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Monday, December 15, 2014

Nuremberg Christmas Market

This past Saturday morning we headed to the Christmas Market in Nuremberg. It is not only one of the largest Christmas markets in Germany, but also one of the most famous in the world with an estimated two million visitors a year. I'm not sure how many of those two million were there on Saturday, but I know it was quite a few, much to the chagrin of the guys! Even though it was super crowded, I still really enjoyed this market because there are so many booths and so much food!

There was rain in the forecast all day on Saturday, so I didn't bring my camera. Of course not one drop of rain fell while we were there, but I did take quite a few pictures on my phone.







 
This was one of many stands at the market selling the famous Nurnberger sausages in a bun, and they were super yummy.







Rounding this corner and seeing shoulder to shoulder people was the point at which Don & Austin were both like "We are done. Get us out of here." They were sweet enough to just go take a break while Laurel & I continued to shop, although it didn't take much longer before Laurel had to have some space as well. I think I'm the only one of the four of us who can tolerate such a crowd of people without having a falling down at some point...lol! I believe we're going to have to do a lot of off-season travelling while we are here!


These chocolate covered strawberries were SO good. I honestly think the combination of chocolate and strawberries is one of the best flavors ever.


Of course we had to have some hot chocolate, as much for the adorable mug as for the hot chocolate. The most popular and most traditional drink at Christmas markets is gluhwein, which is a mulled wine that is made with spices like cinnamon, cloves, etc. It is served in cute little mugs that are unique to every Christmas market, so a lot of people collect them. We tried a cup of it early on in our Christmas market outings, and I must say it was not a hit...at all. I was thinking it would be like wassail with a tiny bit of wine, but it was more the other way around, so naturally I did not like it. This girl will be sticking with the hot chocolate! I did get a gluhwein mug from the Nuremberg market though because I found a booth selling the empty mugs with cookies :)





So far this is probably my second favorite market. I haven't written about my favorite one yet because we're actually planning to go back to it this weekend. Laurel & I will definitely come back to the Nuremberg market next year, but we will probably try it on a weekday morning when it will hopefully be less crowded.

I can't believe that Christmas is just 10 days away. There are so many more markets I want to visit, but I'm quickly running out of time. They really are one of the best things about Germany so far. Thank goodness I have a couple more years to check them off my list!