Capturing the Christmas spirit
November 28th 2007 15:44
When it comes to Christmas time in Europe, there is one thing I love more than anything else: Christmas markets.
These markets feature in several European countries, including Germany, and spring up around the beginning of December. They usually consist of many little stalls selling food, crafts, toys and basically anything that makes a good gift idea.
They create an enchanting and wonderfully clichéd Christmas atmosphere -- the kind that makes you want to be seven years old again and go toy-shopping with your grandfather. When evening comes, they transform into a glowing oasis of fairy lights and mouth-watering aromas, injecting life and warmth into the wintry surroundings.
The city of Bonn, where I live, has a lovely Christmas market in the main square. I went there on Monday and sent myself on a little photographic assignment in an attempt to capture the magical ambience. I'll let my photos tell the rest of the story...
An outer side of the Christmas market.
A stall selling gingerbread goodies, aptly named "Gingerbread House".
This stall also sells roasted almonds. (You don't know heaven until you've tasted roasted almonds.)
A ferris wheel -- fun for the kiddies.
At night, the market is an oasis of fairy lights.
However, the Christmassy atmosphere in Europe is not necessarily limited to the markets. Some of the streets and buildings in Bonn are beautifully decorated at the moment, as the photos below show.
Christmas stars in the city.
More stars.
Yesterday evening, I met up with my boyfriend and a friend of ours at the Christmas market. I consumed two glasses of steaming Glühwein (a traditional German Christmas wine that's always served hot). It went straight to my head and... well... let's just say the world around me was suddenly filled with a warm amber glow -- and it wasn't the one coming from the fairy lights.
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