Christmas Market

Today was my daughter's third last school day. The Christmas ceremony will be on Saturday. Today, her class visited the Christmas market. They skated in the skating rink. I also met one of her former coaches from the skating club. I took some pictures of the Christmas market.

Lahden Joulukylä is the organizer of the event.

My daughter's class was skating in the rink after which they had to stay in the area for another hour. I used the time to get lunch and some pictures. At twenty past noon we headed home.

A nativity scene.

This gentleman here is Guido Ritschel. He is a chainsaw sculptor from Suhl, Germany, a friendship town of Lahti. He is in the process of making a sculpture.

Here he is posing with an associate of his who accompanied him. They did not speak English so I had to practice speaking German for the first time in eleven years. The previous time before that was when I was taking the Matriculation Exam about over 26 years ago. I have watched German detective series such as Der Alte on television a lot, which helped. Mr. Ritschel is a former civil engineer who took up sculpting which is what he does for a living.

Some of his work. They are only oiled but otherwise the surfaces of the sculptures are not processed in any way. You can go and contact Guido Ritschel on the internet at guidoritschel.de. Mr. Ritschel lives and works in Suhl, Thuringia.

The Christmas tree.

Something to keep you warm

From Santa I learned that he is not actually self-employed but works for Lahden Joulutori instead. Who would've thought.

He sure knows how to strike a pose.

A demonstration of Guido Ritschel's skill. He uses no other tools but the chainsaw.

Ice sculptures

For kids

Cuteness overload

The Mole (Krtek) is a popular animation character by Zdenek Miller from Czech Republic. It was on television in my childhood and my daughter has seen many episodes of it. A friend of mine once told me about an episode where the state cut down the Mole's forest and, tragically, replaced it with a plastic one. Anyone remember that episode?

Joulun tähti johtotähti on. Ehdoton.

There was a big fire nearby you could warm up by standing next to.

Oh yes, I mentioned fish mongers in the previous installment of English Phrasal Verbs. This is their fish. Looked really delicious but a bit too expensive. Settled for a grilled sausage instead.