What's up guys?
Welcome to Be My Travel Muse.
I'm Kristin and today we are exploring beautiful Southern Germany.
So I am in the State of Baden-Württemberg and this is where you can find the Black Forest,
it's where you can also find some super amazing castles and quaint little towns that are reminiscent
of way back in the day.
This is my favorite part of Germany, apart from Berlin, of course, where I've been living
for the last five years.
So to come back here during the wintertime when it's Christmas can only mean absolute
magic.
So let's put on our winter coats and get to exploring.
Hello from Tübingen.
This is probably my favorite little town in Germany.
It is so picturesque, so cute and colorful and today there's something very special going
on.
It's called the ChocolART Christmas market.
So it's basically a Christmas market that is all about chocolate.
So I got my eating pants on and I'm about to get elbow deep in some delicious chocolate.
I seriously can't wait.
So I'm just gonna keep walking a little bit here and then I will be there in no time chowing
down.
Okay.
It didn't take long for me to find something I wanted.
I don't know how clean my face is gonna be today.
Okay.
So first impressions, you can find any kind of chocolate you want here really.
There's chocolate that is made to look like tools.
There's chocolate that is made to look like pizza or cell phones or the Pope.
There is chocolate that is used as art to create paintings.
There's African Bushman chocolate which I thought was not a PC term but what do I know?
There is chocolate from all over the world.
There is Belgian truffle.
There's chocolate fountains.
There's hot chocolate.
There's chocolate liqueur.
I can't imagine there's anything made with chocolate that is not represented here in
some way.
So I'm just kind of taking a walk through, taking it all in, deciding what I'm gonna
pick and choose because you can't eat all of it.
But I wish I could because it's just a feast for the eyes and the senses here.
Hey, guys.
I am so excited.
I found vegan hot chocolate and it is delicious.
Check out this town, it's just so cute.
Oh my God, you guys.
I think I finally understand what it truly means to be chocolate wasted.
Now in case it wasn't already obvious, Christmas markets are all about food and drinks.
So one of the most famous things to have is mulled wine which is wine that is made with
mulling spices basically.
I usually am kind of the odd man out because I'm not drinking or eating meat but at this
market I was able to actually find some good vegan food.
But usually the medieval markets have a lot of food that would have been sort of reminiscent
to those times.
So you would find a lot of pigs on spits or just a lot of meaty dishes, bread that's made
fresh and like wood-fired ovens out here which is super cool to see and a lot of woodworking.
So they're not the cheapest place to buy things but it's always kind of nicer quality and
handmade.
So I got a cutting board for my mom which the guy is just making right over here.
It's for Christmas, don't tell her.
Okay, that was awesome.
I got my fill of chocolate, I got my medieval experience, I got my mom a Christmas present
and now I'm gonna go home and go to sleep so that can hit a castle Christmas market
tomorrow.
I'll see you there.
Okay.
So behind me is Burg Hohenzollern.
Maybe one day I'll pronounce it correctly.
But I just drove here from Stuttgart because that's the best way to get here.
And Teresa brought me.
So yeah, super excited to see what Christmas is like up there.
Let's go.
So you just park and walk up a little hill to get there.
We're about to eat like lunch, dinner so we're going to earn it right now.
Teresa: Yes.
Christine: Yes.
I thought I hiked and stuff.
Teresa: There was a shuttle option.
Christine: There was a shuttle option that we didn't take.
We thought we were hard.
Now we know.
Ladies and gents welcome to Hogwarts.
I mean Hohenzollern.
It's so pretty.
These are like Marronies, chestnuts roasted on an open fire.
Teresa: Exactly.
Cool.
Teresa: Cool, right?
Christine: Mm-hmm.
Now I get that part of the song finally.
So that is the Christmas market at Hohenzollern.
It's a bunch of little areas with different kinds of food and drink, of course, like all
Christmas markets have.
And then some really cute things made out of wood, a lot of handmade items, some really
cute teddy bears and of course you get to spend all this time in this beautiful castle.
So I think the key though, the real highlight for everyone especially the kids, is the balloon
guy.
So just a quick pit stop on my way home from Hohenzollern.
I wanted to see the biggest Christmas market in Stuttgart.
So each big city in Germany has their own Christmas market and a lot of them are super
famous like the one in Nuremberg or the one in Cologne.
And I didn't know much about the one in Stuttgart but it's really big.
There is an ice skating rink, there is a beautiful big tree, and then there's cars which is an
ode to this being such a car city with Porsche and Mercedes headquartered in Baden-Württemberg.
So just gonna do a little quick exploration.
It's a big market so there's a lot to see and a lot of beautiful light displays.
This is probably the most impressive I've seen so far in terms of that.
Taking a call on the train.
Well, that certainly is nice.
It's easy to see why so many people want to come and check this market out.
You've got this really cool bridge above it which a train runs by every now and then.
There's an adorable church over there and the market itself is super cute as well.
Okay.
This market is really cute.
This town is really cute but there's a couple more than I want to see today so I'm going
to leave this one behind and make my way to a town called Bad Wimpfen which is kind of
known as a spa town but apparently they have a really dreamy Christmas market.
So let's get back on the train and go.
This is seriously so cute.
This is definitely a beautiful market.
It's a little bit less crowded than the other ones too which is nice and it just winds through
different alleyways throughout the Old Town and most of the buildings are lit up and there's
multiple carousels as well, a lot of handmade things like a lot of the other markets have
but this one has a charm to it for sure.
Well, this is definitely the cherry on top of an amazing trip.
It's been an incredible weekend exploring and they've all been so different which has
really blown my mind.
I mean we had the chocolate market, the biggest chocolate market in Europe, and then we had
a medieval themed market and then we had...
God I'm like losing my train of thought.
And we've got this baroque style market which the lights are just gorgeous.
And I really enjoyed Bad Wimpfen which was the last one that you guys saw.
Hope you enjoyed this video.
Give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends.
Tune in for new videos every Wednesday and I hope that you will explore these Christmas
markets when you get a chance because it is an amazing experience to have in Germany.
And a special thank you to Baden-Württemberg for having me out here to do this.
You guys are the best.
See you.
Bye.