Peaceful Sunday...

Today, like all Sundays since I moved to Germany, was very peaceful and family oriented. I love Sundays here. Shops are closed for the most part and there is this "still" in the air, where you can linger all day at a cafe, take your children sledding, go to a museum, or just stay home and feel cozy in your warmest slippers with the candles glowing on your windowsill. Every Sunday feels like a holiday in Germany because of this silence, this pause, before the new week begins. It's common in Hannover for families to walk in the forest together, my husband grew up doing this each Sunday his entire life -- even into his 20s, with his family. They would walk, talk, collect little things to bring home... it was always a special day. And of course, they'd eat a really nice home cooked meal at home together, with tea, candles, and cake. So today we walked...



And then had Marzipankuchen at the Wilhelm Busch museum in their little cafe overlooking a snowy garden. It was so peaceful and lovely there. The museum hosted an intimate gathering of local textile artists and fashion designers selling their wares. I was able to see my friend Anette Stichnoth again.



Today was also a special Sunday because we spent some time with our friends and their cute little boys... and we took them to Designachten (an indie market) which was so, so nice. I bought the tea cup candle holders that you see in the photo below from Snug, who had a booth at the event. Sorry it is blurry but it's getting dark here now you see... so it was hard to get a shot of them. But you can see them okay enough...



I wanted to photograph the many booths at this beautiful event but I really felt like being a guest instead of running around asking if I could take photos for my blog, who I am, here is my business card, blah blah blah. Some days I just don't want to be decor8, I want to just be Holly and attend a fair like everyone else. I'm not one to just take photos without a proper introduction because I think that is rude and makes sellers uncomfortable, and you know I wasn't feeling up to being decor8 today so instead I was simply Holly and had a great time just the same. Though I did manage to snap one photo on my way there because it looked so pretty outside of the where the fair was held...



And I also photographed this great installation of cotton shoe inserts as art, it's the best thing that I've seen in a long time -- I love it! I wish I had taken the time to write down the name of the artist though...



So I was merely a guest, and I had fun seeing so many talented makers doing great things. I met the lovely Eva, who owns a store in Hannover called emil und die grossen schwestern and I met both Sebastian Otto (a great local artist) and Torben Paradiek who runs the Nice/Nice exhibition space in Hannover Linden. I also met the very sweet Faules Maedchen and loved her sweet earrings, hair pins and bags and I also came across the graphic design work of Sabine Gebhardt in Hannover (fell in love with her work titled, "Grrrr") and Small Caps (lovely letterpress) from Berlin. Another great seller was Mittenimwald, they had some great street art paintings with celebs like Kate Moss, Jude Law, James Morrisson, Michael Jackson -- I was hoping they had Morrissey because I would have brought one home in two seconds!

I was looking everywhere for Eluij  -- I wanted a necklace from Julie so badly -- but I didn't see her there. Maybe I missed the booth? The event was crowded both days so perhaps I did...

We ended up walking downtown and around the city for awhile too, which was unexpected but nice, and I saw this cute deer in a window that I had to share with you... I imagined that at night, when everyone is fast asleep, he goes back into his magical forest far from the retail world and has the best vegetable noodle soup with his family as they huddle together dipping triangles of toast in the warm broth...

How was your Sunday? Restful too, I hope.

(photos: holly becker)