Today we woke up and we were docked about 30 miles outside the small town of Freiberg, Germany. Our "included" excursion today was to travel by coach to this quaint town, get a short walking tour and then enjoy the Christmas Market for about an hour. We could continue with "free time" or at 11 am we could go to the cathedral for an organ concert. First inclination was to skip the concert, but honestly by 11 we really had little else to do so we went and it was great. So glad we went. Here are the highlights of a great morning....and just a word about our guide, Jack - who was from Wales (with a very thick accent) .... he was the best guide of the trip. Very informative, very funny, and always kept everyone entertained from start to finish.
Freiberg City Hall
The massive cathedral constructed in the 1300's
The cathedral door / main entrance. Just LOOK at the detail - all carved by hand.
And note how symmetrical the two sides are. Just amazing.
Gargoyles were all over the outside of the cathedral....but check out the highlighted one...
YES, he has his rear end turned towards the town, and the legend says the architect who was designing this was not paid by the businessman funding this particular part of the cathedral so the rear end faces THAT guy's home across the square LOL
Freiberg Christmas Market scene
Another Christmas Market stall
SOOOO excited today - been looking for socks (it's my new "thing" to get socks that are themed to the trip for every adventure over the last many years) and could never find them. Then lo and behold as we walked into the Christmas Market (see banner above) one of the first stalls sold socks! These are themed to the Black Forest which is right outside town - and we were there in 2018 when I got my hand-made cuckoo clock there.
Christmas Market Stall Selling SOCKS!
The massive cathedral organ (and we found out later there are FOUR organs in the cathedral!)
Cheers to Mulled Wine
Freiberg Highlights
We returned to the ship just in time for lunch at 12:30 and at 2 pm Khloe and I were off to a distillery tour to discover how schnapps is made - and a tasting! The trip there was relatively uneventful and when we got there the Quiet Vox sound system didn't work. The "guided tour" was only about 20 minutes without anything of significance. The tour of the distillery was interesting and the schnapps was very tasty. But then we had over an hour to walk around the very small town, with no Christmas Market where most shops were closed. Was NOT the highlight excursion of the trip :)
Welcome to the schnapps distillery
PRETTY tasty my friends!
Schnapps ALL The Way Around!
Not only do I have the memories & photos....but picked up a couple of cups & trinkets :)
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