Monday, April 13, 2009

A Sunday in Stade

Before meeting my parents in law for lunch, J and I took a walk through Stade, the beautiful small town. This time, I took pics of some details on the old houses which also prove their age. The weather was just right for taking pictures. As we walked from 11 to 12 am, we saw mostly empty streets (car traffic is not allowed in the old parts of town anyway). There is a popular habit in Germany (and elsewhere?) to light a big fire in the night before Easter Sunday, and many people drink a lot and have to sleep into Sunday morning.

Not what pleases pious Christians! -- At noon, we saw M and K (parents in law) and had a wonderful meal.


Later, we visited neighbours. Their son Dr J is my husband's closest friend. He has two sisters, and he had brought his kids, so there was quite a party in the garden. Dr J is shareholder of a prospecting engineering company which takes him all over the world. We get mails from Brazil, Vietnam and Nigeria. And he is the most warmhearted, down-to-earth friend and family man.



Left: Amazing tile work on an old house. Right: Arsenal from Swedish time (1648-1712)

3 comments:

Rayna said...

Sounds like you couldn't have had a better day: the town is beautiful and more important, you spent it with family and friends that are warm and beloved to you.

I love those old buildings and I hate the fact that in the U.S., anything more than 5 minutes old gets torn down and replaced with ugly, sexless, faceless, poorly constructed boxes. There is absolutely no reverence for age or interesting architecture. Travesties abound!
Happy Spring, happy Easter, and thanks for sharing these pictures.
R.

Judy said...

Beautiful old buildings! The brickwork on the last home could almost be a sampler of needlework patterns.
Looks like you had a wonderful day.

xo

ArtSparker said...

Thanks for the glimpse into your life. Reminds me of how long it's been since I was in the neighborhood (I lived in Switzerland for a year after graduating from College). Some day!