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16

Dec

Holiday Wanderlust in Leipzig!

by Joyce McGreevy on December 16, 2019

People at the Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt, the annual Christmas market in Leipzig, celebrate centuries-old German Christmas traditions. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The Christmas Market has been a tradition in Leipzig for 600 years.
© Joyce McGreevy

Winter is Wunderbar at Germany’s Christmas Markets

It’s an ink-dark December morning as my sister and I board the train in Berlin. Yet our hearts are light, warmed by the promise of discovery.  Winter wanderlust leads us to Leipzig’s Weihnachtsmarkt one of Germany’s oldest, biggest, and most beautiful Christmas markets!

Now popular around the world, the European tradition of the December market wasn’t always so charming. In the early Middle Ages, it was merely the last chance to stock up on supplies before hunkering down for a long, miserable winter. Visions of survival, not sugar plums, danced through one’s head in those days.  Read more...

 

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Germany/The World's Art & Design/Travels to the Past

02

Dec

Cultural Encounters on the Banks of the Seine

by Meredith Mullins on December 2, 2019

Les Bouquinistes
© Meredith Mullins

The Bouquinistes: Icons of Paris Culture

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night . . .

From this familiar and inspiring creed, you may think this story is going to be about a diligent U.S. postal carrier. Not so.

For this “Oh, I see” adventure, we travel to the banks of the Seine for cultural encounters with the riverside Paris booksellers—the bouquinistes (pronounced boo-kin-eests).

Through snow and rain . . .
© Meredith Mullins

This iconic community, like postal carriers, are dedicated to their job—in all seasons, in all kinds of weather. The bouquinistes have been officially authorized in Paris for more than 160 years.  Read more...

 

Cultural Encounters/France (Paris)

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