Jump in with both feet!

Into the Christmas season that is, and what better way to dive right in than to go to the biggest, oldest and most famous German Christmas Market of all, Nurnberg! History states that the tradition of the Weihnachtmarkt began in Nurnberg in the 1600's. Well, Nurnberg still carries on the tradition and we were able to attend it opening weekend. This time we had travel buddies, our good friends the Gervitz's drove in from Belgium to go with us. Note to self, next time don't go opening weekend if you want to be able to move about freely. We felt like a herd of cows.

I had made a deal with Mark, take me to Nurnberg and I won't ask to go to another Christmas Market this season, Nurnberg is the bomb. We did it right, drove down in the morning, rode the train into the middle of Nurnberg by the afternoon, spent the daylight hours in the children's square, then stayed to enjoy the Christmas lights at night in the main square. We stayed overnight at a local hotel and made a leisurely drive home the next day. Love that!


What draws me to the German Christmas Markets are the promise of sweet treats to fill our bellies, and folks I have not been disappointed. Whether it is a large or small markt, there are many sweet treats to be had by all. We purposely ate very light that day in anticipation of the "essen". At Nurnberg we enjoyed the largest pretzels ever made, the longest brat in history and the first corn on the cob we have had at a Christmas Markt. Oh boy they did it right, drown it in butter, plenty of salt and hand it to you steaming hot. That was not the end, we ate raisin strudel, Nurnberg sausages and of course Kinder punsch. We always make sure we have plenty of euro coin so that we can say, "I'll take one of those" at every booth. At Nurnberg they sell eirerpunsch, it is warm eggnog with cream and cinnamon on top, but learn from our mistake, make sure you order it at the Kinder Weihnachtmarkt which is the kids square. Laurel and I ordered it from the main square and let me tell you, you could get a buzz from just smelling it. Very little eggnog, plenty of German booze. We let the bushes enjoy the buzz.



Nurnberg knows how to treat the kiddo's right. They sectioned off one entire square dedicated to the kids. There were 4 rides to choose from, a double decker merry go round, a smaller merry go round, a choo choo train and a ferris wheel. Plus the booths were kid friendly, one was a lego play station, one hosted Santa Claus, and most others were full of toys and yummy treats. The kids were in heaven which distracted from frosty toes, noses and fingers.

Hop on over to Laurel's blog to see her post, she has more great pictures and a great video of the girls in the double decker merry go round!

Tonight we find ourselves home and spending this Sunday afternoon putting up our Christmas decorations, remember, we are still jumping forward into the season with both feet. Sleep and rest?! Who needs it! Now, Mark, since we had such a fine time at Nurnberg how about going back to France to the Metz Christmas Market? Our deal was one German Markt, I didn't specify outside the German borders!