Yesterday, TLS and I went to the Trier Christmas market. Since Luxembourg is only a 38 minute drive from Trier, we made a semi-spontaneous decision to drive there for dinner and get in another country before the year is up. (Last year we made a joined New Year Resolution to visit 10 countries together in 2010. Luxembourg made #9.) In typical MRM fashion, I left my camera at home. Thank goodness my new iphone 4 takes good pictures.
Trier was the third Christmas market we went to together and of those three (the others were Mannheim and Kaiserslautern), it was definitely the smallest. In my opinion- it was the best though. The town itself is gorgeous and adorable and lends itself nicely to the atmosphere.
A gorgeous church in Trier.
I thought this shop was pretty and fun with the giant bow and twinkle lights in the window, so I had to take a picture of it.
The entrance to the Medieval Jewish Quarter.
Gluhwein mug. Gluhwein is a hot, spiced wine that's traditionally served at the Christmas markets. (You will not find a Christmas market without at least one Gluhwein stand.) You pay a deposit on the mug when you buy your wine, and you can either return it and get your deposit back, or keep the mug. Many people collect these mugs because they are adorable. (TLS has one from 2008 that's in the shape of a snowman! I hope that they bring that one back.) This year's was in the shape of a boot. (I am not certain of the significance of this, but I do know that there is some German legend about drinking out of a boot. I've seen boot-shaped beer mugs as well,) It has 2010 written on the toe, a picture of the town on one side, Santa on the other, and Trier Weihnachtsmarkt on the front. Naturally, we kept ours.
The Porta Nigra- a Roman gate in Trier. A hermit monk named Simeon lived inside it. After his death, a church was erected on site as a monument to him. It is no longer in use today.
Luxembourg:
We only drove to Luxembourg for dinner and back, so I did not get a chance to take many pictures. Of what we did see, however, the city is beautiful. We plan on going back next year for longer than just three hours. While we were there, we saw a mini Christmas market. There were only 3 food stalls and 2 or 3 crafts stalls.
Attached to the crepe stall (we got a crepe with chestnut cream- delicious!) was a postbox addressed to St. Nick so children could drop their letters in and know that they would get delivered to the source.
Last picture of the night- the beautiful train station.
It all looks so pretty, what a wonderful time of year to be visiting these new places! I love the way kinds can drop off their letters to St. Nick, and the way they do the mugs!
ReplyDeleteSending you a smile across the miles,
tp
So beautiful! I envy your ability to visit another country for the day :) A good friend is living in London these days, and she is having a ball taking weekend trips to other countries. Good for you and TLS for taking full advantage while you are there!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to go to both places since I got here! Esp. Luxembourg to knock the country off my list. Haha, looks gorgeous, though! We STILL haven't hit a christmas market, but in our defense, it has just been hectic and money is tight until we can get finance to stop giving us money (unless we keep it, of course! but we know they'll just stop paying us for 4 months instead) Plus, I don't exactly have winter clothes yet. But soon, hopefully, they will come and we can go see some markets! Glad you got to go, looks like it was a beautiful time!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! I love that you decided to visit 10 countries in 2010. What will be your 10th before the end of the month?
ReplyDeleteI studied in Luxembourg for six months during my undergrad, and it is the most amazing place! I haven't been backk since, which is awful, but I have been missing it to much lately!
ReplyDeleteAlso, it may not still be there, but there was a shop in Trier that sold gummy everything! They had coconut flavored gummy palm trees, among other things!