A memorable day

Today was memorable for a number of reasons.

Primarily the amount of injury I have sustained to my poor body through ice related incidents.

# of stackings in one day - 3
# on bike - 2
# on foot - 1
# where a Christmas tree went down with me - 1

Also because I had to deal with DHL Express - a courier delivery company through Deutsch Post, and I had a run-in with international import tax for the first time.

My parcel's value: $1000AUD
Amount of import tax I was (I believe incorrectly) charged: $400AUD

It was complicated enough because the abovementioned tax had to be paid in cash only. It didn't say so on the form I received, but the delivery guy insisted for some odd reason. Which meant he had to come back a second time so that I had had a chance to go get cash. Weird.

I am trying not to get too stressed about losing $400AUD but it is on my mind and I'm a bit nervous about trying to argue my case in German with customs people. But it is worth a try... more than a try actually, it's worth written correspondance too if talking comes to nothing.

So after all that I decided I needed a nice Christmas tree and went down to the local markets to buy a proper pine tree. I then decorated it with lights, some really cheap gold ribbon and a couple of glass balls and lit some candles. It's a little skew, but here is the result of my handiwork:

This tree did not come without a small drama :-) I attached it to the back of my bike with the length of my seat lock, which I frankly thought was genius, at the time. At first I just walked my bike, and then I tilted it from side to side to check how firmly in place my tree was. No problems with tilting my bike so I thought I'd give riding it a go. I climbed on tentatively and started riding - no issues whatsoever. I started to laugh at the bizarre ingenuity and feeling the wind through my hair, feeling clever and empowered I rode that bike like never before. Until I hit a patch of ice on a wide turn and stacked it quite badly in front of the Multi-Kulti corner store with all the men outside having a smoke.

It was all over after that. The tree wouldn't stay on the bike, so I hobbled and slipped the rest of the way home my tail between my legs and, with some difficulty keeping the tree together.

Next stop was the Turkish markets for some Christmas goodies. Immediately after buying a new hat I slipped for the second time. It was one of those comic slips where your legs go out in front of you and I thudded right on my back. I am quite lucky I didn't do any damage. Again, a crowd of Turkish men around for all to witness.

At the markets I bought lots of fruit and veg, hommus, traditional German sausages, different types of cheese... I also came across a special type of chocolate which I would like to bring to the attention of my immediate family:

 

 

Caught up with a pal from uni who is travelling in Berlin and we went to the Christmas markets. This cute little Gluhwein cup has made it into my cupboard:

Also finally got a chance to try the chocolate coated strawberries so now I think I've tried everything I need to savour from the Christmas markets, except maybe the Swedish cheesy potato dish, whatever it is. Can't quite remember.

And to cap off the day, here's a really nice snowy sunset from my bedroom window, which I really love looking out (did I mention that?)