Bad tolz

Ahhh . . . Bad Tölz . . . you were our first Weinachtsmarkt road trip last year with our new little William, it's only fitting (yet, unfortunately coincidental) that you'd be our last. Sniff, sniff.

Picture it.
The last Sunday we'd be in Munich in December. Ever.
On and off blizzard conditions.
Friends Oskar and Juliette as accomplices to our fun.
The outcome?
A festive party to go!



Gorgeous, though hilly and slippery, Bad Tölz

The snow starting to come down. Those poor horn players's hands!

Getting super snowy! Should we go inside? Nah! Let's go for a walk!

Juliette's snow angel in an untouched park.

And she's up!

Jeff and Oskar just lead to trouble. I'll let you decide whether this photo was taken before or after Gluhwein consumption.

Hooray for the Zabel 3!

And just for nostalgia's sake . . . last year's Christmas card picture taken in Bad Tölz.

Sorry, folks, we're sad to announce (but you're probably delighted to read) that this is our last Christmas Market entry for our blog. Our dear son was diagnosed the next day with bronchitis and given doctor's orders to stay indoors. So we weren't able to drive to Augsburg for a second attempt to view the infamous angel show, nor swing down to the Glockenbach's Pink Christmas. Would you believe that between the terrorist threats early in the month and a sick son later in the month, I didn't even make it to Marienplatz's Weinachtsmarkt this year?!? That's okay, I think we got our fill. ;)
Who knows, maybe someday we'll be back for more . . . gluhwein, that is!

Skypeman

While we soooo love our time and adventure in Germany, we do miss our friends and family the most. Thank goodness for Skype melting away the miles. It's so fun to watch William perk up when he hears Skype launch and dial, he knows someone special is going to pop up before his eyes!

He even does special tricks for our Skypees. He'll run through his treasure chest of amusements such as shake, roll over, bark, play dead. Okay, I'm kidding, kind of . . . He'll run through his amusements such as clapping, pointing to face parts, dancing, freaking out, blowing kisses, etc. He'll also deem it the right time to show off new tricks even his parents have never seen like . . . WALKING!! Really, William, really? How long he'd been able to do this we'll never know. He still pretends he doesn't like to walk, but turn on Skype, and presto! He's like Forest Gump . . . He'll just keep walking and walking and walking! Show off.

Speaking of special tricks, there's one we have yet to figure out. During Skype sessions William loves to slam his hands on the keyboard. Sometimes he does this before we can get to him, so the screen disappears, etc. The above picture was snapped the other day while Skyping with my parents. Did you know you could take a photo of your Skypees? Jeff and I didn't and we still have no clue how William did it. Maybe someday he'll teach us . . .

Regensburg Weinachtsmarkt

It was our last full weekend in Germany before flying home for the holidays. This could only mean one thing:
Weinachtsmarkt Road Trip!!!!

Saturday found us in Regensburg, a fun little Medieval town, 1 hour north of Munich. We'd been here before, but not at Christmastime. We found the usual Weinachtsmarkt stuff, but were pleasantly surprised at their palace's Weinachtsmarkt.


Here I am in my cute new hat with a poof (EVERYBODY'S wearing them. See the lady behind me???) sipping, well, you know!

Several of Regensburg's squares hosted little stands of food, beverage, and items for sale.

One square had a mini, merry-go-round build entirely of wood. Note that the worker even spun it manually with bike pedals below her in the booth! If only William had a been a bit older . . .

The town square's advent calendar in a building's windows.

We had heard the Regensburg palace hosted their own Weinachtsmarkt. While we weren't keen on paying 5 Euro each for our entrance, the atmosphere and quality of items in the booths was well worth it. This was by far one of the more memorable Weinachtsmarkts we'd attended this year. The market was a fairly good size, inside the palace courtyard and around its grounds, plus the setting was, well, regal.

A live metal worker in the courtyard

My boys in front of the huge Christmas tree

A heartfelt lighting display

Looking back towards the entrance

Father Christmas! I know him! I KNOW him!

Overall:
Regensburg Weinachtsmarkt: In town, fun and the usual.
In the palace on the hill, FABULOUS! Don't miss it!

Chinese Tower Weinachtsmarkt

More snow = more festive fun at our local Weinachtsmarkts

This weekday evening found Will and I meeting Jeff at the Chinese Tower's Christmas Market in the English Garten. We enjoyed the winter wonderland, shopped, ate, and drank (I'll give you a guess as to what . . . it rhymes with schmoovine).
William was the excited benefactor of a sugar cookie bestowed to him by a stall worker. (I'll give you a guess for which parent was chaperoning him at this point in the evening while I was off shopping.) Jeff and I didn't think anything of our son's first cookie, that is, until we got home to watch him burn it all off by playing at hyperspeed before crashing for a late bedtime. Too funny.


Christmas wishes do come true!
Out of the kinderwagon: granted.
Crawl around in the snow: granted.
Whacking tree branches to watch powder fly: granted.

Loving the fresh snow! At least one of us was distracted from the cold!

The Chinese Tower

It's so hard to visualize this place defrosted and filled with picnic tables, an oompah band and Lederhosen-clad Bavarians!

The twinkling lights and snow-dusted stalls.

Ahhhh . . . there's really nothing like Christmastime in Munich!

Residenz Weinachtsmarkt

Munich's royal palace, the Residenz, is host to yet another Weinachtsmarkt. It is set in one of its many courtyards, this one off of Odeonsplatz. It's a fun mix of character stalls for children, the usual Christmas wares, and food/beverage.
William and I met Jeff here after work one night for dinner and, no not gluhwein, a glass of wine. Palaces sure do class it up with fancier beverages. The crowd was a fun mix of families and business colleagues swinging by for an after-work drink.


They guys in front of one of the children's booths. William was fascinated by all the characters.

It was an uncharacteristically warm night for December, so it was nice to hang out with our jackets open and hats and gloves off. So liberating!

King of the sleigh!

The palace walls surrounding the entire square were beautifully lit.

Nuremberg Weinachtsmarkt

Since we weren't venturing too far with our 2-month-old, Christmas 2009 found us falling in love with the Munich Weinachtsmarkts. It was a year ago we made ourselves the promise to visit the mother of all Weinachtsmarkts in Nuremberg in 2010.
So without further ado . . . .
(drumroll please!)
. . . . I present to you The 2010 Zabel Pilgrimage to Nuremberg!




After an easy train ride and short walk to city center (all the while balancing a Pack 'n' Play on our kinderwagon), we found ourselves in the town square, surrounded by snow-covered stalls.

My parents' Christmas gift to us was paying for our stay in an apartment just a few blocks from the city center. It was a perfect location allowing William to nap longer than in his kinderwagon, but more importantly a great location to just bop back to and warm up after a few hours in the cold. And, boy, was it cold!

* Hotel Lucas -- Mini-apartments over Cafe Lucas where a fabulous breakfast is served to you every morning. *



One of the best parts about our apartment's location was the ability to be at the Weinachtsmarkt before the hordes of tourists (Yes, I realize we were tourists too!) descended on the market for the day. Above a vendor un-tents his stand in the early morning.
Below are more photos Jeff took as the Weinahtsmarkt began to awaken for the day.

Our Lebkuchen ladies (They recognized us before the weekend was over!) poised and ready to serve. Yes, one Lebkuchen costs 1.70 Euro, but let me tell you, it is worth every penny!

A menagerie of ornaments

A shopkeeper ready to sell

Attention!

The horse and carriage on its way to transport people around this snowy, fairytale village.

Sausage anyone? There were so many of these stands selling the famous Nuremberger sausages. Yummy! Jeff and I ate plenty of wurst in der semmels for lunches. But of course we washed them down with . . . .

a little Gluhwein!

Another smaller square of the city hosted the Children's Weinachtsmarkt. Here Will and I are in front of the krippe.

Only in Germany . . . .
would they have a mini ferris wheel at a children's fair where the children
AREN'T STRAPPED IN?????
AAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!

On top of every stand were motorized characters in motion. All the snow made them look even more surreal.

Jeff and Will on the merry-go-round.

We also had fun wandering the town, discovering other beautiful parts of this Medieval city.
(No, my teeth aren't purple from Gluhwein. Well, maybe a little.)

This was by far one of my favorite sights in town. How adorable is this dog??? Poor thing must have (luckily?) been deaf in his left ear listening to that accordion play day in and day out.

In yet another square in town, Nuremberg's sister cities each hosted a booth. Atlanta embarrassed us by selling Oreos, Butterfingers, and Gluhwein spiked with Jack Daniels just to name a few wares. We didn't stop, but continued to stroll by trying to look Canadian.

William helping his dad get geared up before heading back out into the cold.

It snowed our last day in Nuremberg. Thank you, Mother Nature, could we have ordered anything more festive?
Alas, William didn't quite master catching snowflakes on his tongue. He was too busy laughing at his silly mom.

The Zabel family

Father and son in front of the entrance

The town square at dusk

Nuremberg was definitely a magical place to be during one of my favorite times of the year. As for why it is the most famous weinachtsmarkt? We're still not so sure . . . perhaps because the town square is bigger than Munich's and, therefore, able to hold more stalls? Regardless, we love that we were able to visit and celebrate the Christmas Season and celebrate Nuremberg's 175th year of hosting its Weinachtsmarkt.