Thursday, December 22, 2005

Missing a Good Christmas Market

The best Christmas markets can be found in Europe without a doubt. Last night PBS had a wonderful show on Christmas markets from an episode of The Seasoned Traveler.

The Christmas Market tradition spans more than 500 years old and are traditionally set up in town squares. Because these markets are so incredible, you will find many Americans flocking to these Christmas markets because they are so different compared to the malls and other places in the states.

These markets display crafters, local artisans, all handmade from Europe. The best way to find Christmas markets is simply looking in a town square. Some of the famous countries to host such markets are from Sweden to Spain and from Paris to Prague.

So if you'd like to get your fix of gluhwein and sausages why not visit any of these European hot spots. In this particular show, George Bauer took a look at several Christmas Markets, beginning in Vienna (which has several of them) and Salzburg in Austria, then to places like Passau, Regensburg, and Nuremberg in Germany.

For me, Vienna was simply stunning. It's a place I have yet to visit, with many markets throughout the town square, you just have to walk around to find them. The next stop was Salzburg which I saw last on tv with Matt Lauer. Passau was the next stop which is home of the world's largest organs of Bavaria. Neuremburg is Home of the Oldest sausage kitchen in the world and is also where the Christmas market tradition began, and bustling beauty especially for children.

So for this year, I guess my fix will filled by everyone reporting back from their nice strolls and the tv shows I find that are all about Europe and Switzerland.

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