Bethlehem, Pa

Barbara and I went to Bethlehem, PA ( http://www.christmascity.org/ ) for a few days. We left on Thursday morning and when we got to Bethlehem we went to the visitor center to pick up tickets Barbara had bought online, but they where not there. The lady at the visitor center took our cell phone number and said she was waiting for someone from the Christkindlmarkt ( http://christmascity.org/ckm ) where our tickets might be to call her back. We went off to have lunch at McCarty's Tea Room and Restaurant. The tea room was a bit of a disappointment, not what Barbara was expecting. I even did not think it was much of a tea room. The only thing that was tea room like was the name and the fact that they severed tea. During lunch the visitor center called to tell us that our tickets where at the Christkindlmarkt. After lunch we went back to the visitor center to pick up our paperwork that we had left there and started down the hill to the Christkindlmarkt. On the way we went into the Moravian Book Shop, they do have a book store inside but it is mostly a tourist trap shop. It did look like we would have had a better lunch there then at the tea room. We then walked up the hill to see what a Christmas Putz was. The Christmas Putz is a way to tell a story. It is a large display of the different scenes from the Christmas story and as each part of the story is told a different scene is lit. Then it was off to the Christkindlmarkt. We picked up our tickets and then went into the Christkindlmarkt. The Christkindlmarkt is a set of two huge tents that are full of vendors selling all kinds of crafts. There is a open air part between the tents and there was an ice sculptor working on a nutcracker, see pictures in slide show. In the second tent there is a stage where performers put on shows, we where there in between performers so we did not see any shows. So the Christkindlmarkt is a place you pay to go into to spend money, only in America. After that we took the free trolley back to where the car was parked and went to the motel. After a short rest we went back to the visitor center to go on our Bethlehem by Night Light Tour a bus ride through and around Bethlehem at night. We got quite allot of history on the Moravians and Bethlehem and saw allot of lights. After getting off the bus we walked back to where we had parked the car behind the Main Street Market. We stopped into an ice cream store and after that into a toy store, bought two more Christmas gifts. Then it was back to the motel.

On Friday morning we woke to what would turn out to be a snowy day. After breakfast we headed back into Bethlehem to go to two museums we had tickets for (remember the ticket issue). Well because of the snow both museums where closed. We had a choice, we could go back to the motel for the day or head to the mall. We decided to go to the mall. Because of the snow travel was slow, it took us 40 minutes to go to a mall that was 10 miles away. We got lunch at the mall and walked around for awhile. We headed back to the motel again because of the snow it took us 60 minutes to go about 15 miles. We stopped at a Turkey Hill convenience store to get something for dinner (hot dogs and buns with Campbell's soup and ice cream).

We awoke Saturday to a nicer day, at least it was not snowing. We went back to the museums and they where open. We went to the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem ( http://www.historicbethlehem.org/ ) and got a good look at how the early Moravians lived and worked. Then we walked to the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts ( http://www.historicbethlehem.org/ ), This museum has a very nice collection of doll houses and other things from the private collection of Annie S. Kemerer including a collection of Bohemian glass. After that we had lunch at the Bethlehem Brew Works ( http://thebrewworks.com/ ), good oatmeal stout. Then to our last event, Moravian Music Christmas. This was a holiday concert in the Central Moravian Church. The concert was excellent and featured The Mainstreet Brass ( http://themainstreetbrass.com/ ), the Central Moravian Church Choir and the Moller pipe organ. Then back into the car to go home.