This past weekend, we went to Koln (Cologne for your non German types) for the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) A lot of the bigger cities have them. You go there and drink Gluwein until you puke, get some really awesome brats and in my case this year, mushrooms. I also had this dough dumpling covered in vanilla sauce that left me having joygasms even after I had finished it. There are booths all over the place with people selling their wares.
The thing that makes the Koln Weihnachtsmarkt so special is that they have about 7 different markets set up throughout the city and no two are the same. Each of these markets has a coffee mug that is unique to that market, so crazy people like me walk around town for hours on end trying to collect them all. My favorites were from the gnome market and the medieval market. The gnome market mug has little gnomes doing various things on their mugs but the medieval market, they had freaking chalices!!
Look at those things!! The best part is that this market did not have the gluwein that makes me want to vomit. No, this place had hard cider wine. These fools are after my damn heart.
We actually didn't buy that much at the markets since we had already been here in years past and knew what to expect, but we did end up spending over 100 euro on Christmas ornaments...ouch. That and the mugs, can't forget the 12 mugs...The Weihnachtsmarkt at the Kolner Dom was the "big" market and for good reason. You have the Kolner Dom in its entirety to marvel over. If you are ever near Koln you have to go see it.
We don't really have anything planned for the holidays since we are taking our big snowboarding trip right after the new year to help avoid all the holiday tourist crazies. We are driving down to the German Alps and snowboarding for the whole week, no touristy stuff this year since we've already done it. I hope Santa brings me everything that I asked for this year, especially my Kitchenaide stand mixer that I have been asking for 5 years and counting.
Happy Holidays,
Homesliceable
