Imagine. Close your eyes now and let your senses take over.
Feel. Crispy cold air. Occasional warmth from the stalls where glowing coals roasting chestnuts crosses your path and provides the much-desired relief.
Hear. Laughter, chatter and merriment fills the wintry air as young children shriek excitedly on merry-go-rounds and choo-choo trains in the playground while adults engage in slightly intoxicated conversation as they indulge on orange-spice-scented gluhwein, clinging onto their warm mugs as they do so.
Smell. Freshly-grilled bratwurst creep into your senses and suddenly you crave for those juicy dogs bathed in creamy mustard and mayo. Sweet scents of crepes filled with Nutella and cinnamon make their presence felt as they leave their hot iron plates and are served steaming hot with light dashes of powdered vanilla sugar.
Taste. Hot potato pancakes--- that once-a-year treat eaten with homemade apple-sauce or garlic-cream. Grilled pork steaks from the swinging BBQs and cutlets soaked in onion
sauce served between crispy bread-rolls, juices a-dripping as you bite into them.
See. Glittering Christmas lights. Brilliant shades of colors from stalls filled with ideas for Christmas. Giant mushrooms. Mini dwarfs, Gingerbread hearts. Hundreds of cookies and chocolates, sugared nuts and pastel-colored mashmellows on sticks. Babies bundled like little pillows in nicely padded prams and dogs in winterwear darting here and there, totally distracted by all those smells and sounds.
Enjoy! You have arrived. Welcome to the Magical Christmas Markets of Germany!
Source: ireport.cnn.com
Double Sun Dogs Create a Dramatic Sunset
Two Sun Dogs, or sundogs, poked through the clouds to make a spectacular view at sunset.
On Sunday afternoon a Sun Dog appeared to the right of the sun and lasted until about an hour before sunset.
As if not to let sky watchers down, another Sun Dog appeared to the left of the sun and waited until the sun was almost down over the horizon to fade into the evening sky.
Dr. Whitaker at Old Dominion University in Norfolk says, "they're a refraction phenomenon of ice crystals and cirrus clouds thousands of feet up in the atmosphere." When ice crystals high in the atmosphere form, they act as prisms and bend the rays from the sun.
They're different colors, depending on how far away from the sun they are. The Sun Dog seen to the right of the sun glowed of oranges and yellows so it was farther away; whereas the sun dog seen to the left of the sun, above, was closer and so appeared more red.
In Virginia Beach, the weather was unseasonably warm and in the seventies during the day. After sunset, temperatures only fell into the 60's, making it the perfect day to be outside sky-watching at sunset.
Source: ireport.cnn.com
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