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The journey of a thousand miles begins with...the perfect pair of shoes.

Friday, April 10, 2009

German Easter Egg Market

Thanks to all you who have entered my 100th post give-away! You have until tomorrow so make sure you enter!

A few weeks ago my friend and I went to an Easter Egg market in Schwetzingen, which is a gorgeous little town about 15 minutes from Heidelberg. It is known as the spargel capitol. Spargel is white asparagus and so freaking delish. Just so you know, spargel is the same as regular asparagus, but they cover the plants with soil to prevent photosynthesis, hence the white. Who says I don’t teach you stuff? Look, they even have a bronze statue just across from the palace entrance celebrating the spargel market.

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It was cold and dreary the day we went. I know, Germany? Cold and Dreary? You don’t say! Yes, it’s usually true. We are having an unusually warm and sunny week right now though and honestly it’s kind of freaking me out.

This is the entrance to the palace and grounds. The framed map is just on the left as you enter the arch. If you look to the very bottom of the map, you can see the palace. This helps give you an idea of the scale of the gardens. HUGE.

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The market was held inside one of the curved wings of the palace.

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See this guy? He hand beads all of these eggs. Hand. Beads.

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He said the large eggs (ostrich, emu, rhea) can have up to 30,000 beads. By. Hand.

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These blew me away. They are carved with a dremel like tool, then covered in wax in a pattern and dipped in acid. The acid eats away part of the shell. When the wax is removed, the pattern shows up. Amazing! Click the pics for a better look.

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These eggs are hand painted/drawn and have lyrics to songs or poems about Heidelberg in them. The floral eggs had little messages of friendship or luck or Easter. The little linen strips were attached to a dowel and rolled up. Awesome. Look at the detail.

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These are covered in hand fired porcelain flowers.

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Are you drooling yet? I was. I swear I’ve never used the word “awesome” so much in my life. Not even in the 80’s.

This vendor was my absolute favorite. He was so funny. And patient. I swear I asked him a million questions in a weird mixture of German and English. He responded in the same mix.

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He hand paints all these eggs. The girl with the umbrella was my favorite and I’m sad I didn’t buy her.

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Can you stand it? Isn’t it all amazing?

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He sketches his ideas in this little book. What I wouldn’t give to have an hour or two with this book!

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This is the kind of egging I do (did you know that about me?), so I was totally in love with her booth. Plus, she was soooooo nice. Her husband doesn’t look it in the photos, but he really was, he just didn’t like having his photo taken.

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I have more photos, but these were really the cream of the crop. I hope you enjoyed your little glimpse of a European tradition.

Don’t forget to enter the give-away!

17 comments:

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Most of those eggs are AMAZING! Wow! Such talent! Thanks for sharing!

Natalie said...

those eggs are extremely beautiful.

reading your posts makes me miss germany. someday i'll go back :-)

Clare said...

I just have to thank you for posting this amazing egg visit! Sigh. I love them all. I have to bow down to the egg beader.

Shey said...

These are awesome. They look so pretty and delicate. Wish I was there to see it in person.

Thanks for sharing!

Mommy, That's My Name, Don't Wear It Out said...

Holy Moly!!! Those eggs are GORGEOUS! Thanks for sharing!!!

Ann On and On... said...

How beautiful! That was fun to see. :D

AnNicole@Our Suburban Cottage said...

Those eggs are incredible!! Ohhh, I wish I was that talented...or patient...or dedicated to something like making eggs pretty :).

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your comments always crack me up.

Have a great weekend!

AnNicole@Our Suburban Cottage said...

P.S. I say "awesome" all the time. I guess I need to pull out the thesaurus sometime...lol.

Jamie Welsh Watson said...

Holy moly, these eggs are eggstraodinary (forgive me). I really love seeing what people do to eggs. Thank you for such a great post.

Susie Q said...

WOW! I'm afraid to ask how much he wanted for the beaded eggs, but I am going to ask anyway....but all of them were stunning (feel free to borrow the word...I'm trying to expand my own vocabulary beyond cool and awesome...by reading UK newspapers;))

Mom in High Heels said...

The large beaded egg was 80 Euro, which depending on the exchange rate is about $100. Not enough, IMO.

Dumb Mom said...

Oh how I miss my days in Deutschland. I used to live in Pirmasens, then Hanau, and then Heidelberg. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to visit again.

patty said...

im assuming kids aren't allowed? ;)

they are absolutely gorgeous! i've always wanted to do the russian style of painting eggs for easter...

your photos captured them beautifully.

happy easter!

Hoosier Vagabonds said...

These eggs are fantastical! I have added this to my "thing to do list" when we get to Germany!

GUAMtastic said...

Wow I never thought I would post a comment like this, but here goes:

THOSE EGGS ARE INCREDIBLE!!!! WOW!!!

Thanks for sharing!! Your pics rock!

American Homemaker said...

Wow that looks like an awesome place :)

And yes... I use the word awesome all the time... LOL

Bonita said...

Wow! This takes the Easter egg to a whole new level! That is some amazing work!

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