Christmas in Germany

Yeah, this post should have been done a few weeks ago...but it wasn't.

So probably my favorite thing about the Christmas season in Germany is the Christmas Markets (Weihnactsmarkt). These are located in the downtown of bigger cities. I went several times to the market in Bonn and one time to the market in Köln.
These markets are full of Christmas things (ornaments, signs, candles, etc), other random things (clothes, scarves, hats, house decorations, statues, boomerangs, and everything), and lots of really good food. I took pictures of the Köln Weihnachtsmarkt, but most of them didn't turn out...but I hope you get the idea from the pictures below.







Oh yeah, on the way back to our car from the Köln Weihnachtsmarkt, we passed a really good looking ice cream parlor. So of course we stopped and got ice cream cones (since Heidi loves ice cream...and me too because German ice cream = AMAZING). That was so awesome: Eating ice cream cones while walking outside in the middle of winter. It was hilarious because I kept seeing people staring at us and a few commented about how it’s ice cold and we’re sitting there eating ice cream. It was delicious though. :D




So Christmas Eve day. I was feeling a little homesick (okay, not a little....it was the worst it's been the entire 5 months I've been here). However, the Hameyers saw I wasn’t doing too well, that I was homesick, and of course they made a bigger deal out of it than it was…and Dieter gave me his phone and told me to call my family. My mom answered, and I said "Hi Mama." She was quite surprised to hear me on the phone and said “Oh my gosh it’s Allegra Bel. It’s Allegra Bel!” Then I talked to everybody, and that was really cool.
Then later that evening we opened our presents and had an amazingly delicious dinner, because, in Germany, all the festivities happen on the 24th. The pictures below are from Christmas Eve.

8 days skiing in Austria in the Alps was absolutely incredible.

So time for catch up. The last week was so much fun. Skiing everyday! The normal day was waking up between 7 and 7:30am, getting ready, eating breakfast, putting on all the warm clothing, walking down to the ski kellar, putting on ski boots and skis, then skiing down to the first lift. There we would meet the Pokorny family (family friends) and get on the lift. Then we would ski until around 12pm. Then we would go to the lodge, eat lunch and relax for a little. Usually after us kids (Fabian, Lena, Laura and me) were done eating, we would play “Bloody Knuckles” or “Uno”. Then after our lunch break we would ski for a few more hours until 4pm.
After the 2nd day, skiing got much better for me. I could ski for longer periods and not be tired and I began to have lots more fun. I fell quite a few times, but it was always laughable.
The views of the mountains and valley and everything was astounding. We got some amazing pictures. :D


Check out the slide show (click on it to make it bigger).




Happy New Year everybody!!!