Diaries of the Wanderlust Dreamer : It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Stuttgart Christmas Market

Amazing food and the BEST Fanta in the world

Stuttgart Christmas Market

Dampfnudel at the Stuttgart Christmas Market

Stuttgart Christmas Market

Inside a Stuttgart mall

STUTTGART & ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER, GERMANY - November 30 - December 6, 2015

My first week in Germany took a lot of getting used to - driving on different sides of the road meant looking really carefully before crossing a road, the language barrier, the completely different hours of daylight (sunrise was around 9am and dusk was around 3.30pm), the grey tones of winter (this made my photography very challenging) but with Helga's help, it was fun and I learnt so much from her and her family.

It was very kind of Helga and her husband Klaus to let me stay with them and I felt really at home with them. I loved the complete change; I live on a small acreage in the countryside of South Australia in a cottage and they live in an apartment up many stairs. Whilst I look out of my windows at home at eucalypts and my pet sheep, their balcony overlooked the beautiful city of Stuttgart. It was a lot to take in all at once and I found myself smiling constantly.

My favourite memories are of the architecture of such an old city and the incredibly delicious aromas from bakeries and the Christmas Markets. I loved walking toward the Christmas Markets and the subsequent moments when you could smell too many divine aromas to count. Blissful! The Christmas Markets are absolutely stunning and everyone there is happy with such a Festive spirit.

It was a dream of mine to see a German Christmas Market one day and I was lucky to see many but Stuttgart's was my first and I will always hold that one closest to my heart. Helga and I had so much fun looking at the delicate decorations and the assortment of food and drinks. I still smile when I think of so many things from that first visit, especially seeing my first ever ice-skating rink which was so pretty, and perhaps my favourite dessert of my European trip - dampfnudel with vanilla sauce. Oh my, so soft and fluffy and warming! Delicious! I can't wait to try to make dampfnudel myself this winter as it will take me right back to those days in Germany.

It was simply magical to see a proper German Christmas Market. It was so beautiful in so many ways. The lighting, the aromas, the music, the chatter of happy, festive people, the stalls laden with such a vast array of goodies of so many things that I wanted to take back to Australia... Incredible. The food stalls were so tempting as was the gluhwein.

With full bellies and huge smiles we would go home after a few hours at the markets and be completely immersed in the Christmas Spirit. It really is something to experience. A dream come true for me, and one of many to come.

Helga spent the week showing me around Stuttgart and I soon fell in love with the city of the South and indeed with Germany for the next day I was in for a huge surprise - Helga and Klaus were taking my son and I for a drive to Bavaria to see the fairytale town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

To be continued...