The City

Okay, I finally did the tourist thing and took some pictures of the city. As you can see, it was another lovely sunless day.

This is on Salzstrasse, one of the oldest shopping streets in Muenster. It is called Erbdrostenhof, and it was built in the 1750s as a city palace for the deputy archbishop.


This is Prinzipalmarkt, which is an amazing area that goes for about 4 long blocks. Along with Salzstrasse, it is in the Altstadt, or old city.


The Peace of Westfalia was signed in 1648 in one of the buildings on the left, called the Rathaus. It ended the 30 Years War and was the first time a war was ended diplomatically.

Saw these guys while walking...



They look pretty excited. Turns out the Muenster Karneval Prince was was proclaimed today. In New Orleans, I'm pretty sure Mardi Gras goes for 5 or 6 days? Karneval here is the same kind of celebration before Lent, but it started on Thursday and lasts until February. I'll let you make your own assertion there...



The Prince is the one second from the left with the red and white clothes. The man on the very left is the mayor of Muenster. I'm not sure who the woman toward the right is, but I'm pretty sure she is not the Princess.

After that brief diversion, I headed toward my intended destination, the farmers' market.


It is hard to get a good picture of it, but it goes from where I am standing back to the church in the background. That's Muenster's Dom, or cathedral, and this whole place where the market is held is called the Domplatz.

An olive stand...


A butcher....


And one of my favorite things about the farmers' market - Backfisch. Deep fried fish with basically a mayo sauce. Mmmmm.


Oh, and they also have plenty of fruits and veggies, although it's hard to tell from this picture. That's the Dom again in the background.


We're almost done here....just a few pics of a fun area of town with cute bars and restaurants. A lot of students hang out here, and John lives about a block away.




And the Schloss - the huge castle right in the city.


One of two distinctly American sites from today:


Yes, that's a Woolworth. And the second...


It's heads up, so hopefully it will bring me luck. Maybe the sun will even come out again someday soon.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. More to come soon...