has been sealed.
The little gold rabbit I wrote about at Easter isn't distinctive enough for an EU trademark, according to an article on BBC today.
I've seen the "other" gold rabbits and I think they are distinctive. Lindt's worried people will be confused and buy the competition. Will not having the trademark really matter? I guess only time will tell.
Image from here
is an event that happens on four special days per year in the city of Frankfurt. On the Saturday before Easter, the Saturday before Pentecost, the first Saturday in Advent, and Christmas Eve, ten churches in Frankfurt simultaneously ring their bells for thirty minutes. That's 50 total bells, spread over 1 square kilometer, ringing in harmony! You can read more about the history of the event and the bells of Frankfurt here.
Frankfurt churches photo from here
Bells, to me are one of the great things about living in Germany. Since this is an event said to be unique in the world, we made a special effort to be in Frankfurt this past weekend. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to walk through the city without an umbrella for the entire 30 minutes. We weren't the only ones there just to hear the bells. We had lots of company.
So what does it sound like? Believe it or not, it isn't just noise. I could actually hear the sound of different bells. The sounds are also different depending on where you are standing. Just a few meters can completely change what bells you hear.
Here's an idea of what we experienced, from Pentecost 2011.
Thanks to Frankfurt on Foot for the great tip.
is probably the most famous Easter rabbit in Germany. This year he celebrates a milestone, his 60th birthday. You can read about his creation here.
Image from Ostern 2012 Edition Lindt Chocoladenseiten
Like all successful commercial products, there have been numerous attempts to copy this popular gold bunny. The Wall Street Journal shows a few examples here, and the accompanying article is here.
I hope the Easter Bunny, Lindt or otherwise, brings you lots of sweet treats. Happy Easter.
Image from Ostern 2012 Edition Lindt Chocoladenseiten
are in the stores now! There's alot of German culture wrapped up in this one little egg.
These little calorie bombs are made by the German milk chocolate maker, Milka, the company known for their purple and white cows. Unlike Ritter Sport, Milka is probably closer to being the Hershey's of Germany, even though Milka may not be considered a German product now that the Milka brand is owned by Kraft Foods. Most Milka products are simple milk chocolate or chocolate-like confections. Everything they make is wrapped in the same color purple. My British readers may even think the purple looks very much like a Cadbury's purple. Ironically, Cadbury is also owned by Kraft.
These special chocolate eggs mimic how Germans eat their eggs at breakfast. The first step is to whack off the top with your knife before using your special tiny egg spoon to eat the egg out of the shell. Non-German egg eaters don't follow this rule. You can always spot the non-Germans at a hotel breakfast.
After heart-shaped salami in 2010, I never expected to find this
in this week's advertisement from the local grocery store, Edeka. Happy Valentine's Day!
are German lucky charms. They are popular new year's decorations and are often attached in one way or another to wedding and birthday gifts or used at any other time someone wants to wish you good luck.
The lucky charms come in all sorts of styles: miniatures, wooden, disposable, even edible. You can buy them in most gift, flower and chocolate shops.
The symbols include the American standards of the four-leaf clover, horseshoe, and penny but also include ladybugs, pigs, poisonous mushrooms, and chimney sweeps.
What I think is fabulous is the Germans make sure you gets lots of luck, in the form of many symbols. Plants, similar to those in the first photo, are often found on restaurant tables and are given when visiting friends or relatives this time of year.
is what I think these should be called. This is the first year I saw them both decorating stores and for sale in the store.
And, I even saw them in the Lufthansa InFlight Shopping Catalog.
is literally what you can do with this gun. This is an ad from the local newspaper.
New Year's Eve, known as Sylvester here in Germany, is "the" day for shooting off fireworks. Does this gun make it more or less safe? I don't know.
I've never seen anything like this in "pro gun" America, yet it is available, without a permit, to anyone over 18 years of age, in "anti gun" Germany.
or between the years, is what my German friends call the time between December 25th and January 6th.
I'm told it is derived from the centuries old dispute over when different Christian religions marked the birth of Christ and the beginning of the new year. Different people had different days to celebrate different things, all falling in this period.
This is traditionally a time of reflection and preparation for the new year and legend says all the dreams you have at night during this period will come true.
