An Unexpected re-entry into Europe

Two months away from Maggie.  Naively expecting to just jump in and drive her away to the south to get away from the wintery north.  Ah yes, it was not to be.  Maggie was reluctant to begin her journey and had to be towed.  After an eventful couple of weeks we towed her to a place she could be worked on.  Where is a good place for her to be worked on?  A reasonable truck would be taken to a mechanic’s garage.  But not Maggie.  The unorthodox journey of Maggie means being towed to a ‘Tooth Palace’.  We walk into the ‘Tooth Palace’ only a few weeks before Christmas.  We are greeted by Santa precariously dangling from a rope in the middle of the staircase.  Further exploration reveals lots of Elephants of various sizes lining the hall.  Elephants are the theme for this ‘Tooth Palace’.  There are even other bizarre features like animals that once had a very different life, antiques, artwork and teeth.  The owner of the house is a collector.  I can’t help thinking of the stories C.S.Lewis would have come up with here.  Our friend, Peter, lives in the top room while the remainder of the house is used to make teeth.  Mechanic friends are already planning on what needs to be done for Maggie.  It is actually only minor repairs but lots of little minor repairs.  The Mechanics and Andrew now have some trust issues to sort out with Maggie so a thorough examination is recommended.  Looks like Maggie will spend Christmas at the ‘Tooth Palace”.  We are treated to a few Winter Markets in Bielelfeld.  Yes that is an Ox roasting.  Oh my, the taste.  Even the memory of that little Ox sandwich makes me salivate.  No they are NOT drinking Gluhwein, even though Hannah is legal drinking age in Germany.  Well, maybe just a sip.  All in all, A good lead up to Christmas.  After all, we are in Europe, it is cold, we are surrounded by good friends, family, Winter markets, new tastes, gluhwein, ox sandwiches.  Sure, Maggie is having a bit of downtime.  Sometimes it takes something like that to get us to slow down and enjoy and unexpected treasure…or two.  Hope your Christmas season has been as good, or better than ours.