Christmas Markets in Germany

OH MY GOODESS. Can I tell you: I love Christmas!!!! Seriously. This trip has been a long time coming. The problem is, I left for 2 weeks and came back with pages in my journal full of fantastic memories and over 1,400 pictures. I just finished going through all the pictures last night (19 days after I returned) and managed to get the photo to about 1,200. I'm quite pleased. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to write this blog. I've decided to separate it into 2 posts: one for Germany and one for the Netherlands.  I also am trying something I saw my friend, Mego, do when she hasn't blogged in while and had a lot to tell. She just posted pictures and told little anecdotes because there was just too much to say.  This is what I will be doing.

Top picture was the first picture Becca and I took together when we got to Germany. We dropped off our luggage and when walking to get some food and see the Christmas Markets. We got bratwursts and shortly after this picture, one of my bratz fell off :( It was quite sad. Nevertheless, the Munich Christmas markets are BEAUTIFUL at night.

To the left, Becca is having her first Glühwein (roughly translates to "glow-wine"). The non-alcoholic Christmas drink is Kinderpunsh. That's right, Children Punch. lol. That's what I was drinking the whole time, which was always fun to order. I just love this picture of Becca, because I think she looks gorgeous being all Christmas-y and jolly. We were in the English Garden's Christmas Market. It was smaller, but cute. I was really close to buying some socks from there.

We had to head back to the hostel and meet up with Lukas. I didn't recognize him at first when he walked into the common room, because of his haircut. It was a pretty epic double take from, "why is this guy looking at me" to "LUKAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!!"

We went out to meet up with Siv and Petra for dinner. It was so nice to see them. It was nice, and really funny when we'd all be talking and somehow Siv, Petra, and Lukas would switch to German, while Becca and I would be like "errrrrrr....."

Absolutely gorgeous. We did the Third Reich Tour this day, which was amazing, as always. I felt really smart because I knew a lot of the answers to questions (as I did with the free walking tour). And by really smart, I mean: I've taken both tours before and have a good memory for historical facts. Here we are after a nice day, hanging out in the Christmas Markets, sipping our Christmas drinks in our Christmas mugs in Marienplatz. The best  part was when we just paused to stop and be grateful for being in such a beautiful place together. #attitudeofgratitude

This is Nuremberg (Nürnberg). We spend the day here, meeting with Becca's friends. It was really nice. This Christmas market is ranked as one of the best Christmas markets in all of Germany. Becca's friends were super funny. I loved Adri, because of her Latina spirit, which made me laugh the whole day. Funny story of the day was when Lukas and I were eating crepes, and he got some nutella on his chin. He tried to get it off and failed. I just went and wiped it off with my finger. Adri got excited and said "oh my goodness. you guys are too cute; you're just like a couple!" My reaction: a shrug and went back to eating my crepe.

Ok. I'm realizing my time in Dresden and the pictures of Dresden on this blog post are not proportional to the time that was spent there in regards to the other locations, but omgee, Dresden is absolutely breathtaking and it was my first time here. This is Schlossplatz. Beautiful.

See? Beautiful! This is the Fraukirche. We went to an organ concert that night here. I felt super classy.

This is the opera house. During the day, it was warm enough to open my coat! This was a miracle beyond belief. Warmth. 

I love this picture. Looking a maps. Adorable.

The is the oldest Christmas market in Germany. It's been going on for over 500 years. To be honest, I think it might have been my fav.

We made it back to Colgne (Köln), with plenty of time before our train. We took a walk in the Christmas markets here, got drinks, and had the most amazing salmon of my life. Seriously. #ilovefood 

We went on a ferris wheel. No joke. It was awesome. I sometimes forget a have a slight fear of heights. I remembered when we were switching seats in the little cabin so we could all take pictures together. lol. We had so much fun together. I'm so happy and grateful Lukas was able to come travel with Becca and me. It was a wonderful first week of vacation. 

Becca and I were talking to Myrke, who you will meet in the next post, about American travelling and European travelling. In America, everything is far apart, so we are used to driving 3 hours to get somewhere and not thinking anything of it. Our immediate travel perimeter is very large. This is why in a week, going to Munich, Nurmberg, Dresden, and Cologne is completely feasible. On the other hand, with Europeans, they walk almost everywhere. They don't spend their lives in cars driving places like we do. So when you ask them to take a train 2 hours away for a day trip, they think that's quite an effort. Their immediate travel perimeter is smaller. I think I explained it well. Please note: This is not about everyone, but I did think it made a good generalization.