Its been many years since I was at a German Christmas Market! I think the last time was sometime in the late 1990s when I visited Berlin and Lubeck. I’d never been to a Christmas Market anywhere till then, and the huge one in the center of Berlin blew me away.

So, after a few years of planning another visit to Germany at Christmas, I finally made it. This time it was a quick drive from Zutphen in the Netherlands to Cologne in Germany, and the famous Christmas Markets there.

We booked a hotel in the inner city of Cologne and walked to three separate markets for the fun of it. Each market was a little different and all markets are a lot the same. And all are full of colour and excitement and Christmas spirit.

One market had a band and we happened to be there when they played some rock’n’roll Christmas songs.

One market had a merry go round for kids.

One had an ice skating rink. I’d love to have ice skated, but with the crowds drinking above and cheering the skaters (and fallers), I didn’t think it was a good idea. Plus, since it had been drizzling all night, the ice was very wet. No thanks.

All had tons of Christmas lights, decorations, and atmosphere. And lots of people.

There were so many pretty, colourful items for sale in the many booths.

There was tons of food on sale! And people everywhere were enjoying the drinks and food on offer.

All in all, a lovely evening. Topped off with a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

I did take some videos but for some reason they don’t want to work properly, so the photos will have to do.

z