Happy belated Thanksgiving to everybody back in the USA! We had a celebratory Friendsgiving this past week, with tons of delicious food. In fact, the food was so delicious that it was all gone before I was able to get a photo. So you’ll have to just take my word for it that it was excellent.

Now that we’re getting closer to Christmas, Cottbus is ready to celebrate. Holiday decorations are going up all around town. Even the mall has a display of Santa’s elves, which look very wholesome and not at all demonic when lit up from their glowing fake furnace.

A winter market appeared in the town altmarkt. There are tons of snacks stalls, mulled wine and winter goods for sale. My favorite part is a group of carnival rides that are clearly re-purposed from Halloween, including this delightful spectacle of Christmas cheer.

There’s also a gigantic Ferris wheel in town. I’m still not sure how they manage to fit it in the altmarkt — it only barely clears the nearest building.

A night view of the festival atmosphere.

Next week, my program is hosting a three-day conference on heritage conservation and conflict. I’ll be working at the conference, so I won’t be updating here until the following week. Until then, bis bald!

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