Escape with Karen and Maggie Mae: FANKENMUTH MICHIGAN

Not all my time is spent sightseeing. I do play with my little girl. She loves her pink monkey and I love this picture of her, so I thought I would share.

I left St. Clair yesterday and had the most dreary drive. It was foggy/hazy the entire trip. I don't know what the difference is between fog and haze, but it was a very gray day. Once here, though, it was a lot nicer. I am within walking distance of Bronner's Christmas store. The thing is huge. The brochure said it has 7 acres of buildings. That is 5 1/2 football fields. The array of Christmas things just dazzle the mind. In addition, the whole perimeter of the property has all kinds of outside lights. I bet it is really impressive in Dec. with snow on the ground, but don't think I will stick around long enough to see the white stuff.

On one corner of the property there is a replica of the Silent Night Memorial Chapel. The original is in Oberndorf Austria, near Salzburg. The Christmas song Silent Night was first sung there in 1818. I was in Salzburg a few years ago but I did not know about the chapel. It is a beautiful city, one of my favorites. Guess I had to come to MI to see it.
SILENT NIGHT MEMORIAL CHAPEL

IN SIDE THE CHAPEL

The town itself is like being transported to Bavaria. All of the buildings have that gingerbread look, even the bank and the post office. The street lights all have hanging baskets of flowers with a built in sprinkling system to water them. I was half tempted to go stand under them, it was so hot yesterday.