It’s true, I’ve hit a lot of Christmas markets this year already. For some, Christmas markets are the best thing ever, and for others they are just meh. For me, I’ve just been feeling so curious about everything and want to have a good handle on what’s out there and what I love. I’ve explored some with family, and others with friends. Some in the evening, and some in the daytime. I think what I love the most about them at this point is they getting me out of the house in this otherwise very dark and cold time of year, and that they feel special and new.

Oh this one was magical! The real, little Christmas trees over the doorways all along the cobbled streets reminded me of York, and the winding streets with chalet after chalet of gifts and food and lights felt magical even before it grew dark.

I really liked this one! Ludwigsburg is a Baroque-era town just north of Stuttgart where the Palace to rival Versailles was built in the 1700s. It looks decidedly different from the rest of the German towns we’ve seen with its pinks and yellows and golds, and the Christmas Market is unique too.

“It looks like a movie set, mom,” Brian correctly summed up. We’ve been here six months now and I sometimes wonder if my children have become used to all the half-timbered buildings and the fact that the buildings they see everyday hold hundreds of years of life and history.