Christmas is a festival taken very seriously in Europe. Once November approaches, you suddenly hear of Christmas markets appearing here and there, and people taking weekend trips to various cities in Germany and Austria, and of course, invites to people's houses for hot wine. Christmas markets have become an associated feature of christmas. This street market selling mainly advent goods originated in Germany and Austria but have become very popular in other countries as well. Hungary/Budapest was no exception. I had met a friend for lunch on a particular friday, and suggested taking a trip to Vorosmarty ter, where the biggest Christmas market was just to see what it was like :)

Arriving there and coming out of the subway station, it was probably the first time that I had seen the Christmas lights in the city proper. Though it was raining on and off, there were still big enough crowds browsing the stores, carrying round mugs of hot wine and buying barbecued meats off the food stalls. The stalls sell very cute and interesting christmas knick knacks made out of different material and range from christmas trees to christmas cookies. Anything and everything associated with Christmas was there, and wherever we walked, the smell of orange, cinammon and cloves was in the air.

Scented garlands, if you look closer, they're made out of dried organes, clove sticks, and pine

This is an aspect of Europe that I really enjoy a lot, the outdoor barbecue stalls, the pork knuckles, sausages, stuffed cabages and langos all looked so appetizing. People just buy these, stand around wooden tables and eat.... There was one point when we saw the cook literally drenching the pork knuckles in hot oil, but it must have been soooooo tasty :)


Christmas tree and decorations scattered through the markets...


Christmas treats/biscuits on sale...

One thing to note though, that these Christmas markets may not always have the best prices and are often more nice to look at, than nice to buy. But it is a nice feature to have/look forward to during Christmas and I can't wait to see the Hyde Park Christmas market when I go back to London this weekend :)

Having many American colleagues in my office, I was fortunate to be able to experience a Thanksgiving holiday once more, which reminded me greatly of my time in America. It was great being able to sit down with 20 of my colleagues and friends, including my boss and his wife for dinner. We had all the thanksgiving foods: A 9kg Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin soup, moussaka, spanish omelettes, even a pizza! And there were also heaps of dessert dishes contributed by all those who came: apple crumble, pies, cakes, baked apples, kumara/pecan pie... We literally ate ourselves into a food coma. We also carried out one of the traditions of thanksgiving which is to give thanks. We went around the table saying what we were thankful for, and though very quick, it was quite a meaningful tradition to do.

Settling down before dinner....

The food... and wine....


James carving the 9kg turkey...

Digging in!!

Chatting and catching up with everyone after dinner...

My boss... in his food coma

Drinking Aimee's wine :P

More pictures of Food coma

Hanging out in Morrisons bar after Thanksgiving

These beers were only 100 forints (60 cents each)...

The most random trip I've ever done... booking everything from plane flights to the accommodation only barely 2 weeks in advance..... It was like a now or never decision....Having been to Dublin before, didn't take much pictures during sightseeing... but mainly at night at the bars...
When in Dublin, drink guinness....


The Dublin spike, or the "errection in the intersection" or the "Spiffy by the Liffey"

Freakin high shoes!!!! These were everywhere in the shops..... If I had to wear these shoes, I would just stand and not move...

Dublin at night.... The city does look very different from spring time with all the christmas decorations up...

Trying Irish Baileys coffee before leaving.... Sleepy looks after a very late night out...

One last hug to the spike.... I might mention that it's a very popular make out spot at night... you literally see couples pressing up against the spike which doesn't help all the phallic references very much...

December will be my last month of teaching proper and I had to break this news to one of my oldest students recently. And just last week, he surprised me after class by giving me a tupperware of stuffed cabbage (Töltött káposzta) to take home and try. It is normally eaten during the winter time and is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. In this case, it was minced pork and rice. Because it can be quite salty and fatty, it is normally recommended to eat it with sour cream and bread. Of course, I was quite touched by the gesture, and the stuffed cabbage was delicious :) Let's just say, I finished the whole thing within a day :)

It is with a little nostalgia that I write this current post. This month has been quite turbulent in terms of my emotions, and it took me a while before I was able to move on, and be able to continue to blog about my time in Europe. It's often interesting when life takes an unexpected turn, and as a result you engage on a long detour before finally returning to the main road. I'm glad now that things are relatively back to normal, but of course, there's a part that remains forever changed.
A couple of weeks back I took a quick weekend trip to the Netherlands to the city of Eindhoven (budget airlines flights). It is definitely not a touristy city like Amsterdam and is one of the smaller more modern towns. It is sometimes considered a student town because of the Eindhoven university of Technology and the main industry seems to be that of the Phillips factory (think light bulbs). The city centre is mainly pedestrain, and is very nice to walk through. The Eindhoven cathedral which is of gothic architecture is also very nice to look at. Inside, at night, there is some modern art exhibition in which spotlights travel around the church interior at varying angles.


The weekend I was there, there was the Phillips Light festival and at night, there were various performances at various places throughout the city. Below, they had a acrobatics performance of people balancing and performing on this giant ball with fire tricks being involved as well....


Performing musicians...they reminded me of masked members from the Priory of Sion :P

Many buildings also had light shows during the night time...


Eindhoven during the day.... it was relatively warmer than Hungary and so it was nice to being able to walk around in just a couple of layers, and I didn't really need my gloves at all...

Besides Eindhoven, I also had the time to take a quick day trip to Hertogenbosch (also known as Den Bosch). It's only 20 mins away from Eindhoven, and before you know it you're there. Went there on a Sat, which was like market day as well, so I got to see the marketplace and all the fresh produce that people were selling...

Walking towards the city centre...Den Bosch definitely has more older buildings than Eindhoven, and I gotta admit, I did like Den Bosch more than Eindhoven...

Marketplace...It was rather crowded, alot of people were out and about...

Eating a waffle, they were super cheap and SWEET... only 1 Euro!

Performing band in the marketplace...

Statue of Mr Bosch... founder of the Bosch group...


Having a Dutch snack before heading back home :)

This trip made me realize that the Netherlands is not just about Amsterdam.... in fact there are many more cities in the Netherlands that are just as nice to visit.... and after this, I really hope to be able to see the other Dutch cities like the Hague, or even Rotterdam in the near future.... *fingers crossed *