Rain and cold and another quiet weekend. Played catch-up with pictures and blog posts. We did get out for a quick bike ride over the hill and through the woods, a quick 20k just to be out.
View from Dentenbergstrasse, 15 minutes from our apartment
Looking over Gumligen, Autodesk building right of center
Monday Nov. 26 was a special holiday for most Bernese. Schools are closed, trams on changed schedules, some workers take off though most companies don’t close. Certainly Autodesk didn’t. So to partake in the celebrations, everyone heads downtown before work, some as early as 5 am. We set the alarm incorrectly and got there late, about 6:45, to meet our friends who had arrived at 6 and were already a couple of Gluhweins ahead of us.
Oh, haven’t I mentioned yet what we were celebrating? ONIONS! And everywhere you looked booths were selling onions, mostly in braided strings, often red and white, sometimes with garlic, or decorated with sprigs of dried flowers.
Onion Braids at the Zibelemärit
A few traditions go along with the Onion Market. Every kid has a bag of confetti,tossing it by the handful on any and everyone, and a plastic hammer that pings when they hit you with it. Then there’s Gluhwein (”Glow wine”, warm spiced wine), cheese and onion pies, garlic bread and colored necklaces of tiny cellophane-wrapped onions. Plus the crafts and knickknacks you see at any fair.
The crowds were amazing, though it was pre-dawn. You couldn’t see what people were selling because there were so many people jammed into the street.
Crowds stroll between booths in Bundesplatz in front of the Federal Building
We were shoulder to shoulder inching our way along. But as predicted by our local friends, crowds started thinning after 7am, although the fair continues all day. So the Autodeskers left for work and I dawdled about, finally able to make my way along the streets and check out the offerings.
Our friend Simon (in red) enjoying the Onion Market.
My purchases were few, a couple items for Christmas gifts, but since I was thoroughly looped on 2 pre-breakfast glasses of Gluhwien, everything seemed rosy and intriguing.