My Instead: I visited the Christkindlmarkt
(German Christmas Market) in downtown Belleville.
I was on my way back home from running some errands
when I remembered our walk the night before with my girlfriend Annette. We had
stopped by the entrance to the new Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market) to take some
photos, but the little shops were all closed down for the night. I knew then
that I would have to stop by when they were open to visit the “newcomer” to
Belleville.
I was lucky to find a parking spot less than a
half-block away. I took some quick photos with my phone’s camera and then I was
off on my quest to visit each of the vendors. I spoke with two Air Force wives,
one from Florida and the other from Alaska, who handmade everything in their
shop; a gentleman from Bolivia who showed me some of his lighted flowers; a man
from Texas who was selling glass ornaments hand-blown from Egypt; a young man
from Northern England who was running a shop of Celtic wares. According to him,
only the people of true Celtic origin could work in the actual (heated) store
located in the first block of East Main Street. I had a conversation with two
Optimist members selling memorabilia from Belleville’s 200th birthday
celebration this year. During my “travels”, I decided to have supper and
enjoyed a true German bratwurst. I spoke with a young woman selling homemade
German pastries who was a citizen of both Germany and the United States and knowledgeable
beyond her 19 years. There was a young father from Frankenmuth, Michigan,
missing his family, who boasted to me that they have the World’s Largest
Christmas Store in Frankenmuth. His slightly Canadian accent joined the ranks
of all the other ones I heard during my brief sojourn through this miniature marketplace.
Well, my outside Christmas lights were not going
to put themselves up…time to end the excursion and head home to continue my enormous
yuletide undertaking.
On my way home, I thought it ironic that I, this
“spent-all-her-life-in-her-hometown-girl”, had a few small samples of that great big
world out there come visit me. And all I had to do was take the time to stop by.
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