Mozart in a music box

Wandering around Christmas markets in Germany is not really conducive for anything: you walk around for hours in the cold, either buying things up left, right and centre, or tie yourself up in knots trying to decide what to buy. And imbibing copious amounts of delicious glühwein (mulled wine) hoping it will help doesn’t work either. In Stuttgart’s Königstrasse, I found a little shop filled with all kinds of Christmas goodies, including a stack of wind-up music boxes (an item with a ratchet lever that turns a perforated cylinder against a comb, producing music). My choice included stalwart composers’ renditions of Jingle Bells, Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer and Silent Night with colourful boxes done by Austrian artist Rosina Wachtmeister. But I chose Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), a beautifully lilting piece that completely captivates every time I hear it and takes me back to Germany, Christmas markets and mulled wine. Price €7.90