Sunday, November 26, 2023

Covid Chronicles. Chapter 88: No Weihnachtsmarkt


Read chapter 87 here
Photo by Retiring Guy

Tuesday, November 24, 2020            


The above photo was taken December 21, 2019, at the Munsterplatz in Ulm, on the next-to-last day of Weihnachtsmarkt, one of hundreds of month-long Christmas markets that take place annually in Germany and other European cities. Until Covid came along. Yesterday Eddie sent a photo of the Munsterplatz on what would have been the first day of the 2020 edition of Ulm’s Weihnachtsmarkt. No vendor stalls. No lights illuminating the plaza. No throngs of people. Just a wide-open, mostly empty space. Such a heartbreaking sight. 



Until she moved into her own apartment, Madi lived in the apartment building just beyond the flagpole in the left-center distance of the photo. The 4-story white, modernistic building to the right houses a restaurant on the first and second floor. We made a number of visits here during our 6-day stay in Ulm, as it was a convenient location for JoAnna, Andy and me to meet with Madi and Eddie each morning. We have so many special memories from this trip. Now it seems like a dream looking back on it. Did it really happen? Will there soon be a time when we can once again immerse ourselves in this type of festivity? 

Christmas 2020 is going to seem dull by comparison.

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