white lights. pretzels + Christmas time

For the last time in 2013 I spent the weekend at my uncle’s house in the fabulous region of South Tyrol. I know I’ve said that I never want to leave, but this time I REALLY did not want to leave. Big, big, SAD face. I wanted to hangout and drink gluvine and eat pretzels till the cows came home! Had I not been going to France the weekend after, I think my uncle would have had to drag me to the Brunico train station. Shopping bags and all!

I basically spent all weekend at the markets, where by noon the entire town hangs out drinking beer and munching on fries. It’s pretty obvious that I love the markets in Italy, but the Christmas markets are absolutely unreal!!! I may have been living in the ‘fashion capital’ for the last 4 months, but as far as I am concerned I just spent 5 days in the ‘Christmas capital’ of Italy. Frankly it’s the Fashion Week for those who are obsessed with Christmas!!

It was like a Disney movie. I had never been to a Christmas event where I didn’t go all Stacy London on the decorations. It’s like tacky is outlawed from the village. There was not a single string of multi-coloured lights [the 80s are over, give it up] or a blow-up Santa [really?!] in sight. Besides the amazing decorations integrated throughout every square inch of the village, what also really got me, was that even though these merchants are there for business, you do not feel any sense of commercialism. Good grief I sound like Charlie Brown!! Maybe it was the mountain air, but it was kind of refreshing. Nonetheless, I came back to Milan with a pretty decent haul! By far the best Christmas shopping experience I’ve ever had.