Christmas is coming...

Tonight was the official kick-off of the Christmas season in Basel. Unfortunately, Kirk missed the event because he's in Luxembourg, but I met friends downtown this evening for the lighting of the Christmas tree on the Marktplatz. It was quite festive, depsite the light rain showers and the crowds of umbrellas. There was free gluhwein, a beautiful choir, a few trumpets, and too much speaking from someone I presume was a government official. Then the flipped the switch which turned on the lights on a big Christmas tree and on many of the surrounding buildings and everyone "ooooh"d and "aaaah"d. My favorite part of the event was what happened after all the music was finished. As they began to disassemble the stage, there was a rush of people to loot the giant pine branches that had been used to decorate the stage. For a society that is so firmly based on trust and honor (eg. flower and farm markets where you pay on the honor system), it had to be the most rebellious behavior I've ever seen out of the Swiss.