My boyfriend & I visited Dortmund in Germany at the beginning of December to see the Christmas Markets. It was lovely, full of gawdy lights, sparkling snow & lovely old buildings. Of course, it was absolutely freezing & I made the most of the snow boots my boyfriend had bought me in preparation & our flights home were delayed massively by snow & air strikes. But, all in all we had a great time & I'd very much recommend it if I hadn't resolved to never fly during the winter period again. This Christmas tree is apparently the biggest in the world, made up of 1,700 smaller trees. It was absolutely amazing. Hot Chocolate & Amaretto in limited edition mugs (that I clearly stole & took home).   In the centre of one of the market squares was a little fairytale set up, this is the witch from Hansel & Gretel (with real snow). She was pretty creepy with those scary eyes & was stooped at a level ideal for terrifying children (we did see a few kids looking very distressed). This was the day we got on the train to go to the zoo which was set in a park, but, it was desolate & a bit Scooby Doo creepy, so we just went for a walk around the park instead.   The boyfriend also got me a Lensbaby Muse (as well as lots of other lovely things) for Christmas. I have no idea how to use it, but, I am very excited about getting to test it out properly when it's not so dark & miserable outside. The joy I've got out of squeezing & smushing it alone has made it worthwhile, never mind the fact I'm sure I'll be able to take some fantastic shots with it when I get my head around how to use it.