Dortmund

Saturday morning we drove north to Dortmund to meet up with Eric's cousins, the Komnik family. After we checked in, we ventured to one of Germany's biggest Christmas markets. Our train stop dropped us off right in the main shopping area and it was quite busy with everyone doing their holiday shopping, but we managed to find a quieter area at the large pyramid booth for festival drinks and food. 

We then strolled over to the Christmas tree attraction. It was not hard to miss as the center tree is made up of 1,700 Norway spruces, rises 45 meters high, is topped with a 13 foot angel, and has over  40,000 lights. It was huge and made for a nice area to put many booths around. They created a hole in the tree for a trumpeter to appear on the hour and play a tune. Hearing him play was a nice addition to the market atmosphere.

After some more delicious food and drinks, we continued our way through the market. The girls found a fairy tale themed attraction before we grabbed another hot drink to keep us warm in the chilly air. 

Eventually, the children tired, so Christiane and I returned to the hotel with the kids while Carsten and Eric grabbed some festival food to tame their hunger. When we returned to the hotel, the kids went swimming in the pool while we relaxed. Afterwards we grabbed a quick bite at the hotel's bar before heading to bed. 

After breakfast on Sunday morning, the children took another dip in the pool. We then walked over to the park and went up the TV tower. It was cold and breezy at the top, but the view was nice looking out over the city and it's surrounding area. We did spot the large tree from the market. We returned in time for the Komniks to catch their train.

It was another great weekend with the Komniks and we are looking forward to our next visit with them.

There was a huge soccer match in the afternoon at the stadium next to our hotel. We left just in time as the traffic was beginning to get heavy and they started closing down roads, but Eric talked his way through a few cones and we were heading in the right direction away from the traffic.