Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Scenes of Christmas

I've been wanting to go to the Strasbourg Christmas market for years now, and had decided that THIS was going to be the year. But then we had a look at ticket prices and it was just too darn expensive. I was pretty bummed until C suggested we take a detour through Germany on the way back and check out one there. I asked my customer for advice, and they suggested we go to Aachen.
After several fast starts - we couldn't figure out why the GPS kept switching the town name from Aachen to "Aix-la-Chapelle" (really though, the two are nothing alike!), we finally made it. The Aachen market was fairly small but very picturesque and quite different from the French ones I've been to. First of all, most of the French ones sell very little actual Christmas-related items. And with the exception of raclette sandwiches, they all sell basically the same food you'd find at any other time of the year. Whereas the German one had mostly only Christmas stuff and some new-to-us treats. And as a bonus - they sold mulled wine in a real mug that you got to keep at the end of you wanted.Another thing I've been wanting to do for a while is check out the Christmas lights in Paris:They were indeed beautiful, but with the exception of the above pictures, they weren't that Christmasy - most of the window displays were like this:Or like this:It was still a fun night out though - just be sure to dress warmly!

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4 Comments:

Blogger Anon said...

You take the BEST pictures! Thank you for sharing with us, I do love your blog. Merry Christmas.

Linda

December 14, 2010 at 3:02 PM  
Blogger Megan said...

sounds like fun. The Strasbourg Christmas market is fun- once. It was really crowded and every 4th booth had the same stuff. I too was expecting more artsy-craftsy gifts, but it was mostly mass produced. Ah well.

December 14, 2010 at 8:20 PM  
Blogger Anne said...

It's a pity you couldn't make it to the Strasbourg Christmas markets! They're fun but insanely crowded by now - and the weekends are pretty awful! I escaped to Germany to check out the Stuttgart Christmas Markets this weekend and they were fantastic! Quite different to the Strasbourg ones as well!

December 14, 2010 at 10:23 PM  
Blogger Diane Cransac said...

I was to the Strasbourg Christmas Market this last weekend, the crowds were unbearable, but I did see a lot of very pretty Christmas stuff. I am going to try to sneak over there again in the early morning as everyone says the crowds arent as bad.

December 14, 2010 at 11:34 PM  

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