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| Bridget and Cindy, Essen |
A highlight is visiting the Christmas markets.
The Germans transform their town centers into winter wonderlands of lights with open-air feasting, shopping and live music.
German Christmas markets are commercial, no doubt. But they are commercial in a more picturesque way than we do it in the U.S. The Brits have tried to imitate them. I sampled Manchester's version a few years ago. But they don't get it right.
This year we took a 10-minute train ride into Essen, not a big place by any means, and we saw hundreds of little gabled shops set up in the pedestrian malls that make up the heart of the town center.
