned crafts.

Wow! 1000 liter? That is a lot of booze!

It was used to make brandy I think.

An army camp!

They even brought their cannon.

This guy had lots of wine and other booze. He gave them cool names like sleep elixer, friendship elixer, and more. I got to try the walnut honey wine/sleep elixer, and it was super tasty! We bought a bottle to take home.

I'm not sure what this was. There was a machine doing... stuff, and a wooden sea dragon chilling on the fence next to it. 

I spotted an old building.

Looks like it might have been a church, but now it housed an underground parking garage.

There were waterspout gargoyles next to the building.

This one was eating an apple.

Next: more of the market and Meppen.