Christkindelmarkt

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Well, it's the weekend... but I'm afraid here in Saltaire it's grey, damp, dull, lifeless - the sort of weather that England does so well.  I was hoping for a few photos (my cache is rapidly shrinking!) but honestly it isn't good for much. So yesterday I headed to Leeds, our nearest big city, to make a start on my Christmas shopping.  Leeds Millennium Square holds an annual German Christkindelmarkt Christmas Market.  It started on 12 November this year and runs through to 19 December.  The stalls are housed in pretty wooden chalets, decorated with lights and greenery.  There is a traditional Bier-Keller at its heart (with live traditional German music sometimes, no doubt involving men in lederhosen) and you can buy food (German sausages, stollen, gingerbread, chocolates and amazing marshmallow concoctions - oh yes, and poffertjes, which I thought were Dutch?) as well as festive decorations, toys, clothes and all manner of trinkets.  I was rather tempted by a reindeer fur hat (proceeds to support Sami herders) but a faint reindeer fragrance seemed to linger around it, so I decided not!  I came away with some marzipan stollen, which I adore, and a nice Christmassy sense of good cheer.  Now then... off to write my Christmas cards.