Outdoor market at Eppendorfer Baum!

Today I got up, had a (late) breakfast, and then went to the open-air market northwest of the Alster.  Marni told me about it last night.  It goes all morning on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it's underneath the elevated train tracks on the U3 line (that's the line that runs by our house that I always take).  You get off at the Eppendorfer Baum stop and then walk across the street.  The market runs for a couple of blocks, and under the train bridge is a great spot because on sunny days (like today) it's not too hot, and if it rains nobody gets wet.

Our street today!  Notice all the GREEN!!!

I decided to go because I needed some groceries and I hadn't been to any of the open-air markets in Hamburg yet.  Plus it was such a nice day.  The weather's been great this week!  I walked down to the next station to get on U3 rather than getting on at my usual stop, because it was super nice out.  When I got off at Eppendorfer Baum, I was crossing the street and--lo and behold--there was Marni!  She had been out for a bike ride on one of the StadtRad rental bikes (these are kind of like the bike version of Car2Go--you pay by the minute) and was just then getting to the market.  I couldn't believe we both showed up at the exact same time!  Anyway, we had fun walking the length of the market and back.  Marni bought some spices and veggies, and I (deciding I would rather buy produce at Rewe, where it's more affordable) bought some basil gnocchi for 80 cents.  On Marni's recommendation, I also got a laugenbrezel mit kürbiskernen, which is a pretzel sprinkled with cheese and pumpkin seeds.  It was a good size so I ate a little of it today, and saved the rest for a school lunch tomorrow.  The whole vibe of the market was so cool!  I had my camera with me, but I didn't bother to try taking pictures because they couldn't have done it justice.  That's been one of the trickiest things for me, trying to describe life in Europe.  I really can't.  Photos, drawings, and even words only can capture bits and pieces.  You really have to be IN the environment--seeing it move all around you, hearing the trains and the street musicians and the different languages, smelling the smells and tasting the foods.  To me, it's the small things about each place I go, the simple differences in the way people live here versus how they live in the States, that really make it enjoyable.  The market today was just one of those little things.  Yes, we have farmer's markets in the U.S., but they generally don't have currywurst and old-fashioned variegated tulips and they don't usually take place under an elevated train track.

Spent the afternoon trying to get stuff done.  Did laundry (Mom, I finally washed my jacket and it worked!), read my Bible for a bit, and finally succeeded at booking everything for Prague! (Yay!) Also started on letters to my Compassion sponsor kids.

Made potato wedges for dinner, with a hot dog and salad to go along with them.  Super yummy!  After that I went to Indra's room because I wanted to braid her hair.  She has really long and beautiful hair.  We ended up talking for probably two hours (doing hairstyles and shoulder massages on each other while we were at it).  I didn't get any more drawing done, but it was a fun girls' night!

(Okay boys, you can just skip this last part.) Here are our masterpiece hairstyles for the evening:

My style on Indra: "The Mermaid" 

Mermaid hairstyle close-up . . . it was a fish tail braid

Indra's style on me: Medieval (inspired by a "Game of Thrones" hairdo)