Christmas markets

We went to some of the wonderful Christmas markets in Europe. We started in Vienna, Austria, then went to Nuremberg, Germany. From there it was on to Colmar, France (with a side trip to Strasbourg), and finally Basel, Switzerland.

The markets are amazing, for the booths, the decorations, the festive atmosphere, and so much more, including the gluhwein.

One of the many cool features of the markets is the mug that is available for purchase when a person buys gluhwein or hot chocolate. Each market has its own styled mug (some in France have plastic cups, instead), and some of them have multiple mugs for purchase.

Another great part of the markets is the lighting. The cities go all-out to decorate their buildings, streets, and markets with wonderful lights. Strasbourg in particular also decorates the buildings with many, many, many bears.

Click on a pic to see a slideshow with larger images.