Last Christmas Market Ever!

I'm sad to say it, because I like them so much, but today we traveled to our last Christmas market ever! We have really enjoyed going to different cities to see the markets all over Germany. So far this year, we have been to Schweinfurt, Rothenburg, Erfurt, and Salzburg. Over the past three years, we have never made our way down to the Nurnberg Christmas market. It is supposed to be the largest and most well known in Germany. All of that also makes it the busiest, which has kept me away. But, knowing this is our last Christmas in Germany, I decided I would really regret not getting there if we didn't go this year.

We went down to Nurnberg last week (as you may have read from a previous post) but didn't make it to the market because of the crazy parking. So, after church today we jumped on the train and got down there with no problem. We walked through the market seeing lots of really neat things. This market had a bigger variety of items, so it was fun to look at it all. And of course, we had to try out lots of the food. Between the two of us, we ate a bratwurst, waffle, chocolate covered banana, and a chocolate covered cinnamon cream ball. I really wish we would have taken a pictures of this cream ball. We had never seen them before and it was quite delicious! I could have gone for another one, but I held back.

Unfortantely, the weather wasn't the most pleasant. It was very wet and cold, and it was misting the whole time. But that didn't stop us! After we walked through all the aisles, we stood infront of a live jazz band with a singer and listened to some Christmas tunes. One great thing about Germany, a lot of their concerts are sung in English. I really enjoyed listening and would have even more if it wasn't so cold.

A view from on top of the Christmas market. All you can see if the tops of all the stands.

It was kind of sad leaving, knowing that we are starting to close on this chapter in our lives. I know.... we still have almost an entire year left, but I've loved it so much here. This is the first place we have called home as a couple, so it's special to us.

When we got home, we pulled out our new toys to play with. These are both brain teasers. The first one has lots of strangely shaped figures that fit perfectly in the shape of a cube. There are over 100 different ways to make it fit together. Thankfully we took a picture of each piece being removed. It's the only way I can get it back together!

Here is the second one. It's called a skyscraper. There is a metal rod that can be put into 13 different locations. Then the rest of the wooden skyscrapers have to fit perfectly around it, forming a square. Again, not so easy! Jay tried.... and.... well, you can see how successful he was!

He couldn't quite get it all to fit perfectly. So, instead he has two empty spots on the inside of the city and two skyscrapers sticking out! He was close though!