One last Christmas market

We went this past weekend with Kelly again to Germany to hit one last Christmas market or two. We went to Mannheim and Heidelberg, which has great markets. We got in to Mannheim and grabbed a quick lunch at Vapiano's (our last time there in Europe). Yummy! We then caught the train to Heidelberg to go see their markets first. We hit the tourist information booth outside the main station and I lost a bet (sort of) that I made with Gene in Vienna. He was trying to find purple poof-ball hats with the ear flaps in Vienna...I told him if he found a purple one I would wear it...but they luckily didn't have any. They had them in Heidelberg. Damn! He bought two so we would match and made me wear it. Still shaking my head! I was a good sport and did wear it all day.

We walked their shopping street and they had 4 or 5 different markets set-up along the way. It was nice to get hot cocoa along the way and keep warm. :) We found some nice Christmas ornaments, too. Gene got some great pictures on the bridge of the castle on the hillside above Heidelberg. It was beautiful as it was right at dusk. We got our dinner at the last Christmas market....I had some great garlic, tomato mozzerella bread and Gene had a steak/onion sandwich. Yummy!! :) Then, we caught the train back to Mannheim to hopefully see the markets before they closed. I was disappointed there because I couldn't find any hot cocoa!!! What kind of Christmas market is that?!?!? Their main market was swarming and we could barely walk through the crowds of people, so we thought we would go get a real dinner at the Irish pub we had been to about 2 years ago...right next to the train station. We were denied...there was not a seat in the pub open. So, instead we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for dinner there.

We got up on Sunday and grabbed breakfast at Starbuck's. They had double chocolate muffins!!! So yummy!!! Then, we went to the markets again in Mannheim. Much easier to walk around!! We found an awesome German traditional Christmas decoration. It is a wooden carosoul type decoration that you light candles on the sides, there is a wooden "fan" on the top and the heat from the candles makes it spin. There is a nativity scene on the inside of it. Our train was right after lunch, so we ate at the markets again...I had garlic, buttered corn on the cob and Gene had a pork/onion sandwich. Then, for dessert I had a cinnamon/sugar crepe (very disappointed that they did not have chocolate, only nutella - which is not chocolate). Then, time to grab our luggage from the hotel and head to the train. It was a fun weekend!! :)