Christmas at Kasteel Keukenhof

Before Friday I had no idea that there was a Christmas Market at Kasteel Keukenhof, but thankfully DutchBitch not only told me about it but gave us her mother’s free pass to the grounds!  So not only did we get in for free, but I finally got to meet her after years of reading each other’s blogs and chatting on Facebook.   Yeah, just in case you are wondering, she really is as cool in real life!

We decided to go late in the afternoon so that it was dark when we got there.  I knew the night time photos would be a challenge for me but I managed to get a few decent ones.  This is definitely something I need some more practice and experience with.

It was cold and we were hungry but it was such a great way to spend the some of our evening.  It really gets you in the Christmas spirit and gave me a chance to get out taking photos again.  Of course, it was much more my thing than Xander’s, but he was sweet and went along with me anyway.

One of my favorite bits was these fire pits they had all over the place.   If you got cold you could just sit around the fire and warm up.  It was absolutely brilliant, especially since Xander forgot his gloves so we had one pair to share between us.  Xander kept making me sit in another direction from him because for some reason smoke always drifts in my direction.  It never failed, I’d move by him, the smoke would gust at us.  I’d move away, and it’d just come at me and leave him alone.  Typical.

Like most Christmas markets there was a lot of people selling just regular stuff, which I find odd.  I don’t really go to markets at Christmas to buy a new mattress or pots and pans, but whatever.   The good thing is that among all that crap, there are some really nice things to be found.  I took a few photos of my favorite things from the evening, even though I didn’t buy any of them.  Yes, I was able to control my urges!

The wooden thing above is something that is really popular here in the Netherlands, and other places in Europe, from what I can tell.  I didn’t like them at first, but they’ve really grown on me.  They have all sorts of different kinds, and although the one in the photo here has a set of lights behind it, many of them are lit by candles.  Makes me wonder, with the whole candles and wood combination, but it seems to work ok.  A lot of them will have fan like structures above the candle and the hot hair coming up from the candles makes them spin.   I think I will buy one next year, you know… when in Ro… tterdam and all that!

Ok apparently they are called Candle Carousels in English, my husband just informed me.  If you click the link you can see some photos of different models.   I think they may be a European thing, as I don’t recall ever seeing them in Canada.   Anyone know what they are called in Dutch?

The gold ornaments in the other photo were REALLY cool.  I wish I could have gotten a better photo to show the actual shape of them but they were totally wonky.  When they spun around they looked like there was all sorts of little lights that created a pattern but really it was just the way the metal was put together. I know it looks like your ordinary metal ornament made out of strips of metal, but they really aren’t.  Very very cool, these things.

Anyway, the market is still on today until 7pm if you are in the area and would like to visit! 

To see some more photos click here!