Christmas Clock - And Lily's Clock - And Glockenspiel

The days are ticking off the calendar as we approach Christmas Day and the minutes are ticking away quickly. My activities of Christmas decoration and all activity are now based on Lily's clock as she gets ever so close to leaving me. As expected, Lily has good days and bad days. The bad days when she has difficulty getting her breath/oxygen are very horrible. It is so sad because everything about her is healthy other than her enlarged heart and excessive fluid retention around her heart and lungs. She still has her beautiful disposition except on the very bad days and on those days she still is very sweet but subdued. 

Speaking of clocks, for some reason, The Glockenspiel in Munich, Germany came to my mind. A glockenspiel is a musical percussion instrument having a set of tuned metal pieces mounted in a frame and struck with small hammers. When I was on a trip to Germany in 2010 we visited Marienplatz square in Munich. It is the site of the famous Glockenspiel Clock and performance as well as the very large marketplace. The plaza is huge.

Every day the city's central Marienplatz Square is crowded with onlookers with their heads tilted skywards. And, we were some of the onlookers. See the black cross at the bottom of the photo. We were standing there watching one of the city’s most loved oddities, the Munich Glockenspiel, or carillon (a musical instrument that is typically housed in the bell tower (belfry) of a church or municipal building.

This chiming clock was added to the tower of the (New Town Hall) the year the building was completed in 1907.

At 11AM, midday and 5PM (between March and October) the Munich Glockenspiel performance recounts a royal wedding, jousting tournament and ritualistic dance - all events which have etched a mark on Munich’s popular folklore.The show lasts about 15 minutes and different tunes are played on the clock's 43 bells. It was very entertaining and festive. And, I had some of the very best jelato on the plaltz.

As a little girl I remember hearing about the Glockenspiel. But, I did not remember what I heard! My mother was German. Maybe, it came up during a discussion about a Cuckoo clock.

Thank you for joining me on a little bit of memory lane.

I hope your day went well.

Mary