st. W E N D E L market dwarves

To finish out last weekend for us- we headed with friends to St. Wendel for their Christmas market. I'm a little slow to post and there's more to come. What a beautiful little spot in the world just about 45 minutes from our house!

Here, the stands with handmade crafts are nice, but the dwarf village {according to a little research} is supposed to be the highlight.
I knew before hand that thousands and thousands of hours have gone into this project that is always being improved and added upon.

I read this before going- thinking it sounded kind of cool. In 14 little houses, they have built a village of dwarves- all doing something and many of them with moving parts.

I think their site said there were nearly 200 of the little guys- all in different settings.

When we first stepped on the cobblestone downtown street in the midst of the market, there were quite a few people but still room to move.

The lines weren't too terribly long. Within a couple of hours, the streets were packed. Way too many people and the lines were ridiculous.

When the Autobahn hits a stand still with congestion from construction or an accident- it's called a Stau. While walking the market streets, I heard several Germans refer to it as a people stau. It was horrible!

Anyhow- we made our way to the dwarf village entrance {following the mobs of people} and this is what we found !

The boys kind of looked at me like, "Really, mom? We came for this?" It's all about the culture.

So funny- I couldn't stop laughing.

Justin let me know I was being a little immature.

 I really did try to not act so childish in front of the Germans.

I am still trying to kind of fit in with them. But, I couldn't help myself. It was as much fun watching Justin as it was watching the dwarves.

This was the little sauna house. The towel the little guy in front was holding moved up and down to expose his little pee-pee.

Justin doesn't like clowns to start with {at all} so he didn't find any of it very enjoyable. They were a little scary looking. This one was kind of normal- a bike race. Typical Europe. We missed the hospital and the breastfeeding mom in the corner.

Why should I have been surprised if there were naked parts showing? Why do I always seem to laugh or giggle when there's public nakedness? I don't know- it just always seems funny to me. Real people or figures.

We couldn't figure out what this one was supposed to be. Maybe fanning the hot or sick grandma? But, the tongue sticking out? The next one was obviously bath time. Do you think they really hang out there together? I'm not so sure.

It is a way of life here- I'm tellin' ya! "Of course, mom would take pictures," as Justin so confidently stated.