Yes! It's that time of year again! The Christmas markets are starting to pop up again and my most favorite is the one in Aachen, Germany! I've invaded it every year since we first got stationed here...and it makes me very..very sad that this will be our last one. Of course, I'll invade this particular one a few more times within the next month, but still..2012 is the last year we'll be attending 'em.
Le Sigh.
All the stores were decked out with Christmas decor! Everything looked so pretty and magical, especially the bakeries. Then again, I think I'm rather partial to the pastries since I'm a little bit of a glutton...naahhhh....
I was actually pretty surprised that more people weren't there since today was the opening day for the market. But, the weather wasn't very favorable since it was rather chilly and raining throughout our entire visit. I'm sure most people preferred to stay all bundled up at home and snuggled up on the couch. I'm positive Eric would've preferred to do the same thing, but he was a trooper and opted to troll the market with me cause he's awesome like that. Actually, it's because he was bribed with Starbucks...
Eric was completely smitten with the size of the long wieners that were being grilled throughout the market stalls. Nevermind the fact that we had just gorged ourselves on our favorite sushi joint, lol...he was still willing to inhale one of those bad boys!
The town hall was looking gorgeous as usual:
Eric got this crazy look in his eye and I couldn't figure out what was going on behind me...sure enough...
...one of the market vendors was selling cotton candy. All was lost. So...so very lost...
Once Eric's sugar gremlin was appeased, I went around to my favorite market vendor who sells the German glass ornaments - Inge's Christmas Heirlooms. I actually wrote out a list of the various ornaments I was looking for. Yes, seriously. Ya see, my Christmas tree is like my own little travel / life passport where I get ornaments to symbolize big things that have happened or things that are important to me. For example, I was looking for a passport ornament because of all the traveling I've done since we've been here...or a hot air balloon since we'll be moving to New Mexico. Here's some of the ornaments we were able to snag:
Since Aachen's market is our absolute favorite, it was definitely necessary to buy their official ornament:
Eric has an obsession with Chocopolis in Brussels. So much, in fact, that once we move to New Mexico and when it gets to a cooler time of the year there...he'll be ordering his favorite coffee chocolate from them and having it shipped to us. THAT, my friends, is dedication.
Eric actually picked this one out for me. It's because I cook so much...and he loves my cooking. It's also because when he attempted to make something once and used a metal utensil in my very nice & very expensive Pampered Chef pans. I *informed* him in a rather panicked tone that you never use metal on metal...always use plastic or wood. So, I find it rather humorous that they actually have a wooden spoon glass ornament available..
The providence we live in is very known for its equestrian talents. There's always some sort of riding event going on somewhere around here , which is actually pretty cool to watch. Not only that, but the area around our house has five gorgeous horses (two of which have been born since we've been here)..and whenever we go for a walk, they run up to the fence line because they've gotten accustomed to the apples & carrots we toss their way. I'm honestly gonna miss those guys! Whenever I pull into the drive way and get out of my truck, two of 'em always rush up to the fence line and greet me with snorts & hoof stomps till I acknowledge them.
Eric was VERY relieved that those were the only ornaments I picked up, although, none of those were on my original shopping list...so of course I'm still on the hunt for those particular items. As we walked around some more, we came across a vendor whose stall was full of gorgeous little cottages, cathedrals, little churches and all sorts of various things you'd use to make mini towns for a Christmas setting. One piece IMMEDIATELY caught my eye because it looks SO much like the church in the town we live in. After humming and haaing about it, we finally decided to snag it because knowing our luck, if we were to come back at another time to get it, it'd be gone.
Oh, and lets not forget about Lush. During the winter time, they come out with "Snow Fairy", which I completely fell inlove with last year and have been itching to get a hold of again. Sure enough, we popped in there and they had a bunch of it on the shelf. I stocked up on a few bottles and looked a little too giddy about it...I think the staffed picked up on it cause they were giggling about how excited I was when showing Eric "LOOK! LOOK! THEY GOT IT! EEEEE!!!"
No date day is complete without Starbucks....since I was still very stuffed from the sushi, Eric opted to get himself his usual. In the process of getting his drink, he inquired about them selling their large "in house" mugs because we KNOW they used to sell 'em, but always came at a bad time, or they just didn't have enough in stock. Well, this time, they had 'em. So of course, he bought 'em and went on his merry way to meet up with me since I was off taking pictures of stuffs. I got a chance to check 'em out once we got home and I was surprised that they changed the mugs! They used to have the green siren logo on the front...and now it's just a recessed image in the mug (which shape has also been changed). Either way, I was happy with 'em!
Sounds dorky, but I thought it was pretty cool that they have a "V" on the handle to represent "Venti"..it's the little things, right? :)
So, there ya have it. That was our day...pillaging the Christmas market, did some people watching, did some shopping and ended up coming home to defrost since it was rather chilly / soggy over in beautiful Germany. On that note, off to enjoy some nice hot tea that Eric made :)
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