(beautiful) berchtesgaden

Our next stop was the National Park of Berchtesgaden and the postcard-pretty Konigsee lake.

Berchtesgaden (the village) is also worth a visit and is an excellent base for visiting the area. We were sorry not to have more time to spend here, but I'm sure we'll go back someday.








The village at night




The Konigsee is a deep glacial lake, very fjord-like and with impressive views all around. It's possible to take a boat trip all the way to the other side, but during winter you can only go half way, so we stopped at St. Bartholoma church and hiked the rest of the way down.












(and this is probably the last post of the year, so wishing you all the best for 2009 !)

nuremberg

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas !

I didn't have time to post the rest of last trip's photos before the holidays, but here they come now ... On our second day we took the train to Nuremberg, a beautiful city and especially festive at this time of the year since it has one of the most famous Christmas markets in Germany. We had a great time there, and will probably go back a second time since there was so much we didn't have time to visit.

Some photos of the Christmas market ...












At the Fortress and Albrecht Durer's House ...





Later, we stopped for tea and a delicious piece of cake, and found yet another small market

merry christmas

sorry I've been kind of absent, but didn't want to let the holidays pass by without wishing you a very Merry Christmas ! Hope you're all having a wonderful day :)

shop update

A (small) shop update just before Christmas...

Available here / disponíveis aqui



My favorites, featuring fairytale japanese fabrics (hansel & gretel, this time)



... and hedgehogs :)



(e também na livraria Centésima Página em Braga estão disponíveis as capas abaixo)

munich

Munich is one of those cities that is right up my alley. It has an amazing historical center, beautiful gardens and museums, great shopping, very good restaurants, and in this time of the year, a Christmas market in almost every corner (or so it seemed).

This was our third visit there, so we didn't plan much other than shopping and visiting the markets, really.

Some of the highlights: the christmas markets at the Residenz and the medieval one near Odeonplatz were our favorites, the Tollwood winter festival which was huge, shopping at Dallmayr and Manufactum, lunch at Prinz Myshkin and dinners at Zerwirk and Yum (the best vegetarians and maybe one of the best Thai restaurants in the city), exploring the Geobuch bookstore (every map and travel guide you've ever imagined - at Rosental 6), and of course lots of yarn shopping (Ludwig Beck and Wolle Rodel)

In and around Marienplatz ...







At the Viktualienmarkt ...

(our hotel was just around the corner)





At the Tollwood festival





At the Residenz Christmas market






Main shopping streets at night ...






Yarn shopping at Wolle Rodel (Rosental 9)



Having tea at Dallmayr... It was expensive, but where else would you get an hourglass with your Darjeeling tea ?



Lunch at the best vegetarian restaurant in Munich ...