Oh Little Town of Bethlehem!

It's the Christmas season, and before it was even close to the Christmas season, my friend Jess and I decided that we should take a trip out to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they have a self described "German Christmas Market" for those who come to visit the city. I decided to invite my Mom, so she could come and relive a German Christmas market since she id live there for so many years.

Originally the trip was suppose to be an overnight trip, but we ended up canceling it since Jess was worried about finding someone to care for her daughter since her husband unexpectedly had to work. I'm so glad we didn't stay over.

We left New Jersey early in the morning, around 9am. It didn't take us to long to get to Bethlehem, only a little over an hour. When we got there we tried to follow the directions I received from my own job at AAA. When we actually got into the town, it was really not as we imagined it. Bethlehem seemed more run down then anything else, it looked like it was from the by-gone era of steel, something well known in Pennsylvania history...





It really didn't look holly or jolly...

But we pressed on driving through the town, trying to follow the directions, but getting confused in the layout of the town and it's signs. Although their Christmas Market is the biggest attraction, there were no signs for it.

And we wandered into the Mexican Ghetto of Bethlehem, I can honestly say I didn't expect that!





Some parts were nice looking, and there were nice churches on nearly every corner, I was looking for bars on every other corner too, but I didn't see those.

One neat thing though is that there were Christmas Trees everywhere, even on the poles through the town - it looked like a Festivus decorated pole...



I was told by my two lovely backseat drivers that we were lost...



So I turned around and we found ourselves even more lost then before. But along the way we did get a nice shot of a sign:



And the Bridge to Nowhere:



Then as if it was a Christmas Miracle itself, we actually found the markets, and free parking. Now if you ever want to go to this place and ask me for directions, don't expect them, because I still have no idea how I found the place. I will say though is that there was a smashing donkey at the place we parked, and Jess and I had a photo op with him.





Then we went to the Christmas Market itself - the reason for the trip. They charged admission, and we had a $1 coupon, but we had no idea they would charge you $8 to go in, you know, to shop! My Mom was kind enough to foot the bill for us, and we went in.

Now there are actaully a few parts to this market:



The inside is all covered in a tent and is actually heated (a nice treat from the cold PA air) and there are rows of little kiosks and people selling their wares. We were a little disappointed because most of the places in there were normal stores that we could go to any time of the year. We were expecting it to be a little more arts and craftsy and to have way more German food and German culture.

There are actually two tents with an open part in the middle of the two that is not heated but offers some other places to purchase artisan things, like hand blown glass, native style drums (where they are native to do not as me),




Ice scluptures





(Mom and I with said Ice Sculpture)



and of course, waffles and hot chocolate, even some hot cider for me!

Once we were done with the markets, we made our way through the town of Bethlehem, took some photos here and there:




(A wrapped building, I thought it was cute)

and made our way to a few of the wineries in the area:



We visited Vynecrest and Cloverhill, two that I had stopped at with Danny back in August after we went to Hershey Park, both were so good they needed a second visit and I made sure I picked up a few (4) bottles for me ;-)

After having some wine, we figured it was time to take Jessica to Dietrich's, a German style meat market outside of Allentown.



Jessica was a little wary of the place, as my boss Gail has been teasing her, calling it the slaughterhouse.



They have lots of... interesting things there....



And after there we started home, got some Wawa milkshakes to tide us over till we got back to Jersey for some dinner. Over all it was a nice day trip, and I can say a good time was had by all.