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Manchester (2008)

Posted January 22, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

General impressions… Manchester has several themed Christmas markets in the downtown area. The Manchester markets began in 1999 but are partnered with Frankfurt, where the markets date to 1393. Don’t miss… Visit all the themes – they may not be marked, so check in advance If you drive… There is a parking garage for a …

Chester (2008)

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General impressions… Definitely off the beaten path – this is a medium-size, regional Christmas market. The market is located in the very old center of Chester. Don’t miss… The many shops of all kinds in the city center The Chester Market, an indoor market with a variety of shops Next time… Find a tour of …

Munich (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

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General impressions… The market is huge – 200+ stalls; during the busy times of day, people are shoulder-to-shoulder in the rows. The market is all in the central part of Old Town Munich – Marienplatz. The twin towers of Frauenkirche are featured on many of the old Munich Child postcards I collect. It was very …

Oberammergau (2009)

Posted January 27, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

General impressions… This mountain village was beautiful. It’s a woodcarving town and many of the church altars around the world are made here. It is probably more of a tourist town in the summer, but in December we didn’t see any other tourists. Priority for return visit… High Next time… Passion Play 2020 Stay again …

Salzburg (2009)

Posted February 5, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… We didn’t see enough of Salzburg to do it justice. It’s definitely worth another trip. Don’t miss… The highlight was the Augustiner beer hall. There are four huge halls with a small food court. Picture a beer hall that’s family oriented. We saw families come in with picnic baskets and table cloths. You can …

Ljubljana – Photos Only (2010)

Posted July 15, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Venice (2010)

Posted July 16, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

General impressions… Venice is definitely a tourist destination – it’s not off the beaten path at all, except that many of the paths are canals. Don’t miss… We found one of our all-time favorite restaurants just by accident. All of the restaurants had “spotters” just outside their door trying to recruit passers-by. This one was …

Lindau (2008, 2010)

Posted January 22, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

General impressions… Lindau is an island city. While there is modern development on the mainland, the island looks much like it did in pictures from the 1500s. Lindau is known as a tourist destination – but mostly for German-speaking tourists. We heard very little English spoken. The Christmas market is very small – no more …

Cesky Krumlov (2011)

Posted November 15, 2014 / By admin / 2 Comments

Impressions… We drove here directly from the Munich airport. The drive was very interesting – most of the way was on “back roads” and we saw very few cars or even signs of people. I’m not sure what we would have done if we had car problems. The GPS got us here, but was worthless …

Bratislava (2011)

Posted July 16, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

<strong>Some of our favorite photos</strong> <strong>Other photos</strong>

Bogliasco (2012)

Posted May 23, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Impressions… We only spent one night in Bogliasco on our way from the Milan airport to Cortona, so we didn’t get to know much about the city. We chose it because it’s on the west coast of Italy and we’ve heard about how beautiful it is. The views from our B&B were well worth making …

Cortona (2012)

Posted August 20, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

Impressions… We needed to be in London for a Beach Boys concert. We don’t really care for London, so we decided to stay there only the night of the concert and use the rest of our time to visit Tuscany. We have friends who have told us lots about Cortona (they live there part of …

Rattenberg – Photos Only (2013)

Posted June 3, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

Some of our favorite photos Other photos While we were in Rattenberg, we made a day trip to 2 very small towns with very small Christmas markets. Kufstein Kitzbuhel

Innsbruck – Photos Only (2013)

Posted July 15, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Hallstatt (2013)

Posted July 17, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Driving there through mountains and snow was an adventure. We were really off the beaten path – we were the only ones on the road most of the way. The town is built on the side of a mountain and it looks like one house on top of another. It was very crowded …

Dresden – Photos Only (2013)

Posted July 15, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Frankfurt am Main (2014)

Posted November 30, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Very big – 200+ stalls Very crowded – even more than Munich Higher percentage of food stalls than other markets Don’t miss… River cruise (http://www.primus-linie.de/en/) – take the earliest tour and board early Old footbridge across the Main (the bridge with all the locks) Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) Walking tour of the Christmas market …

Rothenburg (3 posts)

Posted December 3, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2014) Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2017) Kloster-Stüble (2014)

Stuttgart (2014)

Posted December 5, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… By far the most varied Christmas market we’ve seen – everything from the traditional food and crafts to kitchen appliance demos Very big – in the 200+ stalls category Crowded but not like the stop-and-go lines at Frankfurt Don’t miss… The old castle (nightly concert in the courtyard) Next time… Visit some of …

Heidelberg (2014)

Posted December 7, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Beautiful city We can look from our room over the main square Medium-size market scattered over several parts of the inner city Don’t miss… Modern cable car up to the castle Historic cable car the rest of the way up the mountain Walking through the old town The view from the top of …

Strasbourg (2014, 2 posts)

Posted January 31, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

Off the beaten path: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… Strasbourg, France (2014)

Saverne (2014)

Posted December 9, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Very small market – 4 booths plus a children’s play area No tourists – locals only If you drive… We found a free 2-hour parking lot several blocks from the city center Beaten path index (See the key here) Cameras: 5 Language: ? Path: 3 Tourists: 5 Bottom line… We stopped at Saverne …

Cochem (2014)

Posted December 13, 2014 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Way off the beaten path Nice hotel, but we are on the 4th floor with no lift Reserved parking but about a half-mile uphill Beautiful view on the way in Very small market – only 2 vendor stalls in the square, 10 or so more down by the river Don’t miss… The castle, …

Rüdesheim (2014, 2 posts)

Posted January 17, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

Rüdesheim am Rhine Pension Post Rüdesheim

St Wolfgang im Salzkammergut (2015)

Posted November 10, 2015 / By admin / 0 Comments

Impressions… We stayed in St. Wolfgang, but this post also applies to St. Gilgen and Strobl. They market the combination as “Wolfgangseer Advent”. All three towns are on Lake Wolfgang (Wolfgangsee) – St. Gilgen on the north shore, Strobl on the south, and St. Wolfgang in the middle of the east coast. We definitely made …

Steyr, Austria (2 posts)

Posted July 20, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Steyr – A Mistake That Worked (2015) Hotel Mader in Steyr, Austria (2015)

Niederösterreich

Posted January 26, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

We visited two small towns in Niederosterreich: Gaming Waidhofen an der Ybbs

Linz, Austria – Photos Only (2015)

Posted July 15, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Deggendorf & Moosburg – Photos Only (2015)

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Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Passau, Germany

Posted November 29, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Passau posts: Passau – A Return Trip (2016) Passsau – Photos Only (2015)

Cesky Krumlov (Multiple Posts)

Posted November 22, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Posts from Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic: Cesky Krumlov – Now a Tourist Destination (2016) Cesky Krumlov (2011)

Vienna (Multiple Posts)

Posted January 20, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Vienna posts: Vollpension – a restaurant that’s really different Vienna (2016) Music at Palais Niederösterreich (2015) Vienna – if you could only go to 1 place to see Christmas markets, this is it (2015) Vienna 2011 (Pictures Only)

Mariazell – a picture-book town (2016)

Posted December 6, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

We chose Mariazell because Our son recommended it It’s on a list of small, historic Austrian towns The Advent Market is weekends-only which is usually a sign that it’s more for locals than for tourists. Impressions… Like many small towns we visit, the drive here was interesting – narrow, winding roads. It was snowing and …

Sopron, Hungary (2016)

Posted December 8, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

This quickly became one of our favorite places. Posts about Sopron: Why we drive: Sopron Sopron – Our first visit but not our last (2016) German band in Sopron

Budapest (2015, 2016)

Posted December 22, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

We didn’t know what to expect in 2015 when we decided to add Budapest to our itinerary. We liked it enough to do a repeat visit in 2016. Budapest – Our first visit to Hungary (2015) Budapest (2016)

Keszthely, Hungary (2016)

Posted December 14, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Whatever Keszthely is like, it will be a surprise. It was a last-minute choice because it’s about half way between Budapest and Zagreb. I don’t even know if it has a Christmas market. Impressions… There was no problem getting here. We were on Hungarian motorways until the last 20 miles or so. There is a …

Zagreb (2016) – Photos Only

Posted December 22, 2016 / By admin / 0 Comments

Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Graz (2016)

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Ptuj, Slovenia We drove through Slovenia on our way from Zagreb to Graz. Along our route was the small town of Ptuj. We stopped only long enough to visit the castle/museum. Two 360-degree views (click and drag to view): Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Berchtesgaden (2016) – Photos Only

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Some of our favorite photos Other photos

Posted July 18, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… Three things stood out on our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel: The climate is definitely tropical – like the Everglades in July. It’s very green – greener than Florida. There are plants and flowers everywhere. Construction is also everywhere. We saw at least a dozen high-rise apartment buildings under construction. …

Visiting Family in Guilin (2017)

Posted July 1, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

We enjoy traveling independently – going where we want, on our own schedule, at our own pace. It was very different in Guilin. It was almost like we were relatives coming to see family. It started with Alice. Alice “Alice” is the English name of a young lady I have been emailing since 2014 in …

A Week in Langshi Village (pop. 300) (2017)

Posted July 10, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

First impressions… You have to want to go there. We took a car from our hotel in Guilin to Yangdi harbor, then a ferry across the Li River, then an “electromobile” (like a golf card with 2 very small seats in the rear) to Langshi. Like Guilin, it’s very green. Much of the surrounding area …

Xingping: We got back (with a little help from our friends) (2017)

Posted May 23, 2017 / By admin / 3 Comments

One measure of character is how you treat others when you’ve never seen them before, will never see them again, and there is nothing materially to be gained. We spent a week in a rural village accessible only by ferry. While we were there, we decided to take a small boat downriver to Xingping in …

Chengdu – Just another big city, except for… (2017)

Posted September 14, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

…except for the people we encountered. Chengdu began with a Smile. Smile “Smile” is the English name of the young lady whose apartment we rented. The name fits her well. She was very helpful (a 12-page handout ready for us with directions to everything we had mentioned in our email exchanges). What really stands out …

Grand Ol’ Opry (Sichuan style) (2017)

Posted June 21, 2017 / By admin / 0 Comments

Our main reason for going to Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan Province, was to visit the panda park. While there, we also wanted to try real Sichuan food and see Sichuan opera. Their opera is a collection of variety performances, from singing, to acrobatics, to fire-spitting. It’s all very entertaining, but the highlight is face-changing. …

The Road from Shangri-La (2017)

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Getting to Shangri-La was easy – a 1-hour flight from Chengdu. Getting from the airport to the hotel was a little more difficult – because of construction, it took longer to travel the 2 miles to the hotel than it did to fly here. Getting out of Shangri-La was a different story altogether. There are …

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