Christmas abroad
Travel guru Rick Steves has a new book out called “European Christmas,” full of recipes, history and descriptions of the holiday season in seven countries — England, Norway, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
The $14.95 book, from the Emeryville, Calif., Avalon Travel Publishing, is a companion text to a PBS special, “Rick Steves’ European Christmas,” scheduled to air through the end of the year on PBS stations nationwide; schedules are at www.ricksteves.com.
The book offers less of the nitty-gritty practical advice Steves’ guidebooks are known for, but you’ll still find recommendations for holiday sightseeing around the continent, from the Norwegian town of Drobak, 20 miles south of Oslo, where red-clad elves fill a Julehus (Yule house) in a converted church, to Germany’s holiday markets, such as the one in Nurmberg.