People kept telling me about the Christmas markets in Germany and I thought, ya, that doesn't really sound like my kind of thing. Last year I dabbled a bit and tasted my first Glühwein and rode the Ferris wheel but my heart wasn't truly into it. But now? I am all over these things. The first thing you should know is that they are completely unavoidable. They are in every city and every town in this country. There must be 40 of them in Berlin alone (I am not fact checking that statement but you get the idea). Last year I tended to stumble across them in touristy areas, mistakenly trying to find Christmas gifts (many peddle cheap "German" crap for tourists). This year I went to a huge one next to the dome in Cologne, a wonderfully quaint one full of handmade gifts in Neukölln, and a few others spread throughout Berlin. But I knew they had me when today I walked past an Irish bar serving Guinness and Shepard's pie and straight to the Markt for a Bratwurst and Glühwein. These images don't capture the cobblestone streets and Christmas lights and groups huddled drinking hot drinks and the food vendors and the people selling handmade wooden toys and the carousels but they'll have to do for now.

In administrative news, I'm heading out of town for a few days to experience my first true German Christmas and I'll be, gasp, without internet access. So I'll see you all in a few days. Enjoy whatever it is you're celebrating (or not), wherever it is you are.