Thursday 24 December - Christmas Eve

A little more overcast today, but that didn't stop us venturing out, this time a little further east. Although the distance wasn't that big, it was a hilly walk. It led over the end-moraine of the glacier that lay here 10,000 years ago, and it went up and down quite a bit.

In the evening, we joined a full church for the Watchnight service in church, as choristers. All were subsequently treated to a glass of mulled wine or hot chocolate. Nah, it wasn't really cold.


The pictures show two memorials. The small rock is in memory of a dozen young men, aged 19 to 35. They were summarily executed near the Emma Pyramid on 13 December 1944, for acts of resistance against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany. The stone bench is a civic memorial for an event in 1920, but the white blotches betray a gruesome addition. They are bullet marks, left by Nazi forces, helped by a collaborator, again in 1944. Three men were summarily executed there, also for resisting the occupier.