Finally! A girls' weekend! It's been at least 2.5 years since the last one and this one was completely different! I got to go, with my friends Nancy and Tina, to the German Christmas Markets. We flew into Zurich where we had a long enough layover to have lunch at a beer hall and shop the Zurich Christmas market before we caught our flight to Nuremberg. At the Zurich market is a monstrous Christmas tree covered in something like 6000
Swarovski crystal decorations! In
Nurnberg we stayed with very good friends of mine,
Darryn and Martina and they gave us fabulous hospitality! They took us to THE Nuremberg
Kriskindl Christmas Market. (Thanks for shopping with us
Darryn!) We explored aisles and aisles of glass ornaments, nutcrackers,
Nurnberg prune people, and
gluhwein and
Nurnberg sausages. The rain held off for the most part. (Umbrellas should not be allowed! Dangerous! Unless the person carrying it is over 6 ft and willing to share with the shorter people!) It was a bit chilly especially for our southern Italian blood! That evening we were very fortunate to have received an invitation to join
Darryn and Martina at their friends' home for
Gluhwein and cookies. The next day we left
Darryn and Rhys behind and Martina took us to
Rothenberg (of
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame) to the local Christmas market there. It is a medieval town that is still surrounded by it's original walls and towers. It's law that all shops posting a shop sign must do so in the traditional
gilded fashion. It is also home to the biggest Christmas store in the world: Kathe
Wolfarht. And when I tell you that that store goes on and on and on and on I'm not exaggerating! (Think Small world at Disneyland!) Of course we had to try the local "cookie balls" before we could leave! (Does anyone actually eat a whole one?)
Everywhere we were was
incredibly festive and ready to celebrate. Garlands and lights everywhere! Every shop was decorated - no matter what they sold.
With a bit of faith all of our good just fit into our suitcases and carry on bags! (OK, so I did buy a Venetian feather mask there and I did carry that separately!) And no reports of breakage on the way home!
It was a fabulous weekend and I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been a little snow instead of rain! We had lots of laughs and too many scares with motion sickness - and they weren't me!
lol I think we're thinking of Venice next?...
