Journeys›Photograph

An Evening Walk Through the Holiday Lights

·Strasbourg, France·#winter#holiday season#night_photography#christmas-lights#city walk
A storefront brightly decorated with Christmas garlands, white teddy bears, stars, and candies above a sign reading "PATISSIER TRAITEUR".

Out after dark for an evening walk through the holiday lights, and Rue des Orfèvres has gone completely over the top this year. Every shopfront is buried in greenery up to the second floor. Naegel the patissier has white teddy bears the size of small children sitting above its PATISSIER TRAITEUR lettering, wedged in among candy-striped ornaments and glitter stars wider than the bears.

Strings of bulbs fan out over the whole street between the buildings, so walking under them is like passing beneath a row of open umbrellas.

Farther along, a shop done up as the house of Hansel and Gretel: gingerbread men taller than a person, gingerbread houses, candy canes, the works, all propped in real fir branches over the entrance. Hard to move quickly through that stretch — everyone stops.

The strangest thing came near the end. A full crystal chandelier, three tiers of it, hanging over the middle of the street inside its own glass case, lit up as if it belonged to a ballroom nobody got around to building.

A narrow street at night, brightly decorated with blue and purple Christmas lights overhead and on buildings, with people walking.A building decorated with illuminated carousel displays, teddy bears, ornaments, and strings of lights over a narrow street at night.A building is heavily decorated with large gingerbread figures, candy canes, miniature houses, and fir trees.A bright white chandelier hangs inside a transparent box, suspended outdoors against a dark night sky.

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