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I couldn't head back to the Southern Hemisphere without one last visit to some of my favourite things in the world- Christmas Markets!!! After much thought I decided on German Christmas markets this year since that is where they started- and they definitely didn't disappoint! This trip was another weekend trip- and we met up with our friends Sarah and Steven.

There are seven Christmas markets all with different themes spread over the city of cologne- with the Cathedral taking center stage to the city. First we headed to Markt der Engel as it was the closet market to our accommodation. I loved these markets, which were angel themed and had fairy lights all in the trees. Next we headed to Weinachtsmarkt am Kolner Dom which are the iconic markets in front of the cathedral- here we had our first bratwurst for the weekend and started our Gluwhein (Mulled wine) mug collection- each market had a different mug you could collect. These markets were not one of my favourites as they were the most crowded! Since the sun was out we decided we should climb the cathedral next. The inside of the cathedral was amazing- it was huge! Climbing the cathedral took longer than expected due to the spiral staircase being one way. The views at the top were great- we could see down onto the markets.

We decided to head down the river and stumbled across what turned out to be my favourite market of the weekend- Heimat der Heizel. These markets were gnomic themed, so they featured gnomes on top of all the roofs of the stalls- and of course on our gluwhein mug! Next we went to our least favourite market- Schiffs-weihnachstmarkt that was a market on a boat-which you had to pay to get on.

All of the markets sold pretty much the same things- decorations, gifts and food. There were lots of great gift ideas if you lived locally, and I would love to be able to buy all those amazing decorations!! One thing we could buy was food! Some of the food eaten over the weekend included; bratwurst (German sausage), deep fried potato with apple sauce, meat stick and waffles. One thing I really enjoyed about the markets is that there was so many locals out and about- we didn't actually hear one other Aussie/Kiwi accent which was amazing. Was great walking around the markets and hearing everyone speak in German!

After praying for snow, which was forecasted we sadly woke up on Sunday to find none. We headed out to two of the markets we didn’t get to on Saturday - Marchenweihnachtsmarkt which was supposed to be Brothers Grimm themed but I didn’t see that, and then Hafen-Weinsachtsmacht which was nautical themed and pretty cool. Today we drank hot chocolate instead of Gluwhein, which was delicious. Sadly we only got to 6 out of 7 markets so I didn’t get all the mugs. After eating more food we headed back to the airport where I felt sick due to 4 hot chocolates in one day!

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