Dusseldorf's Christmas Markets

Early in December, I travelled again with my friends from the AWC by bus to Dusseldorf to enjoy the festive Christmas markets. It was just an overnight trip, but a delight and well worth it. Beautifully decorated and full of unique products and food items, the markets were quite special, and we ate and shopped our way through the many stalls and shops - mulled wine, egg nog with rum, crepes with Nutella, bratwurst, sausage, dumplings with custard and berries, apple tart with custard sauce...and more! Saturday evening included a Secret Santa exchange at a lovely dinner in the center of Dusseldorf. Although there were only fourteen of us, we did feel a bit badly for the other patrons in the restaurant as I'm sure we were boisterous enough to seem like a crew of at least thirty ;)

My friend Pamela and I also explored the antique shops and several of the shops on the Koninsalle, Dusseldorf's answer to Rodeo Drive in LA....

This is Pam - my dear friend who hails from New Orleans - and she and I get along swimmingly.

We also walked around the local open market, which was just so colorful! I'm sure the locals were wondering what I was doing taking lots of photos of their fruit and veg...but see how lovely it was??? And it smelled terrific, too.