It's Cold...to a Tennessean.

 Here's Billy standing in Austria with Burghausen in the background.

It's generally 30-40 degrees Farenheit these days. 40 is very warm for here at this time. There is usually plenty of snow on the ground, we have heard.

 We heard a story from a local woman we met last night that in the mid-1980's the river Salzach (seen here) was completely frozen over!

The daylight is very short here, but thankfully, the days are going to start getting longer rapidly from here out. 

Here's a daylight chart (below) for Munich. As you see, there are some remnants of daylight in June up until almost 10PM! That will be nice. The sun coming up at 8 and setting before 4:30 is not enough daylight for me...LOL

Date	Sunrise	Sunset	Length	Change	Dawn	Dusk	Length	Change
Today	08:02	16:23	8:21		07:25	17:00	9:35
+1 day	08:02	16:24	8:22	00:01 longer	07:26	17:00	9:34	00:01 shorter
+1 week	08:04	16:28	8:24	00:03 longer	07:28	17:05	9:37	00:02 longer
+2 weeks	08:04	16:35	8:31	00:10 longer	07:28	17:11	9:43	00:08 longer
+1 month	07:54	16:57	9:03	00:42 longer	07:19	17:31	10:12	00:37 longer
+2 months	07:11	17:44	10:33	02:12 longer	06:39	18:16	11:37	02:02 longer
+3 months	06:12	18:30	12:18	03:57 longer	05:41	19:01	13:20	03:45 longer
+6 months	05:14	21:18	16:04	07:43 longer	04:32	21:59	17:27	07:52 longer

A Pension in Altoetting

 This is an example of a Pension (Pen-see-on)

It's a lot like a "bed and breakfast" where there are rooms available in a person's home.

 This one is run by a nice older woman (Frau Moser), but she has recently turned over most duties to her daughter-in-law

 Everything was fresh and tidy!

 This is the view of the back of the main basillica in town from Frau Moser's window.

This home/pension is on the "inner ring" that circles the city.

I'm not sure about Altoetting, but many inner ring streets in German cities are where the city walls once stood.

This is her tidy little breakfast room decorated for Weihnachtszeit (Christmastime)....breakfast is included and usually consists of sausages, breads, butter, jams, coffee, juice and tea.
Its like being a guest in the home of a friend!

 I went to look at this place for our friends that are visiting in May (Hello Duekers and DeRieuxs!). It is a 2-3 minute walk to the many churches and shrines that are in Altoetting.  There are great restaurants and shopping available and you never have to start your car.

There are also many wonderful bike trails that are fairly flat and go for kilometer after kilometer...after all, Altoetting has been a pilgrimage site for centuries.

This picture and the one above are views from one of the balconies. In the distance, you can see some of the church spires on the other side of the Kapellplatz (the open square in the center of town.)

This is the type of place to stay that would give visitors a REAL local experience of the area.

Advent "In Den Gruben"

There was a small Christmas market in the section where the spring Jazz festival is held.  I bought Billy a pair of hand knitted socks from a very nice local lady.  That is something they do a lot of here...knitting.  There are some beautiful things available, but I really love the socks. After we left the market, we went to a small jazz club and listened to a 3 piece band that was very good

This was the view as we walked up the big hill from the Altstadt on a cobblestone footpath about midnight.  What a sublime end to a wonderful evening

Christmas in the Old Town (Altstadt)

 Burghausen's Altstadt in beautiful at Christmas time

Ice Rink in Burghausen

This is the ice rink that is set up in front of the Burgerhaus in the New Town section of Burghausen now.
It is in the area where the teenagers skateboard during the summer. There is a system to freeze the rink even when the temperatures are above freezing outside.
It is free of charge and everybody, young and old, uses it.

Today there was a group of men playing a sport I had never seen before.
It looked like a cross between curling and shuffleboard.
I think it is a game called Eisstockschießen (Ice Stock)

As you can see, they were having a great time.  The guy waving at me had been trying to point out the best players to me earlier

Christmas Market in the Forest

 We went to a Christmas market that was held in the forest and it was magical.

The market was named after a nearby city and is called Halsbach.

 There were mostly hand made items being sold and everything was candlelit.  The pathways were marked with these glass jars with white candles. Wood was stacked carefully to form walls to line some pathways.

There were potters, glass blowers and sellers of fragrances

There was fish smoking in a lit box and plenty of sausages and hot beverages

We met a lady from Minsk selling handmade Christmas decor.  She tried to play matchmaker with the single ones in our group! ...but first she wanted to know what bloodtypes were involved. Hmmmm.

The Rathaus/City Hall of Burghausen

 The Rathaus is very close to what we call a City Hall. Basic city business is conducted here.  You can even pay parking fines (Don't ask me how I know!)
If you go to the city website, you can see a view from the webcam that is positioned in one of the 3 little windows below the crest (with the red paint.)

www.burghausen.de

Front Entrance

This window is on the inside of the building-beautiful

Everything is painted with a coat of fresh white paint and in spite of its age, the building is immaculate.  The signs are painted (beautifully) right onto the walls