Advent

Advent is a big deal in Bavaria. The first day of Christmas.

I like the idea. Not the Christmas one, but that you have an official launch date on 1 December - not early October as in Britain.

We went to an Advent Basar in Feldkirchen, near Munich. It is held by a church's youth Hilfe organisation. Not sure how best to translate it. The church operates a number of residential homes for teenagers with behavioural problems.

For the Basar, the kids in the homes make various things for sale - ideal Christmas gifts. I got a little jar of homemade apple & Calvados marmalade. Some other stuff tempted me, but I only have a small suitcase with me.

Food was on sale too. I had Afghan bean stew out in the open air - with a mug of Glühwein. The stew was served with chillis in oil and yoghurt with coriander. Wonderful.