Too much Christmas? No such thing.

As though visiting three previous Christmas markets wasn't enough, we headed last Sunday to Nürnberg for the most famous Christmas market in Germany. The trip on the train was 3 hours, and only 20 Euros a couple thanks to the Schönes Wochenende (Happy-Weekend) ticket. We went with our friends Katie and Carl, and their friends, Kathleen and Mike.

Just across the street from the train station in Nürnberg is the "old city" section. This part is the original castle part of the city, and is surrounded by a wall and a long-since-drained moat. Inside the wall the buildings are filled with cute, touristy shops like the Old Tin Toy Shop and the Lebkuchen Bakery. Very charming.

Meanwhile, in the city center, the streets are full of pedestrians, strolling through and enjoying the 160+ booths at the Christkindlmart. The architecture is so nice, and such a contrast to modern Stuttgart. Nürnberg was more or less leveled during WWII, but was rebuilt to look just as it did before the war. It's really very pretty. While walking through the market, we got roasted chestnuts (new experience, pretty tasty), candied almonds, mini-bratwurst sandwiches, glühwein (mulled wine), and fresh lebkuchen (soooooo good). We also saw some fun performers, such as the one-man band, with a tin bandmate playing the drums:


....and found out that Nürnberg is famous for "prune people"... semi-scary figurines made with prunes and figs:

To see the rest of the pics from our grand day out, click here.