Christmas Market

I know this post is a little late in coming, but I figured better late than never. The weekend before Christmas (which somehow seems sooo long ago already) we went to a Christmas market in Rudesheim. Germany and most of Europe is known for their Christmas markets, but this was a really fun one. We met up with some friends of ours and we braved the cold (seriously Mother Nature, quit making it so darn cold without the white stuff to make it worthwhile!).

To get there, we had to take a ferry across the river (the Rhein I believe). If that had been all that we did the entire day the boys would still have been thrilled. You would have thought the ten minute ferry ride was the BEST. THING. EVAR! Okay, so I was a little excited about it too.

The city didn't disappoint us either. I suspect that at any time of the year the city's wonderful to behold but it was even neater with the entire center being closed to traffic and filled with fragrant and colorful market stalls.

We managed to eat our weight I think that day. We had french fries, hot dogs (wursts), hot cocoa, kartoffeln soup (potato soup) in a bread bowl, and chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. And that's only what I remember. There may have been more, but I won't admit to it now.

Honestly it's days like these that make me absolutely fall in love with Europe all over again, even if sometimes I'm homesick and lonely. There's nothing like this back in the States.

Weekend Wanderings - Town Fair

This past weekend our little city had a Christmas market. I love European Christmas markets and since this one was within walking distance, we of course had to go. This year it was about a third the size of the one last year so I'm not sure what was going on, but we still had lots of fun.

This is the far end of the fair, as you're walking along the main road.



The town square with its Christmas tree

A typical booth. There were several food vendors, along with clothing and home decor booths but the selection was much more slim compared to last year unfortunately. I also just randomly snapped photos because I felt like a creeper taking photos of people's merchandise.

A small four man band played holiday classics. They also played some oompah type music that Germany and Bavaria are famous for. No, I'm not sure it's called oompah music, but that's what I'm going with since that's what it sounds like they were playing.

Drake's favorite part of any fair: the rides!

He even got to go twice, this time Link's in the back of the fire engine, crying. He was tired, poor little fella. The weird part about this fire truck is that it's supposedly American (see the words in English) and also the Texas license plate?

Certainly doesn't look like a Texas license plate to me, but you have to give it to the Germans; atleast they tried to make it look Texan with the cowboy.

Yummy and adorable Santa Claus gingerbread cookies.

We also tried to get a decent photo of the family in front of a Christmas tree in the town hall. Unfortunately this is the best that we came up with.  Yeah, it was that bad. One tired toddler, two balloons that kept getting in the way, and a headstrong preschooler does not make a great photo opportunity. And I'm also wearing my son's hat rather than carrying it along since he decided not to wear it. Oh well. Atleast we had a great time, even if we don't have photos of us enjoying it together. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!