This is (probably) the oldest Christmas Tree anywhere in the world. The first written records of Christmas Trees anywhere in the world first appear here in Alsace in 1521. Those records actually come from a little town called Sélestat which is just south of Strasbourg, but the first records of Strasbourg’s tree follow soon after. At this time, Strasbourg was already the largest city in the region and record keeping was a bit spotty, so I think it’s fair to generally just award the title of “the Birthplace of the Christmas” tree to Alsace in general.
So, this isn’t just a Christmas Tree; this is THE Christmas Tree!
Our winter wanderings in Stockholm continue!
The previous article was more focused on a general introduction to Stockholm, but in this article I’m going to adopt a new focus: attempting to share the coziness of this trip with you. As beautiful and charming as Gamla Stan (Old Town), and Södermalm are, the best trips—to me—have a funny way of differentiating themselves not through the official sights to be seen, but what happens in between.
Ya’ll, the temperatures here were like -20° C (-4° F). I think this was a bit of a cold snap even by local standards, but that didn’t make it any less painful. According to my FitBit, we did about 30,000 steps on our first day here, all through the frigid cold.
However—and I never thought I would say this—I think the cold made Stockholm all the more magical. This was truly one of the most idyllic trips I’ve ever taken. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what winter travel to Scandinavia has to offer, but to me, Stockholm was nothing short of a winter wonderland. And the fact that the cold forced us into cozy little bakeries to warm up about 3x as often as we would have otherwise stopped didn’t hurt either.
I’ve heard it said that London is the ultimate Christmas city.
It definitely puts on quite a show come Christmas time! But the drawback is that, during the “festive period” (as it is called), the streets are MOBBED. The holidays in London are both magical and chaotic; enchanting and stressful. This year, I was lucky enough to have my loved ones come to London to visit me during the holidays, so I got to spend the “festive period” being a tourist in my new city. Despite the obvious stress that comes with trying to guide your clan through crowds of people, it was a lovely time, and I’m glad to be able to give it some coverage on this site. Because ✨Christmas London is a destination unto itself.
