Kirchheimbolanden Christmas Market

My first Christmas market! Michelle and I spent time this weekend at a nearby town starting our Christmas celebrations. When we arrived the town square was already packed with people. The market is a time for all the local townspeople to gather for Christmas greetings and the entire center was filled with groups of people laughing, talking, and hugging. We immediantly headed for the wurst stand for dinner and then bundled up and headed up and down the cobblestone streets looking at each booth. After a little while of "window" shopping we headed one of our favorite ice cream cafes for some hot chocolate. Then we purchased the very traditional cookie on a string (sorry I don't know the name) and some handmade snowman decorations. We especially enjoyed singing to the Christmas music playing (we even heard an Elvis song) and looking at all the shops covered in lights.

London

London was amazing. Michelle and I arrived in the early afternoon and rode the train from the airport straight to our hotel. The first night we set out to see the new Harry Potter movie and found a great little theatre a few blocks from our hotel. The next day we headed straight for central London and signed up for the double-decker bus tours. This worked out great since you are able to ride around all day on the buses and get off and on as many times as you like. We didn't stay on at first because after just a few stops we spotted the London Hard Rock cafe. We had lunch in the Billy Idol booth and were able to spend some time in the gift shop before returning to our bus tour. Although it was a little rainy and VERY cold during our tour we were determined to stay in the very back seat of the top of the bus for the best pictures. The next day we arrived early again downtown to get theatre tickets at the half-price theatre booth. We were able to get great seats to the Blue Man Group which was a hilarious show. We had no idea what to expect but we had a great time. They had an amazing band which Michelle was obviously excited about. On Sunday I was also able to spend time in the National Museum and enjoyed seeing Van Gogh's Sunflower painting. On our last night we spent some time people watching at Picadilly Circus and walked down Regent Street mingeling with all the people doing their Christmas shopping. The street was covered in white and blue Christmas lights. Overall, I had a wonderful time laughing and wandering through the streets of London with Michelle. Unfortunately, my digital camera was out of batteries so I will not be able to post London pictures at this time. . .