Christmas Markets and Christmas day 2014

Frohe Weihnachten = Merry Christmas,  December 2014 in Grafenwoehr Germany.  So the thing to do in Germany is to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Winter market/ Christmas market). We were able to see 4 Christmas markets.  The First was in Wroclaw Poland, then we went to Guteneck German, a local one in Weiden Germany, and finally a larger one in Nuremberg Germany.

A German Christmas Tradition Lebkuchen Cookies.  They Taste like a dense raisin cake thing.   

Kinderpunch is the non-alcoholic version of the Gluhwein which is the hot Mulled wine that everyone drinks at the market.  The kinderpunch was really sweet, like grape juice with a Christmas spice.

 

Whitney eating Bratwurst and liking them.  Germany has the best Brawts.

 Defender 90

CHRISTMAS AT THE WILDING'S APT!

 We gave each other our favorite Cologne and perfume

 Whitney got the mother load with books this year!!!

A Christmas Hike!

Our Travel Book Collection is getting bigger and better!!

Merry Christmas 2014

Boleslawiec and Wroclaw Poland

Over Thanksgiving weekend Jake and I decided to head to Boleslawiec, Poland to do a little Polish pottery shopping and then we headed onward to Wroclaw to get more of a taste of Poland.

In front of one of the shops.  This one gave us a tour of the pottery making process!

Pieces during the drying stage.

So many beautiful pieces just stacked up on the floor! I love the way they all look together.

Shelves and shelves of pottery.

After touring and spending too much money in Boleslawiec we drove to Wroclaw to tour and sight see this charming little city.

Getting my bearings. :-)

 

It was SO cold the weekend we were there.  I think this is the coldest I have felt in Europe so far.

Something that is unique about the city is that there are little dwarfs throughout the entire city, so we tried to spot as many as we could.

We did find more than two, but I'll spare you from seeing a picture of every single one.

Wroclaw had a Christmas market going on while we were there.  The market was right in the center of town, so we ended up walking through it multiple times during our visit there.

Jake may have mentioned this before in a previous blog post, but something that we enjoy doing when we visit a new city, is to pay the 1 or 2 euros to climb the stairs up the top of the church tower in the center of town to get a view of the city.

On my way up.

 In front of the church tower.

City view.

Some Soviet Era cement apartment buildings.

Jake wanted to take a tour of the Raclawicka Panorama, which depicts the Battle of Raclawice during the Kosciuszko Uprising.  Although the Polish succeeded in the Battle of Raclawice, the uprising ultimately failed.

 

We had some great food while we were in Poland.  I was particularly excited to try Central Cafe which I found on Yelp.  It worked out fabulously as it was right down the street from our hotel and had excellent food, a good combo!

Doing a little research for last minute sight seeing before heading back to Graf.