Spring is here! And so are the Mormons!

When the sun starts to shine a bit and it's warm enough to peel off that winter coat and slip into a spring jacket, the people around here overdo it and whip out the sunglasses and leave their jackets at home, making a pilgrimage to Alaunplatz to lie around, juggle, see and be seen. The slackliners and alcoholics on the parkbenches are out, soon Alaunplatz will be full of people with crazy African drums and disposable grills.
























The roofing ceremony or topping out ceremony, whatever a Richtfest is called in English (can anyone help me out here? Does this exist where I come from?) for the new Kindergarten was last Friday, and there was lots of off-key singing by little kids and speeches by politicians before they swung this funny wreath up over the partially erected Kindergarten with a big crane.



















Our favorite Christian Democratic Union representative was there too! We were so close we could have touched him. It's that skinny young guy in the middle: Patrick! He is a much loathed figure in the Äussere Neustadt because he wants to clean the place up. He's gay, is often publicly mocked, people have even gone into his underground parking garage damaged his car. I even heard a rumor that someone kicked the mirror off of his car right in front of him, and he took matters into his own hands and delivered justice. With his fist. I also saw a public appearance of his where people threw cups of yogurt and other milk products at him. This is why I like Patrick, he's sort of like a Timex: he takes a licking and keeps on ticking!*



















Yup, and there they are, the Mormons, the 2 guys in suits. This is the second day in a row that they have been right by my house. The day before yesterday I made a quick trip to the store and the one on the left with the dark hair jumped right in front of my moving bicycle because, and I quote "he likes to speak with people about Jesus". I said no thanks and kept on pedaling.

*This is in no way a political endorsement of Patrick or the CDU. I can't vote here and am not informed well enough to anyway. I just like how Patrick operates.