Tag Archives: Glühwein

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A Christmas Market in Kyiv, Ukraine

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I visited the Christmas Market in Kyiv during Orthodox Christmas in January 2017

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I arrived in Kyiv thinking Christmas was over. It was the first weekend in January, I had returned to work after my Christmas holiday, presents were opened and forgotten, I was ready for a new year. But the first place I visited in Kyiv was the Christmas market. Suddenly I found my Christmas spirit again. Christmas decorations everywhere, glühwein, some delicious christmas food. All of a sudden Santa Claus would walk by. Russian Santa that is, dressed in blue but with an equally long beard. The market really conveyed christmas spirit, something I thought I had lost a week ago.

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A Christmas Market in Gamla Stan, Stockholm

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I visited the Christmas Market in Gamla Stan in Stockholm in December 2016

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Gamla Stan (The Old Town) in Stockholm is beautiful. Old stone houses lining picturesque streets. Narrow alleyways twisting and turning around the buildings. The Royal Castle at one end, a massive building, constantly watched by the King’s Guards. It was my first time in Stockholm in thirty years, I was staying in the middle of Gamla Stan. As soon as I had checked into my airbnb-apartment I set out to explore. I was walking through the streets, no plan in mind. Just getting my first look at the city. Taking in the views. There was so much to see. Some many places to stop and admire. In a month this would be my home town. I was anxious to see what Stockholm had to offer.

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A Christmas Market in Sapporo

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I visited the Christmas Market in Sapporo in December, 2015

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I have been to many different christmas markets, I happen to travel a lot around christmas, but I had only been to markets in Europe. When I saw there was a christmas market in Sapporo while I was there, I knew I had to visit. I have been to christmas markets in Strasbourg and Berlin, Trondheim and Gdansk. They are usually very similar, but all with small differences.

It was the same in Sapporo, at first sight the market could have been anywhere. It looked like any christmas market, but at a closer look you could always spot the differences.

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Confused in Strasbourg, France

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I visited Strasbourg in December 2013.

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Strasbourg was a city it took me quite some time to get. Usually I am a really good navigator, and it doesn’t take me a long time in a new city before I have a general idea of its layout, and able to get around without a map. Many a time have I impressed fellow travellers with my ability to quickly get my bearings and get around in a new city.

In Strasbourg I felt really lost the first three out of four days. Only on our last day there did I finally understand the layout of the city, and then it dawned on me. The problem wasn’t me or the complexity of the city streets. The city was quite easy to get around in actually, and I should have been able to create a mental map of it much earlier. The problem lay with the locals, and the really strange way they got around in the city.

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