I traveled a lot in December and was able to see Christmas markets in Leuven, Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, Bruges, and Brussels. I loved every one. The food was heaven. Hot dogs, fries, pretzels, chocolate covered fruit, and other regional specialties that I wish I wrote down the name of. The gluhwein, mulled wine, kept me warm and let me stay outside and enjoy the different markets.
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| The Leuven Christmas market in front of the library. Source |
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| Craziness at the market in Vienna. |
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| Pretty tea light holders they were selling in Vienna and Prague. |
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| Enjoying the Gluhwein in Bratislava. |
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| A bird's eye view of the Prague market. Source |
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| Christmas Market in Bruges. The buildings look like they came straight out of a storybook. Source |
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| At the Christmas market in Brussels. My scarf is ridiculously bright but my Grandma made it for me so I love it. |
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| One of the two coolest merry-go-rounds I've ever seen in Brussels. I seriously considered knocking some of the kids off so I could get on. Fortunately, I restrained myself. And the operator told me I was too big. My pictures do not do it justice so I uploaded a video I found of the other merry-go-round.... |
Pretty cool, right?
My friend from London was visiting and had never been sledding. I read that Brussels had a sledding place set up in the market so we were excited to try it out. I had been to one in Quebec City and it was pretty fun.
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| Sledding in Quebec. Source |
We finally found the sledding in Brussels...but it turned out to be just a tiny hill for children.
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It was a common theme of the evening, us being too old for the attractions. I guess we have to accept that we're too grown up for that stuff now. But then I was glad I wasn't a kid anymore, because if I saw this when I was a kid I would have probably peed my pants...
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| New Christmas tradition? |
I'm just wondering what crazy person thought of a giant ice-monster, which looked like an evil lizard and was so scary it had to be shackled to the ground, and connected it with Christmas? But all the kinderen (dutch for children) seemed to like it, or maybe they were consoled by the sight of Santa there? Even though Santa looks like he's about to be eaten alive. Buh bye St. Nick.
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| Santa about to be eaten by the Ice-Monster. |
That brings me to another topic. In Belgium and many other European countries, Santa is not as big a deal as Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas looks like a Pope and he's some kind of holy man. Every year he comes from Spain with his boat full of black Piets (they used to be slaves but now they're called chimney sweepers...They're the equivalent to Santa's elves, but not politically correct at all) and gives presents to everyone who's been good. And if you haven't been good, Sinterklaas has his Piets beat you with sticks. Or he used to anyway. The kinderen put their shoe out by the chimney with a letter to Sinterklaas, a carrot and sugar cube for the horses that carry Sinterklaas around, and a beer for the Piets on December 5th. Then while everyone is sleeping, the Piets climb the roofs of the houses, come through the chimney, and leave presents in the shoes.
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| Sinterklaas and his Piets. Source |
We celebrated at the house and left our shoes outside on Dec. 5th. And we got presents in the morning! I'm glad we were all good so we didn't get beaten with sticks by the Sinterpiets.
David Sedaris wrote a funny article about the time he first learned about Sinterklaas. You can read it here.
I had fun learning about Sinterklaas and it was a great experience to be in Europe during the holidays. I wish that they had Christmas markets back in the U.S. But I was glad to head home for a couple weeks to spend Christmas with my family.
-Chloe
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