The Christmas lights have been up around the columns of the Königsbau Passagen for over a week now. My weather app is forecasting a chance of (gasp!) snow this week. Our grocery store has a full display of Lindt Christmas chocolate and rows upon rows of Speculoos cookies and Lebkuchen. And just yesterday, I watched as they began erecting the ice skating rink and Christmas village in front of the New Castle.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Christmas is fast approaching...
I still can't believe that I saw heavy snow three out of four days this week! Unfortunately, spring hasn't quite got the memo that it's supposed to begin. Even so, I'm looking forward to the many wine hikes and festivals that are starting to fill up my calendar. If you'd like to keep up, then be sure to mark off the following dates...
Christmastime is almost here again! It's a magical season in Germany when the Christmas stalls fill the streets and Glühwein appears in everyone's mugs (not really, but that would be nice). Living in a city as large as Stuttgart, there are many opportunities to attend not only Stuttgart's four-week market, but also many of the other smaller markets around the area.
So get ready for the Christmas season and look forward to these events coming up in November and December...
The Esslinger Zwiebelfest (translated: Esslingen Onion Festival) has been going on now for the past week, but with the Stuttgart Sommerfest and Thursday Street Food Market also in town, we've pushed this one back until this weekend. With our Saturday free, we decided to make the trip out for lunch.
We had an easy 15-minute ride from the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof to Esslingen's main station on one of the regional trains. From there we walked to Esslingen's Marktplatz, about another 10 minutes from the station and through the weekly Saturday produce market along Bahnhofstraße. We were greeted by a large blue sign announcing the onion festival in the Marktplatz, which is also the site of Esslingen's yearly Christmas Market. It's a really lovely square surrounded by half-timbered houses, and you can even see the old Medieval wall and the vineyards surrounding Esslingen in the distance. Along the south side of the square is the imposing St. Dionysius Church and the location of Kessler, Germany's oldest Sekt (sparkling wine) producer...
Walking is my main source of exercise these days as it's an activity that I enjoy and one that my beagle will actually take part in. (We quickly found out when he was a puppy that running was out of the question after about five minutes.) I wrote a post last fall about some of my favorite walks in and around Stuttgart, and I'd like to continue that post with three more walks that I've found since then.
And so here are three more walks that I've come to enjoy in and around Stuttgart (again, in no particular order and continuing from where I left off)...
Apart from the Stuttgart Weihnachtsmarkt, my second favorite Christmas market in the region is in Esslingen. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, after a while I find that most Christmas markets that I've been to are pretty similar: they all have Glühwein and most of the same arts and crafts. Secondly, Esslingen takes a fun spin on the theme by featuring a Mittelaltermarkt or Middle Ages market.
And so in order to share with you the Middle Aged magic of the market, we headed out to Esslingen this past weekend to take in all the sights and sounds of the season...
