PITTSBURGH, Pa – Every year my sister and I take a two-day girls trip to Pittsburgh. It’s long enough, close enough and far enough to be an escape from daily life without being a vacation commitment.

We have two items on our agenda. The first is to shop the eclectic collection of ethnic and specialty food retailers in the city’s Strip District. The second is to find bargains in nearby thrift shops.

This year we added a third item to that agenda. We shopped opening day at the city’s Holiday Market. The market, which was inspired by the original German Christkindlmarkts or “Christmas Market,” is in its 14 th year.

This year, 40 Alpine-style wooden chalets fill three squares of downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. The Market is usually in the city’s Market Square, but the square is

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