Little Ice Cubes

The Christmas markets are amazing here, but it's been below freezing these past two weeks! Every time we go to one, we stay for two or three hours and by the time we pack up to leave, my toes are like little ice cubes. After the first day of only wearing two little cotton pairs of socks with some leather boots (intended for fall, not winter), I learned to steal Alfons' wool socks when we planned on freezing our butts (and toes) off at another Christmas market. I also invested in some decent, but not outstanding, snow boots that are fuzzy on the inside to help keep my little tootsies warmer. These boots are far better than the other ones at least.

So far, we've been to our little village market, plus bigger ones in Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Tubingen and Herrenberg. We still plan to hit Ludwigsberg and Esslingen before they close too, so I'd better invest in more warm socks and start saving my coins for the hot Kinderpunsch (kid's punch) since I'm not a huge fan of the Gluwein (hot spiced wine) here. (I liked Gluwein in the States, but I think they secretly added sugar!)

Most of the markets here sell the same things in every village (ornaments, gloves, hats, wooden Santas, candles, carved bowls, etc), but we were pleasantly surprised when we visited Tubingen yesterday. It's a college town and is one of our favorite places because the history is amazing and beautiful. It's a very earth friendly place too...lots of bikes, dreadlocks and artists. The booths were awesome with tons of homemade decorations, jewelry and clothes. It was great to finally see some unique gifts and goodies for the house.

And the food is great at EVERY market. The waffles, pretzels, sugar-coated almonds, sauerkraut, wurst, kasespaetzle (cheese noodles), chocolate-covered fruit on a stick, maultauschen (meat ravioli), chili, pumpkin soup...I could go on and on...it's all delicious!

I have an idea!!! Next year, you should come visit in December for the Christmas markets! They're like nothing else in the world and you would love it!