A picture I took a few weeks ago…the city installing the tree. This platz is now home to the Christmas market and has been completely transformed.

I’m back in town this weekend, so I’m doing what I do best: frantically running around on Saturday to shop and run errands before the city shuts down on Sunday.

This is the first time I’ve been downtown since the Christmas season started, and I quickly learned that this city’s Christmas spirit is not just limited to the central train station.

When I emerged from underground, I was hit in the face with Christmas.

The Frankfurt Christmas market: music, people, lights, food, wine. It’s like the biggest and most Christmassy festival I have ever seen. It’s not possible to describe the atmosphere of the market. I guess just think of how you feel after 2 glasses of wine, with your favorite hot homemade cookies, and the smell of every Christmas scent from Yankee Candle company. There was hut after hut of food and crafts. For an indecisive baked goods stalker like myself, this place is either heaven or hell.

I currently have plans with different friends to go to a handful of Christmas markets…2 different markets next week, and 2 more markets the following week. I DO NOT KNOW HOW I’M GOING TO HANDLE THIS.

In addition to the festive market I wandered through, every store I shopped in gave me a Christmas chocolate when I checked out. I’m talking the drugstore, grocery store; all the normal stores are just handing out candy to people! This place is insane.

Luckily, I’m back in the safety of my apartment. Trying to figure out how I make it through the next few weeks of all this merriment!