Sunday, November 21, 2010

A Taste of the Holiday Season and Weekend Wonders

Hello my friends. It’s been an exciting weekend, so I thought I’d share some of it with you. First off, many of you who truly know me know that I LOVE THE HOLIDAY SEASON. Unfortunately, I will not be in the States celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, but I did buy a little chicken that I shall cook up this week.

On Friday, a neighboring town already setup their Christmas Market. We headed over there for some tasty food, mulled wine and to get into the holiday spirit…okay, I’m already in the holiday mood. All the booths are decorated so cute.

The first booth I will present is a bread booth. Germans love bread, so this was a must to share.

This is a bratwurst booth. I love how bratwurst is served here. It’s a very long and skinny, like a sausage, and served on a roll (forgot to take picture before I ate it).

My mom had a huge village that she setup at Christmas time. These are German houses for Christmas villages.


Here is a great bar area where they serve beer, wine and hard liquor for those “who want to get drunk fast, and [they] don’t need any characters around to give the joint ‘atmosphere’”.


I laughed when I saw these on display. It’s mulled wine bottles wrapped with bread.

  
And here were some snowmen and reindeers made from tree trunks.


On Saturday, we already planned to go to Luxembourg—told that it is part of my heritage. This was an interesting day, because I was in four different countries; Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Belgium…Well…Belgium was an accident—we happened to have missed the sign that said “This Way!”

We left early and arrived before the crowds got in our way. Luxembourg is a beautiful city and my pictures do not do it justice. There was heavy fog over the area, so the sun didn’t get much of a chance to take a peak.

This is a picture near the town center looking down into the Petruss Valley. Outside the old fortress and palace, the water eroded and created the Petruss Valley, so the town built around this big park.


  
Here’s a picture for my eating buddies. This is a dessert and pastry store. The one in front to the far right looked like velvet, but we tried the individual caramel tort that’s in the middle in front. Mmmm…


This is the Passerell Bridge that has 24 arches and it’s in an arch formation. The bridge was built from 1859 – 1861.



This is the Adolphe bridge, built from 1899 – 1903, and was the largest bridge made from natural stone at the time of completion.


We walked up many, many stone stairs to get to the casements (system of tunnels for defense purposes).
 
  
Then we ventured into another area that somewhat turned into a little Italy. We had lunch in this area at a place called Oscar Wilde (great food at reasonable prices).

 
As we left the City of Luxembourg, I was able to capture a picture of the setting sun.

Today, we went to another town to enjoy the sun. SUN! We had sun, so I grabbed my camera to get some beautiful shots. I’ll share just a few with you.


  
Hope you enjoyed my weekend journey. Have a wonderful week.  

7 comments:

  1. What fun! I love all the pictures and the sweet Christmas market!

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  2. OMG, Tater! I'm so jealous! These pics you post are amazing. I think I can save airfare & just live through your blog!! Keep it up! Happy Turkey Day if I don't talk to you before then! Love ya!

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  3. Kimmi, Thanks. These Christmas markets are wonderful. When I was at the Christkindel market last December in Chicago, I would have never thought I'd actually experience the Christmas markets in Germany a year later.

    June, I'm so glad you like my pics. You know if you ever decide to fly on out here, you're welcome in our little flat. Happy Turkey Day to you too!. Lurves ya.

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  4. Bea,
    Great pictures and those narratives are making it the next best thing to actually being there and taking it all in including the food and drink! Thanks so much for continuing to share!

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  5. yep yep,....

    great post, tot!




    cray

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  6. Man-oh-man, it looks like you are on perpetual vacation out there.;-) I'm jealous (good-jealous)everytime I come on over here to see what's new.

    I have a question...Does Germany experience the same temperatures/seasons as we (Chicagoans)do during the same time of year? In other words, will you be hoping for a white Christmas?

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  7. Veejay! I’m glad you’re enjoying my journeys. Thanks for continuing to read my blog.

    cray, appreciate you stopping by and commenting.

    Barb, I am having a good time, thanks.

    Yes, Germany experiences the same temperatures/seasons as Chicago, but believe it or not, in my opinion, it fluctuates more—by the hour. November is a very dreary month in Germany. Right now it’s raining, but they’re expecting us to receive some snow. I hope for a white Christmas IN CHICAGO. I’ll be home for the Christmas season. Take care.

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