Tim has spent six years of his life living in Germany, and every Christmas season he tells me that nobody knows how to truly celebrate Christmas like the Germans. After spending a week in Germany, I must confess... he's right! There is such a special Spirit of Christmas in the air in Germany that I've never experienced before. Here's a small portion of the German Christmas experience... the Christmas Markets! Our first Christmas Market we went to was in the neighboring city of Kaiserslautern...
The wonderful smells from all the wonderful food... here we are sharing the tastiest Bratwurst that I've ever had...
... then some cheesy bread freshly baked in a wood-fired oven...
...we enjoyed some Crepes made with Nutella (Nutella and Marzipan for Tim) as we cozily stood around one of the several fires around the market. This fire was amazing... it was basically a tree trunk about three feet tall that was split six ways and then some sterno looking material was placed on the top and lit... shortly thereafter the log looked like this...
The lights, the shops, the music, the scents... the people! The people really made the atmosphere special. There was no hustle and bustle. This wasn't about the shopping, it was the socializing. There was no rush to shop, no rush to eat. It was here a little, there a little... relax and enjoy. Here's a bench by another fire where we sat just taking everything in.
Did I mention the true meaning of Christmas? It's still remembered here in Germany. The Christmas Market is centered around... a church! Go figure. A Nativity Scene is prominently displayed...
Have you ever seen German Christmas Pyramids... with the candles that when lit turn the propeller of the Nativity Scene contained in it? Here was a life-sized version, with a little restaurant at the base of it...
A perfect evening, until... we arrived back at the parking garage. We didn't even think to check what time the place closed (it was automatic, why did it need to close?). We arrived here at 8:45 pm, the place closed for the night at 8 pm.
So after calming down a crying Adayla, and a giggling wife...Tim found us a taxi back to Ramstein (only 30 Euros, ~$40 for that mistake... not to mention the lunch Tim owed a friend to drive him back out there in the morning to pick it up... oops!). I'm still just giggling when I think about it (Tim doesn't find it quite as funny as I do!).
3 comments:
Haha! You got locked in. That's awesome. I am just sick looking at those Christmas markets and wishing Santa was real so that I could have my wish and come join you! So jealous. Yum! And it looks as if Ryann doesn't like the Chinese food Adayla picked. Your home does look lovely. I like the curtains, what are you talking about?
Oh you were so close! Why didn´t you say something? We could have met! Will you be back over here some time? You would have loved the Christmas Market on the Alter Markt in Cologne! My favourite!
It does look so beautiful and truly peaceful and calm. i saw you too, Tim. Girls, tell Frosty Hello.
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