A European Christmas Market in St. Paul

 St. Paul, MN

Warming Up

St. Paul European Christmas Market

Today we rode The Green Line to Union Depot to visit our first European Style Christmas Market, The St. Paul European Christmas Market.  We had heard about markets like this in the area and really wanted to go to one.  I have watched a few YouTube videos of Real European Christmas Markets and they looked awesome!

Our ride on The Green Line was easy and soon we were walking around the outdoor Christmas Market.  It was in the low single digits Fahrenheit so it was really cold, for us.

We decorated the day after Thanksgiving. The tree smells really great.

Feels like -10!!!!

Francis has been making full use of his blanket pile recently.  He also has a heated bed.

Donna activated the heater at our local bus shelter while we waited for the bus to take us to The Green Line.

There is also a heater at The Light Rail Station.

The market was hopping with hearty people that didn't care that it felt like -10.

There were festive gifts available for purchase as well as festive food.  We were there for the food, but I was also on the lookout for a warmer hat.

Our first food stop was to buy a Curry Wurst.

It was delicious.

I don't know who Metzgerei is but Deutschland Meats doesn't seem to like them.

Our snack total included the Curry Wurst you saw, Perogies, and Fruit Hand Pies (like Hostess Pies but way better).

After about 45 minutes we were so cold we needed to warm up.  There were 2 warming huts that sold Glühwein, which is a warm mulled wine, and beer.  We opted for the beer because the mulled wine came with a commemorative mug that you had to purchase. 

The warming hut was packed so we didn't get as warm as we wanted so we decided to walk to one of the local breweries to warm up.  Gambit Brewing was about .2 miles away.

Another reason we chose Gambit is because they had 2 pinball tables.  There was an abandoned game on Venom so we played that and then noticed that games were $2 each so we passed.

We bought a tiny amount of pistachios for 75 cents.

The brewery was heavily decorated for Christmas.  It was a nice place to have a beer.

That was our adventure for today.  If you missed, Unexpected Factory Snow, check it out.  We got a surprise dusting of snow caused by an interesting phenomena.  

A Museum, A Walk, and Light Rail

 Calgary, AB

CTrain to the Museum, Sorta

Today we walked downtown again to catch The CLine, Calgary's Light Rail, to the Contemporary Calgary Museum.  It was raining and we were excited to see the train pull up so we jumped on.  The downtown stops are subsidized by TD Ameritrade so you don't need a ticket when riding in the fare free zone.  We were only riding a few stops so what could go wrong?  Well, if you guessed that we got on the wrong line, you are right!  We hopped on the Red Line and we were supposed to take the Blue Line.  It was a rookie public transit error.  Our train soon turned away from the museum and headed north out of the fare free zone.  We got off at the first stop and figured out walking directions to the museum.  It's pretty great when your biggest mistake of the day results in a nice walk.  

The small green band mentions the TD Ameritrade Free Zone

The shelter has words written on it but I can't find any info about it.

You can buy your ticket here if you are planning on heading outside the fare free zone.  We weren't planning on heading out of the fare free zone so we dodged the fare in a different way.

Donna smiling.  This was right before we realized we were on the wrong train.  Happy Times!

The train had the usual suspects for transit riding and ridership looks pretty good.

We got off the train and said goodbye and started our unexpected, but nice walk.

The livery for the CTrain looks pretty dated.

We saw a nice covered skate park.

We got to cross another cool footbridge over the Bow River.

I do love a good footbridge!

And we had good views of anther footbridge while we were walking across a footbridge!  My kind of town!  This is the Peace Bridge that is featured in many YouTuber videos.

This, believe it or not, is a surf spot.  I assume you have to wait until the snowmelt gets the river flowing more.

Here is the sign that talks about surfing here and surf etiquette.  Here is a video of the surfing that I found.

The Contemporary Calgary

Our ultimate destination was The Contemporary Calgary, a contemporary art museum in Calgary.  They really nailed the name.  Our NARM pass doesn't work here so we had to pay but it was with Canadian Dollars so it wasn't that bad.  

On the way in, we walked by the station we were supposed to get off at.  It was right across the street.

We knew we were getting close when we saw the light post with all of the old museum stickers on it.

The museum is a cool looking brutalist building, but more rounded than other brutalist buildings I have seen.

Derek Liddington's exhibit has the walls decorated as well as art hanging.

The individual pieces didn't have names mentioned.

Winnie Truong's work is cut paper collage flowers. 

She also includes the feminine form in her work.  

We saw the CTrain approaching from a window in the museum.

One floor was dedicated to art you can buy.  It appears to be an annual fund raiser.  
Haphazard - Nancy Boyd

You scan the QR code and enter your bid.

There was a lot of cool art, including art by artists that were featured in the museum.

I also liked this piece.  
My Warhol Is On Loan - Maggie Hall

McHappiness - Lucy Sparrow

The museum map was pretty artsy too.

After our museum visit we walked across the street and caught the Blue Line back downtown.  

At stops, the doors that weren't opening lit up red.  The doors that were opening lit up green.  It was pretty cool.

There is a strip above the window that could be mistaken for a stop request strip but it is an Assistance request strip and there are penalties for misuse. 

That's it for today.  If you missed, Walking the Skywalk, check it out.