christkindlmärkte

Woot for Christmas Markets!!!

Ok, one thing that's awesome about northern Italy is that you get all the goods on what Italy has to offer (the food, the people, the art, the culture, the coffee, etc) but also some really cool traditions that are otherwise native to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Such as the Christkindlmarkt. So exciting! This park is right across the street from me, and on the other side of the park is the school I work at. So everyday I saw it grow/develop a little bit more, and now it's all set up and open! Yay, my first Christmas Market! ...yea, I know, I'm going to be the only person above the age of 18 on that rink, woot! In fact, this afternoon, a bunch of my students were ice skating while I was walking towards school and asked me to come skate with them. How cute!! (Unfortunately, I had to jet to do some very important errands!)

Here's what it looked like while getting set up:





Men at work.


Making ice.




Yes, the houses really are that small-- like little sheds.



All set and ready to go:






Got yelled at for taking this picture. Haha. Weirdos.






"How good hot chocolate is" (rough translation)
with or without whipped cream (or apparently, with a side of cotton candy.)









A cool lamp that made me think of my sister-in-law.


East meets West.


The teenee Olona River that cuts Legnano.




Lots of annoyingly cute Christmas stuff to buy...


And yummy stuff to stuff your face with...


This was just super cute.


Claw my eyes out, please: cute overload.



P.S. One of my students just told me that one of the Dolce & Gabbana guys is from Legnano. They have a manufacturing facility in the city. Just sayin'. Sure puts this town on the map now, dunnit?