Baden for Christmas

Some of you have asked what Baden looks like for Christmas. Here is a sampling. They decorated the narrow old cobblestone streets with hanging strands of light, all through town so when you walk through, it feels like a fairyland. The lights come on around 4pm as it darkens. It's very romantic of course and before Christmas there are also outside tables full of pine boughs and red berry limbs, mulled wine and cheeses.



These two are by the Bahnhof, train station, practically around the corner from our apartment, and is where they've put up the ice rink, fondue hut, merry-go-round and tranparent igloo bar for the festivities. On the other end of the ice rink is a large open pit with a roaring fire that people can surround to keep warm. They also roast sausages on long sticks to keep the fat on.
As we walked past the fondue hut one night we could hear yodeling coming from inside. Female voices and beautiful. We must make a reservation and check it out -- Heather?


And instead of stars or ornaments, they mount these angel figures all through town. Here's one on the morning it snowed, looking over its little kingdom.


The large ball of light is hanging in the center of town, by the clocktower. They were selling Christmas trees and roasting chestnuts underneath. The trees were not big fraser firs. They're instead rather scrawny, Charlie-Brown-Christmas trees. They decorate them on Christmas Eve with real candles.

This is a window on a residential street, decorated for the 9th day of December. Instead of having one of those little wall-hangings with the shutters you open for the days before Christmas, they decorate real-live windows to anticipate Weihnachten. That's a little suspended angel in the middle flying over a bunch of animals, to be sheep perhaps?

Finally, a cold lone Santa floating on the river Limmat. We don't know why. And that's our Swiss Christmas!