Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Christmas markets

My very first trip to Europe was during the month of December on one of those “8-day, 5-city, Capital discovery” motorcoach tours that started in London, ended in Paris and delivered everything in between as promised: a reasonable price, comfortable accommodations, meals, sightseeing, and transportation. Because of the time of the year, when we arrived in Munich I spent hours wandering the miniature wooden chalet lined walkways of their Christkindlmarkt, glowing with lights, scented with cinnamon and chocolate, and made especially enchanting by the falling snow. Forty years later I’d be doing the same thing, this time with Bill, but it would be in Strasbourg, France where their tradition of the Marché de Noël got started in 1570, a bit later than 1434 in Germany.

In keeping with our own December tradition, we’ve just returned from visiting a Marché de Noël—in fact, 3 of them—in Lille, Arras (featured photo above), and Amiens. As we were stopping at chalet after chalet to admire all of the decorations, vin chaud (hot mulled wine) in hand, Bill exclaimed, “I feel like a kid at Christmas!” Here’s hoping that you too will feel like that kid!

Christmas markets in Lille, Arras, and Amiens

9 thoughts on “Christmas markets”

    1. That tree is actually part of a ride and you can see the pods swinging below the branches with people in them. There were wine booths as well but we only drank the Vin Chaud (spiced hot wine) at the marchés.

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  2. Wonderful photos – I almost feel like I was there enjoying it, too! I had a lovely glass of hot mulled wine (oh, the carbs! 😉) in a special place this midday before, sadly, boarding a train which is now whisking us northward again. The sunshine has brought a lovely end to a flying visit.

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