The Good, the Bad & the Ugly @ the Market

The Good:

Tulips were on sale: 50 blooms for €5; this is only half of them. I am going to miss having fresh flowers all over the house when we move back to the States.

The Bad:

The muffin man has increased his price from 6 for €2 to 6 for €2.50. He says they're bigger. But let's all be honest, it isn't like I'm going to put the extra 25% back in the bag for next time...So really the muffins now cost an extra €.0833 a piece. Trust me, it adds up at the rate we eat muffins around here.

The Ugly:

I promise you did not want to see a picture of this one. Matt and I really enjoy eating clementines; they are the perfect picnic/train/bus snack - easy to peel and little mess. Apparently it must be getting close to the end of the season and all the clementines at the market looked like they were already molding. I wonder who buys them...

Christmas Time

There is no standing in line at 4am the day after Thanksgiving for the best bargain of the season. There is no jolly ole St. Nick to listen to your list of wishes. There is no frantic fury of gift buying on the eve of Christmas. There are no parking attendants in Santa suits directing scores of SUVs, driven by harried shoppers, into over crowded mall parking garages.

But it's Christmas time here just the same. The subtle hints of the season popping up everywhere from market squares to the grocery stores. My favorite signs of the season are:

• With the coming of holiday meals, the grocery store has an entire line of "Feest Dagen" foods. Extra dark chocolate spread for crepes and toast, special kaas stengels, rich soups, candied breads, flavored brie, and Christmas tree shaped chicken nuggets are just a few of the treasures that have shown up in the gorcery store over the past few weeks. The Christmas meal must be a fancy affair over here, because there are also wonderful prepared horderves, amuses, stuffed/spiced/marinated meats, and even fancy cauliflower! The best time to buy all this food is the morning of Christmas Eve, when almost all of it is going 35% off (because the grocery stores actually closes from Christmas Day 1 & 2).
• Almost every town square is transformed into an outdoor ice skating rink! Hopefully, weather permitting, this is where we will be on Christmas day - skating in the park with warm Christmas wine. Don't worry mom, the rink aren't schedule to close until after you visit!
  
• The streets of town are lit up with Christmas lights. In Delft there is a party in the town square called Lichtjesavond, where they light the Christmas tree for the first time. It was a lovely evening with music from the Delft symphony, dancers, torch bearers, and a small Christmas market.

I am sure next year I will be in line again at 4am the day after Thanksgiving, but it has been nice to have a low key holiday this year.

Mikulas Day

After the movie, we grabbed a cup of warm medovina (or mead) and wandered through the Christmas Markets in Wencelas Square. The atmosphere was cheery and festive and the square was decorated with trees, lights, and nativities, but for a moment you might think it was Halloween- except all the costumes were the same.It was Mikulas Day in Prague - a holiday similar to Sinterklaas with a few notable differences. Mikulas, the Czech word for St. Nicholas, is celebrated on the eve of December 6th in many eastern European countries.

Teenagers, dressed as St. Nicholas, angels, and devils, travel in packs to young children and ask them if they have been bad or good this year. The good ones sing a song and are rewarded with small treats and candy from St. Nicholas and the angels. The bad ones, well they have a fate worse than Spain for year. According the Czech Republic tourism website, bad children are sacked by the devils and taken straight to hell for the year. I don't know about you, but I think as a child I would have rather stayed home and forgone the candy than wonder the streets and worry if I had not cleaned my room up enough and therefore was going to get sacked. Especially with teenagers making the decision - we all know what great judges of characters they are (insert story from your own adolescence here).

While observing the holiday activities, we enjoyed roasted chestnuts and trdlo - a sweet, roasted bread.

Brussels Christmas Market

Lights on buildings, Christmas trees, warm Kriek beer, ice skating in the square, Ferris wheels, Merry-Go-Rounds, carolers singing, mulled Christmas wine, crafts, snow...

It's time for Christmas Markets!

We planned our trip to Brussels to coincide with the Christmas Markets and it was definitely the highlight of my trip!












Warm Kriek Beer & the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel.













Ice Skating in the square.