![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2013\/04\/DSCF3188.jpg\" "\\"View")
<\/a>View from Dentenbergstrasse, 15 minutes from our apartment<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looking over Gumligen, Autodesk building right of center<\/p><\/div>\n
Monday Nov. 26 was a special holiday for most Bernese.\u00a0 Schools are closed, trams on changed schedules, some workers take off though most companies don\u2019t close.\u00a0 Certainly Autodesk didn\u2019t.\u00a0 So to partake in the celebrations, everyone heads downtown before<\/em> work, some as early as 5 am.\u00a0 We set the alarm incorrectly and got there late, about 6:45, to meet our friends who had arrived at 6 and were already a couple of Gluhweins ahead of us.<\/p>\n Oh, haven\u2019t I mentioned yet what we were celebrating?\u00a0 ONIONS!\u00a0 And everywhere you looked booths were selling onions, mostly in braided strings,\u00a0often red and white, sometimes with garlic, or decorated with sprigs of dried flowers.<\/p>\n Onion Braids at the Zibelem\u00e4rit<\/p><\/div>\n A\u00a0few traditions\u00a0go along with the Onion Market.\u00a0 Every kid has a bag of confetti,tossing it by the handful on any and everyone, and a plastic hammer that pings when they hit you with it.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s Gluhwein (\u201dGlow wine\u201d, warm spiced wine), cheese and onion pies, garlic bread and colored necklaces of tiny cellophane-wrapped onions.\u00a0 Plus the crafts and knickknacks you see at any fair.<\/p>\n The crowds were amazing, though it was pre-dawn.\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t see what people were selling because there were so many people jammed into the street.<\/p>\n Crowds stroll between booths in Bundesplatz in front of the Federal Building<\/p><\/div>\n We were shoulder to shoulder inching our way along.\u00a0 But as predicted by our local friends, crowds started thinning after 7am, although the fair continues all day.\u00a0 So the Autodeskers left for work and I dawdled about, finally able to make my way along the streets and check out the offerings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our friend Simon (in red) enjoying the Onion Market.<\/p><\/div>\n My purchases were few, a couple items for Christmas gifts, but since I was thoroughly looped on 2 pre-breakfast glasses of Gluhwien, everything seemed rosy and intriguing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rain and cold and another quiet weekend.\u00a0 Played catch-up with pictures and blog posts.\u00a0 We did get out for a quick bike ride over the hill and through the woods, a quick 20k just to be out. Monday Nov. 26 … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a>