A Long Weekend

It was a long Weekend in Germany, it was the day of re-unification when the DDR (German Democratic Republic sic) joined together with the Bundesrepublik and formed the new Bundesrepublik within the borders laid down in the agreement by the winners of WW2.

So Monday was a Public Holiday and as Saturday had been the real start of the hunting season (Larger game had been on the menu for a few weeks) when hares, ducks and in some areas pheasants and other feathered game came into the crossed hairs (or cross hares).

We had decided to do a bit of duck shooting (the only ones that you are allowed to shoot here is the Mallard Stockenten). I had been out very early on Saturday and Sunday to have a look where the duck where landing.

So on Saturday morning I was up very early to catch the dawn and sunrise. It was a wonderful morning with the early mist hanging over the fields, river and gravel pits.

Sunday was also a nice warm morning and I walked along the riverbank

 and into the rose garden of Rheda Schloß.

Passing the Orangerie, and dew still on the cobwebs.

Then through the park and around the extremities of the Flora-Westfalia, the area used back in the 60s for the Bundeslands horticultural show.

Mist over the Schloßwiese, a breeding ground for snipe

I caught a flight of ducks coming in and thought this is a good omen for Monday morning!

Alas Monday dawned and it was a Peasouper, visibility over the water was down to about 1m and no chance of catching any ducks coming into land.

We had a chat about what to do and decided to go into the woods and do a bit of pigeon shooting. This we did and got quite a few, much to one of our friends delight he is a farmer and a pigeon will eat 1kg of grain each day of his life, their crops where full of maize and winter wheat. I had about 10 pigeons, so took them home to be plucked later.

Monday was also the Wiedenbrücks Jahresmarkt, this is an old traditional market that always takes place on the 1^st Monday in October. This is a very old market and still follows the format of the middle ages when the traveling sales people would travel from town to town selling their brushes, haberdashery, kitchen utensils and all the bric-a-brac that couldn’t be bought locally.

It was also the day when the farmers, smallholders and handworkers from the surrounding areas came into town, to enjoy themselves, the funfair was in town, the young boys and girls on the lookout for suitable partners (and some of the not so young as well), would do their wooing. The local brewery brewed a suitable beer just for the season. A good time was and still is held by all and sundry.  

The stall holders still setting out their stalls at 08:30

I was in Wiedenbrück by 08:30 to take a few photos and get my odds and sods before the hoards descended on the town.

A few early shoppers at 09:00

some hardy souls had an early start at the beer stand

The wooden utensil stall holder putting his finishing touches to his wares

By 09:30 a few more wandering


By 10:00 the streets had started to fill

The beer stands making the trade of their lives, a public holiday and fantastic weather

11:00 Standing room only now

You will always find some one to listen to you!

The beer was flowing freely and the cash tills also

By midday the beers stalls and the potato pancake stall doing a roaring trade and a good time was being had by all, it was time to head for home, had a couple of pints in my local and off to beddy byes.