Xmas Markets

Earlier this month, I went on a Rhine Cruise to check out the German Markets...well it was supposed to be a Rhine Cruise but this year the Rhine is suffering, Germany hasn't had much rain so the Rhine is too shallow for the river cruise boats to sail in. As well as this the low water level has led to the discovery of some unexploded WW2 bombs which we didn't want to sail over for obvious reasons. This meant our itinerary slightly changed so we cruised on the Moselle River and visited towns and villages both along the Moselle and Rhine Valley.

Moselle Valley 

We sailed through the most amazing scenery, it was so beautiful lots of quaint little towns and villages and beautiful festive xmas lights. I loved the markets too, I am a shopping savage and there was lots of variety in the different markets we visited. I found lots of unusual decorations and ended up buying some hand carved wooden trees and baubles.

Cologne Xmas Market 

My favorite market had to be Cologne, although it didn't have the quaint atmosphere of Bernkastel or Ruddesheim there was such a vast array of handmade wonders on show and it really inspired me with a few craft ideas that hopefully I will be blogging about soon when they are finished. In the mean time check out some of the photos I took...truly stunning.

Giant Nutcracker