Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas in Germany




In 2005 I went to Germany and Austria to visit the Christmas Markets. Germany is where many of our Christmas traditions started so it was fascinating to see how they celebrate Christmas. Some shops had Christmas scenes in their windows and some had simple trees with white lights on the sidewalk.



Salzburg had an elaborate ice sculpture in one square...


And Munich had little Nativity scenes displayed on the street...


But the Christmas Markets were the best! Chestnuts roasting....


Gorgeous glass ornaments.....



Adorable little dolls....


And everyone's favorite traditional delight - Prune People....

But the best memories are the simple ones like riding in a horsedrawn carriage up to Neuchschwanstein to visit the castle....

and standing amid the hubbub of Marienplatz, watching the shoppers, drinking gluwein, listening to the carolers, and watching the snow fall.

1 comment:

Louise said...

We visited Germany for the first time last year, we loved it, and want to go again. We stayed in Cologne, the Christmas markets were fab, and lots of nativity decorations in the shops, and of course the best part was perusing around the market with a mug of gluhwein, although after one I was quite giddy! I hope you enjoy the festive season, happy 2008. x