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December 2006
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I was Walkin’ in Weimar

Headless SantaI have important news for you!

Well, maybe it’s not really important news, but it is news: I took a walk this afternoon downtown and wandered around the Weihnachtsmarkt, and the headless Santa has been removed from the sleigh! Happily, little children will no longer be traumatized by the sight.

That wasn’t the only interesting thing on the walk.

As I was walking through the bus-station area, I noticed two Mormons working the crowd. I wanted to ask them where they were from, but I also didn’t want to disturb their work, so I moved on. Two hours later as I was making my way home, they were still there—having gotten so far with their current target as to be giving them a copy of the Book of Mormon. I was surprised to see them still there, I was still curious, but I didn’t feel like interrupting their sales pitch.

Whilst wandering among the booths looking at things I popped into the local Thalia and headed up to the travel section of the store. I was looking for a map of South Africa (maps are one of those things where the language really does not matter), and because the maps were not alphabetized in any recognizable fashion, I ended up looking at each one of the foreign maps on display. Unable to find one for Südafrika, I found myself fascinated by the maps I could find. I suppose it is reasonable to find detailed maps of Europe’s current hot travel spots: Tallinn, Prague, and (for Germans) Palma de Mallorca. More surprising to me were the maps for Vietnam: either northern and southern. Ultimately the one that stopped me in my tracks was the very large map of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that was available. I wonder what prompted the store to stock this particular map—I cannot imagine there is that much demand for it in Germany; there isn’t even that much demand for this map in the United States east of the Mississippi.

I finally remembered to check out Weimar’s ice skating rink, set up in the plaza out in front of the Anna Amalia Library—with the name (no translation here): “Weimar on Ice.” Unfortunately there was no ice on the rink. I imagine the weather has been too warm for the ice to set. For the die hard types, the “Ice Bar” (their name) was open, serving drinks in the rather warm weather.

To close out, I’ve found a couple of amusing news stories today: The German Rossmann drug stores have had to destroy a lot of Santa Claus that had been for sale. Apparently Nazi Santa is a problem. I wish I had seen the Santas before they were destroyed. Also, China Southern Airlines (a future SkyTeam Airline) is telling passengers to pee on the ground because it takes a lot of fuel to flush the toilet in the sky. I’m not a fan of using airplane toilets because they are awfully unsanitary.

Private to Domoni: I tried to leave a comment on Temple of Me, but I kept ending up on an error page.

2 comments to I was Walkin’ in Weimar

  • Hey there!

    How about them Mormons? They crack me up every time! I let in a couple of Mormons into my home in the Philippines. This was a few years ago. They deliberately market the young men to the Philippines because somehow the words are easier to accept if they’re coming from a cute guy. Converts are mostly young girls.

  • Some of the missionaries are awfully cute. I’ve only seen female mormon missionaries once or twice–usually it is only the men who are sent on missions.

    I have a fantastic gay film that centers on Mormon missionaries in LA–Latter Days. I doubt they would appreciate the film, but it is a very moving and very sweet film.

    Maybe I’ll bump into them again.