Winter settling in..

Some snow, nothing more than a dusting on the rooftops that barely lasted a few hours.

… this seems to be a pattern developing. A brief flurry of snow that lasts for a few hours, maybe a day or two in the shadows before melting away, always hovering at just a little too warm to stay. I guess I don’t mind so long as it doesn’t start glazing over, but I have a feeling that may start happening. Give a good sub-zero (you know, -10°C or -15°C) so that the moisture dries out and does turn things into a giant ice-rink. Otherwise, I’ll be investing in crampons…

The Weihnachtsmarkt has disappeared and the weekend tourists are back, coming in on Friday afternoon — or maybe it’s just the last weekend before everyone heads back to work. Hard to tell, but the streets were pretty full yesterday afternoon (despite the crappy weather) and again today.

… and it has been a gray afternoon. A little filtering made the Nikolaikirche positively menacing:

 

 

Of course, this kind of light really saturates the colors that are out there — this one jumped out:

 

Meanwhile, over on Grimmaischestraße, things were definitely “business as usual.” Not terribly crowded compared to what it was like before Christmas, which isn’t surprising. A few brave buskers and street artists out, lots of shoppers and walkers. Oh, and there’s STILL glühwein to be had…

 

 

The phone is, of course, the common denominator here:

 

 

As I said, there’s still glühwein to be had… the tables are still set up and there’s still a few folks hanging out enjoying a cup or three.

 

The brave street artist, hustling away —

 

And now that Karstadt has closed, this is it:

 

People, with phones at the ready, immortalizing their visit as best they could:

 

… and the lights are still up, pretty much everywhere. Wondering when they’ll finally come down…

But the wheels still keep a-turnin’, things to do, places to see —