Happy December! And where is the time going? This trip is speeding by … kind of like the train we took today.

We woke up far too early today, but we had to catch a streetcar and if we missed the 8:16 we’d have to call a car to get us to the train station. Of course waking too early meant I had way too much time, because I always pack the night before. But so it goes. We did get to say our goodbyes (for now) to Jan and Greg — if I were them I think I’d stay under the warm covers, but it was nice to see them!

It was very cold at the streetcar stop: If I’m remembering correctly it was 28° at that point. But we were well dressed and it was okay for the amount of time we waited.

We got to the Heidelberg train station with no problems, and after getting a coffee and something to eat we went to our track and not too long after got into our car.

This was a regional train which meant there were lots of stops and we couldn’t reserve seats, but neither were a problem In fact everything was going quite smoothly.

Note … I said was!

When we got to Frankfurt we had 1 1/2 hours to wait for our next train.

We wandered a bit (in the freezing train station and just outside so we could say we’d been to Frankfurt), eventually going in to get another bite just to escape the cold. Then we decided to get out of the eating area to verify the track and all. Hmm. Our train wasn’t showing up where I thought it would be. So we went to the information booth.

Um. Oops.

A rather serious young woman said, I thought rather pointedly, “Your tickets were for the airport train station, not this one,” or something similar was told to us by the woman there.

Brief pause so I could wonder if we were going to have to pay a lot to get new tickets (day of tickets can be costly).

“But you can catch that train here at 12:22, track 9.”

Whew!

WHY I bought the tickets beginning from the airport is a bit of a mystery to me, but since things worked out just fine I’ll just let it go. You can bet, though, that I then checked the next trains we will be taking (not today, mind you: this train is our final of the day).

Our train now was an ICE rather than regional, so we were in lovely first class seats that were reserved (next to two couples who never stopped talking, but somehow hearing people talk in another language kind of lulls me to sleep). I had worried that someone might have grabbed them when they were empty at the airport station so I was glad to see them empty.

Both on the first leg and this one there were many places where we saw a lot of frost (or was it light snow?). The entire trip was cloudy and frequently foggy. There were some lovely towns and beautiful mountain scenes. Taking photos from the train is never all that great but …

And then we got to our next destination.

Hello Nürnberg!

Nürnberg is known for its Christmas markets. Finding a hotel that would allow for cancellations, in fact, wasn’t easy as it normally is: they hardly need to offer that due to its popularity. I think they have the oldest Christmas markets in Germany, and I know they get tons of visitors.

We headed to our hotel, starting on the cobbled streets and then realizing that the directions took us on the outskirts so we’d be on surfaces better suited to our roller cases. (But I sure do miss our packs!) Our room is quite nice, I think, because Dan gets an upgrade due to his gold status with United. Good thing he allows me to share the room!

After resting up for a short time and charging our phones so they would last, we headed to the Christmas Market. I had looked on a map and it said a fifteen minute walk was ahead of us, yet we were there in less than five minutes. Strange! But okay then. We walked around, figuring we’d scout out the food spots before deciding what to get. When we got to what I assumed was the end I think we both thought it was nice, but not as big a deal as we expected. Still, it was fun.

Now if you play “Whamageddon” I will be kind here and say do NOT have your sound on when this video plays. Am I nice or what?! But c’mon … just give in. It is December first and I’ve already lost the game! Or maybe not … you can barely hear it. Darn!

We thought we saw a few more things ahead, so we walked on. Some stalls were closed and I said, “Maybe those are the crafts and trinkets and those close at night. Or maybe it’s because it’s Sunday.”

But we walked on some more and … um … well … what we saw five minutes from our hotel was NOT the real, huge, crazy Christmas market! Maybe it’s an expansion? Dunno. But the real thing … well it’s pretty darn huge and the crowds were crazy.

We had the necessary gluhwein. We had the “Drei im Weckla” that I had read was a must have in Nürnberg. We had lebkuchen Dan remembers from his childhood. We bought a few chocolates for when we got back to our room.

We listened for a bit to a choir. I couldn’t imagine singing out in the cold … but then no one wants to hear me anyway! This is Peters Chor.

And we had one more warm drink because we we starting to freeze! Nearing the end of our walk it was about 30° (or -1° if you want to go with Celsius). I started to get pretty darn cold toes and I’m thinking I might buy a pair of socks to double up with my other socks (my shoes are plenty roomy) because cold toes are … you aren’t going to believe this I know … cold toes! And who needs those? (Hm. I’m feeling like a poem is in there somewhere. But maybe not.) My chin was also getting to the point where words were going to be harder to pronounce. But soon we were back at our hotel and that warm air we hit when we went through the door was wonderful!

Our “for the hotel” chocolates were enjoyed, and we both did the iPad stuff we do. We will see what tomorrow brings.