Pike Place Market

Seattle is ever the rainy city, so it was fortunately only cloudy that afternoon when I went to the Pike Place Market, one of the oldest open air farmer's market in the US.

Shilin Night Market

Shilin Night Market is probably my favourite market I've visited to date. This was back two Decembers ago but despite the cool temperatures (it wasn't actually that cold in Taipei), the general atmosphere was exceptionally warm and lively. I had gone on a Saturday evening so I was certainly expecting huge numbers of people and clearly there was no mistaking the market's location once you get off the metro.

Carlsplatz Market

The Carlsplatz Market, located not far from Königsallee in the vicinity of Old Town (Aldstadt), is a wonderfully diverse open air market consisting of a number of stalls selling everything from fruits and vegetables to sausages and cheeses.

Danshui Night Market

I'm a huge fan of markets when I go abroad and Taipei was certainly no exception.  I had already been to the largest night market at Shilin so I was expecting something similar for Danshui but I was certainly somewhat surprised.

Danshui is at the northern part of the city and is easily accessible by the MRT (metro) as the very last station of the line.  The first thing I noticed was that Danshui was quite a bit cooler than the rest of the city (given it was winter in Taipei but I certainly hadn't felt really cold for most of my stay) and I suppose that comes from the fact that Danshui is right next to open water leading out to the East China Sea.

Noryangjin Fish Market

When I go travelling, I'm a sucker for markets of all sorts, clothing markets, traditional markets, night markets, even fish markets. You tend to see another aspect of the culture and the way in which people do business in other countries in a variety of industries.  This fascination of mine was what brought me to Noryangjin (for future comparison with Tsukiji in Japan =P). The market is located at the Noryangjin subway stop and is a really rather non-descript building from the outside. In fact, if it weren't for the signs with the fish plastered on the poster, it would be unlikely that I would have taken this industrial-looking warehouse to be the market. Despite that however, the building is right at the subway station and not too difficult to find. Just exit the subway station and follow the signs with the fish to cross the bridge over the subway tracks and voila!

Namdaemun Market

Namdaemun market is a more traditional market selling all sorts of goods, clothes, groceries and other odds and ends as compared to the clothing mecca of Dongdaemun.  Here is one of the entrances to the market with N Seoul Tower in the distance.

Dongdaemun Market

One of my favorite sections of Seoul was Dongdaemun or "Great East Gate", part of the wall that used to surround the city. Today, it is the site of a huge shopping district known for its cloth and clothing market.  Any visit to Seoul would be incomplete without making a stop in this fascinating district regardless of whether you are a shopaholic or not.

Strasbourg Capitale de Noël

Having departed Luxembourg, the next stop was in Strasbourg, France, self-styled 'Capitale de Noël' (capital of Christmas).  Capital of the Alsace region, Strasbourg is a beautiful city, particularly well-known for the Petite-France district where numerous black and white timber-framed buildings occupy the region surrounding the gothic Strasbourg Cathedral.  Below are some pictures of the Petite France district.

Christmas in Brussels Part 2

The plan for the following day was to revisit the Grand Place and the Manneken Pis followed by a stop at the Belgian Comic Strip Center.  As recommended by a travel wiki, brunch was served at the restaurant T Kelderke where I tried the Carbonnades flammandes à la Bière - quite good but really rather salty.  And I must say, they really like their frites in Belgium.