Many of you won't be surprised to hear that I fell asleep before midnight on New Year's Eve. I'm going to blame it on jet lag but really I just love sleep. Collin and I headed to bed early on New Year's Eve but we were woken by the fireworks in the village. I looked up as I heard fireworks going off and we got to watch our own little fireworks show through the skylight in our bedroom. Pretty cool way to ring in the new year.

On New Years Day our hostess, T, asked if we wanted to go to a Christmas market in a nearby town. I know, I know, in January why were there still Christmas markets going on? Well much to Collin and my delight we made it to Germany just in time for the final days of some of the Christmas markets. Many Christmas markets in Germany stay open until January 6th!

Never turn down a European Christmas market!

We hopped in the car and drove about a hour away to Speyer, founded by the Romans it is one of Germany's oldest cities. In the midst of trying to stay awake for the drive (still working on my jet lag plus car rides lull me to sleep) we arrived at the beautiful town of Speyer and could see the beautiful spire of the cathedral from the town square.

I jumped out of the car ready to explore this historic town and all the market festivities. We walked into the market straight to a booth selling spiced wine. T asked if we wanted to try some and we said yes! Now, Collin will tell you that he didn't like it very much. It was quite spicy and every time you took a sip lingering bits of cinnamon would creep into your nose making you want to sneeze. I just started breathing through my mouth so I could enjoy the sweet, spicy wine to warm me up on that chilly night.

We took our drinks and walked around the market looking at all the different foods and wares people were selling.

Collin told me that you can walk around with your drink, which is given in a beautiful glass stein, and as long as your bring it back to the booth you can get a euro back. Good way to keep up with your glasses!

The end of the market row gave us a beautiful view of the cathedral or 'Dom' as I learned they are called in Germany. We left our empty glasses with T and went to see the inside. A church service was going on so we only took a quick peak around but it was beautiful.

Walking back to the market I started to smell the wonderful aroma of food. Collin and I decided to get bratwurst, naturally. Yum! We sidled up to a table and enjoyed our dinner.