Christmas Market...Oh My!

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Months before arriving in Germany I had tons of people, who had lived in Germany once themselves, preparing me for how much the Germans love Christmas.  Every city hosts its own Christmas market, which is a collection of vendors - gifts, clothes, food, etc.  I am quickly learning that the Germans love their festivals.  So, needless to say I was looking forward to my first experience at a German Christmas Market.   

I had also been told about this stuff called Glühwein, which they also sell at the Christmas markets.  It is heated red wine, with cloves and cinnamon and usually lemon or orange juice.  The neat thing too about the Glühwein is that each town has its own glass that the wine is served in.  You can either return the glass and get your deposit back or you can keep them as a type of souvenir. 

Last night I went to my very first Christmas Market in downtown Stuttgart.  It is definitely worth going at night when all the Christmas lights are on and the weather couldn't have been better.

Here's a picture of me with my first glass of Glühwein and a very large nutcracker.



















The Christmas Market is spread out between two major city squares.  Here are some more pictures to hopefully give you a feeling for the market.


 























I was exploring the market with one of my co-workers (James) and his wife Nicole and we just had a really nice time.  After exploring the market, we had a nice dinner and then capped the night off with some ice skating.  They have set up a temporary ice rink in the Schloss-platz.  James doesn't ice skate to he watched our purses and took pictures.  Here are us girls on the ice.


















We made a video too but I'm having some technical difficulties right now so I'll have to try and load the video later.

So there you have it...my first German Christmas Market.  I'm sure I'll be going to several more in the coming weeks so stay tuned.

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