The city name of Karlsruhe allegedly translates to something along the lines of Charles’ rest/repose/peace. And the city has a nice cozy vibe, especially in the soft snow flurries. The day started with a nice visit to the Karlsruhe Palace, as built in 1715 for Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach. There is little of the interior of the original palace left, and is now primarily a museum for ancient Roman, Etruscan and Greek artifacts from statues to pottery. Additional floors and areas have all kinds of objects from every day life in Baden from the following centuries up to around the 1980’s! The first room contains the famous Crown Jewels of Baden, made in the early 1800’s for Badisch royalty. (An amazing crown, scepter and sword.)

After that, we spent a while making our way just outside of Karlsruhe to the neighboring town of Durlach to see the ‘Medieval Christmas Market’. It was pretty disappointing in terms of its small size and things to do – primarily from an unpleasant rain fall. There was little to do or see, as some of the events that typically take place were not happening. With nowhere to shelter, we headed back towards the train station to visit an interesting display at the Karlsruhe zoo!

It’s a walk through the garden of the zoo at night. All along the path it was all lit up with different lighting decorations.

Additional there was a neat projection on a long thin sheet of water being sprayed into the air. See here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajQ1zw6ijz8