Christkindlmarkt am Marienplatz, Christmas market in the heart of Munich

Munich offers every year over 25 different Christmas markets, something for all different tastes! The "Cristkindlmarkt am Marienplatz" is however the oldest and definitely the most famous one...150 wooden houses create for a month Cristmas feeling in the heart of the city. Next to the stands with the mandatory warming up "Glühwein" and "Würstchen", one may gaze at candles, spices and Christmas decoration..

 

Every year one may find here the same stands: as the one with the bamboo angels for example. This year I have discovered a few new and interesting ones. A home made soap with sheep milk  from Austria or with olive oil from Italy: presented in very creative shapes and packaging (see first picture)...For the chocolate lovers there were all home-bricolage tools made out of...chocolate (a stand on Rindermarkt). Avoid the market after 18h as it gets too crowded and you might get a little be toosqueezed...however definitely worth a visit for all Weihnachtsmarkt-Liebhaber!

Cacao-art of Pierre Marcolini in the Marcolini chocolaterie, Brussels

I did discover the chocolate masterpieces of Pierre Marcolini around 6 years ago and since then I am just hooked...I am aware that a lot of people think its a bit posh or that you may give more money just for the glitter, but I do believe that one pays for better quality. Pierre Marcolini is one of the very few cholatiers still running the "bean-to-bar" operations: which means he knows and selects the beans he works with. There is something for everyone: dark, milk or white...praline, ganache or truffles...or just a chocolate bar...And one can (literally) taste his love to chocolate in the final results.


As I am a big dark-chocolate fan I was really thrilled some years ago with his box of chocolates called "Saveurs du monde".  Each chocolate carries the name of the country where the cocoa beans come from...Ecuador, Madagascar, Venezuela, Ghana, Brasil, etc...My taste has changed not that long ago ( from sweet direction dark chocolate) and I was amazed with this selection of Marcolini to discover the different flavours of cocoa beans depending on their country of origin!.

 

So in my eyes his products are indeed exquisite, but they do take you to a new chocolate world, a cocoa-world of amazing taste and great quality! For the Christmas season 2011 the Marcolini boutique in Brussels is also offering some new chocolate-creations in the shop at "la Place du Grand Sablon", displayed in the shop-windows...Enjoy with your eyes (and may be even note down his name for a tasting next time you are around:-)

 

Tour of great chocolateries in Brussels: Place du grand Sablon

Brussels is for sure a "chocolate city" with its accumulation of amazing "chocolateries"! And I am not speaking of the most known to us chocolate-shops as Leonidas, Neuhaus and Godiva... 

Lets stroll over Place du Grand Sablon and see even more impressive and different chocolate makers...I am talking about Pierre Marcolini (the only hand-made chocolatier in Europe, the 2 pictures below)! Check the display windows of the chocolate shops- a real treat for your eyes+sweets-cravings and an important medicine for happy soul!

 

I was very happy to enter the first shop of the French chocolatier Patrick Roger in Brussels. The lovely shop design (first picture of this entry) and the very beautiful and creative products he offers (the Xmas tree out of chocolate and the Sinterklaas-heads out of marcipan) makes you stop and I was enchanted to taste some of his truffles (with a bit of Belgian beer) and his very delicious ganaches!

A tour in MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York...

 

I was really impressed by MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Very interesting and pleasant for the eye&soul mix of photographs, paintigs and other pieces of art are exposed at 5 different floors (I had to skip the Garden of sculptures due to the darkness outside and the fact that I gave my coat at the wardrobe)...The museum opened its door in 1929 and is located in Midtown Manhattan, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

 

Its definitely the first time I see a helicopter hanging in a museum...I liked the mixing of famous European artists (Gaugin, Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Miro) and unknown to me American ones, such as the works from Jacob Lawrence. His work (on last picture) is showing in a series of paintings the heavy life of African American after the World War I.

A place to go and to enjoy, every Friday from 16 till 20h also for free (normal entrance fee is 25$). The museum has a bit over 2 millions visitors a year. This allows its Director Glenn D. Lowry to live in a rent-free $6 million apartment above the museum.

Brooklyn bridge and Manhattan bridge, New York City

I went for a walk on Brooklyn bridge on a very sunny, but windy morning and the sky was sooo incredibly blue! I was happy to see on my right (coming from Manhattan) first the Financial District followed by the famous Statue of Liberty (present from France, as I have just learned recently). On my left I had the Manhattan bridge (plus Empire State building).

 

The Brooklyn Bridge is a huge masterpiece with some rust and a lot of metal&grids...Did you know that this bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United states. It was  finished in 1883 and is designed by the German immigrant John Roebling? With a pan of 463 m, it was the longest suspension bridge for 20 years, till 1903...

 

The bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972. since its opening its an icon of the city and worth visiting...Btw watch out for all the motivated joggers, cuious tourists and stressed bikers while you take your shots, as the walking paths are very narrow!