You brighten my day..

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Season's greetings...


from our family to yours.
Hope you are having a lovely time with your near and dear ones.


The break from blogging was unplanned. I have my sister visiting from India and we have been spending a lot of time together. Also it being our last german christmas, we have been making the best of it. Hopefully I should be back to blogging and visiting each one of you shortly. Till then, have a great season of cheer!!!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Nürnberg Christkindlemarkt on Instagram

Finally, sharing pictures from the world famous Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt. 
Having lived three whole years, we never ever visited the major christmas markets of Germany. December generally is a stressful month for the family even during the weekends. Hence with the time available we were content visiting the smaller markets around Lohr. And after the visit to Nürnberg, I think we are kind of done with a major market. The crowds during the weekend are terrible. You have to be on a constant lookout for your kids, be alert that nobody shoves your piping hot glühwein into you, the best stalls are always packed. To me, the crowd kind of killed the moment. Pretty soon, the kids were begging to go back home. So, it's back to the little charming ones for us. 
Enjoy the lighter moments that I managed to capture..


160 stalls are spread around the market square of Nürnberg.

The markets are also spread around the walls and towers of the city where handicraftsmen display their crafts.


As we walked along, to warm ourselves we had to continually sip on hot glühwein and the kids on kinderpunsch.

Nürnberg christmas market is famous for its lebkuchen, the traditional gingerbread. It was fun watching the woman below decorate the bread and place it into the earthen oven behind her.


Roasted chestnuts, a must try at the christmas markets. Not my favourite though. They taste just like roasted jackfruit seeds.


Trinkets, snowmen, snowglobes, wooden cribs, figurines, singing angels.....makes you want to have all the money in the world to buy it all. It does look pretty!!



Pretty tins with freshly baked lebkuchen inside. Must buy and try!!


A christmas market especially for the little ones with lots of activities and treats.

 Information about the entire event is explained in detail both in german and english at this website.



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Spessart Waldweihnacht

Over the weekend we visited two christmas markets. The world famous Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt and the other one right in the middle of the forest. While I choose to rant about the world famous christmas market in another post, for now I shall share pictures of the market which is very close to our heart. The Spessart Waldweihnact is held every year during the first 2 weekends of the advent season in the middle of the woods, a 25 minute car drive from Lohr. Since there is not enough parking spots at the destination, buses ply from all the neighbouring villages and towns hence making it easy for people to travel.

The charm of this market lies in the bare branches covered with snow coupled with the twinkling lights of the small huts and the illuminated trees. 

The entire path is lit up with candles to help you walk through.

We sat in the warmth of this building and warmed ourselves with eintopf suppe, a simple broth made with a mix of veggies and meat (We did have our share of glühwein outside as we walked around).




Fireplaces lit up here and there to provide heat to your hands and feet.

Home made liqueur, you can taste(1.5€ a glass) and then decide to buy a bottle or just be content with the sip you've had.


The market has about 20 to 25 stalls, all selling handmade ornaments.



The children's favourite, making bannock bread over a campfire.

My goodbye shot of the market! Not a good one, but enough for memories!!

If you would like to see more pictures or know information about the same, here's the link to the german website.