German Christmas Markets

All in all, I must say that Germany really knows how to celebrate Christmas. Although I was a little shocked at the fact that Christmas came to the Supermarket while I was still wearing sandals and dresses without tights, the snow arrived this week and with it the true feeling of Christmas. I feel as though I've been preparing for this moment for about a month now, however, by exploring many of the Christmas markets that appear at the end of November all over Germany.

My first Weihnachtsmarkt just happened to be in a castle. Burg Hohenzollern, which I have written about in a previous post, hosts a Christmas Market the last weekend in November to kick off advent. You pay a small entrance fee, and are able to enjoy stalls set up in the beautiful courtyard of the castle, as well as in some of the rooms. The market had typical Christmas fare, with ornaments and hand-made goods, as well as some delicious things to eat. Along with almonds roasted in cinnamon and sugar, which I can barely stop myself from purchasing whenever I see them, I began my Glühwein tasting spectacular. Glühwein directly translates into "Glow Wine," which makes sense, seeing as it is hot and spiced with delicious Christmassy flavors, which truly make you warm and "glowy" inside. At the Market at Hohenzollern I tasted Glühwein made with white wine for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. It was a little sweeter than the Glühwein I was used to, but not in a cloying way or anything. I really enjoyed it actually, and true to its form as white wine, it felt a little lighter than the red wine variety. After wandering through the stalls we saw a crowd gathering by one of the entrances to listen to carols as the sun went down behind the mountains. And there to introduce the carols was the Prince of Prussia himself! Not a bad way to spend an evening, I must say.

The market in the courtyard

Enjoying the evening

The next stop on my massive Chritmas market tour was Regensburg, the town where I studied abroad for a semester in 2009. My father and his girlfriend, Lisa, came to visit, and as part of that trip we wanted to see as many Christmas markets as possible. My friends in Regensburg had told me that the market there, or markets I should say, as there were three, was not to be missed. The first of the three markets was in the courtyard of the palace Thurn and Taxis (are you sensing a theme?), and showcased specialty crafts. There were wooden ornaments and jewelry, scarves and tin decorations. I also had schnupfnudeln, a thick noodle similar to gnocci but shaped sort of like a finger. These are traditionally served with sauerkraut and bacon, or with cinnamon sugar as a sweet dish, but mine had many vegetables and a delicious herb sauce. I also tried another sort of Glühwein, this time made with apple wine, which was absolutely delicious.

The second market was in Neupfarrplatz, one of the main squares in Regensburg, where a lot of the annual festivals take place. This market was very traditional, with lots of tin and wooden ornaments, glass candle holders, and lots of food. We went at night, and it was clear that the lively town of Regensburg came to this market at night to enjoy food and wine. We bought ourselves some Glühwein, and enjoyed the atmosphere and, for me, being back in a place I have such fond memories of. The last market was in Heidplatz, and it featured wooden handcrafts. Unfortunately we did not have time to go to that market at night, but I stopped by the next morning before it had opened to see what the square looked like decked out for Christmas.

Enjoying apple glühwein at Schloss Thurn & Taxis

My dad and Lisa with St. Nikolaus

Nikolaus handing out chocolate to kids

Schnupfnudeln!

The market in the palace courtyard

An incredible roasted dough concoction with cinnamon and sugar

Glühwein

At the market in Neupfarrplatz

Excited to be back in Regensburg, in Heidplatz

The next day we headed to Nürnberg to explore the most famous Christmas market in Germany. I must say that this title seems to be well-deserved. A lot of the markets that I went to were very winter-y, but this one was pure Christmas. So many stalls selling all sorts of ornaments, wooden and hand-painted tin, Christmas pyramids (the multi-level carousels with blades on top that spin when candles are lit underneath), decorated gingerbread figures, christmas stollen, and every type of treat imaginable. I tried the traditional blueberry Glühwein, which I'm happy to report is also delicious. It luckily in no way tastes like blueberry flavoring, but is pretty much just hot, alcoholic, blueberry juice. Delicious. I also tried something called Feuerzangen, which is a hot red wine punch. After making the punch, a cone of sugar is soaked with rum an placed over the wine, and then lit on fire. The caramelized sugar drips into the wine, making a delicious, sweet, rummy concoction. Unfortunately I do not like rum that much, a detail that I forgot when I decided to try this. And as Glühwein/Mead/Feuerzangen cools it becomes much stronger to the taste, which is good to note when trying it. I would guess, however, that if you like rum this is a delicious Christmas treat.
The stalls at the Nürnberg market often seemed to repeat themselves, but I would say they were definitely worth repeating. I bought myself a small wooden nutcracker figure and a decoration that has hanging snowflakes that spin when a candle is lit beneath them. These joined the decorated ornament and wooden ornaments I bought in Regensburg. Here are some images from the Nürnberg market. Prepare for Christmas-y happiness.

A few weeks ago, after this trip with my family, I headed to Stuttgart with two of my good friends from Wesleyan, one of whom was visiting from the United States. The Stuttgart market was nice, very big, winding through some streets and then coming to squares with more tents, before winding on again. There was a life-sized train set that you could ride around on and a skating rink, as well as delicious food, once again. There was a stall advertising potatoes with "DER Knoblauchsauce," which means "THE garlic sauce." I'm glad to report that it lived up to its name. I bought a few more decorations for my room, including a hanging decoration with wooden rocking horses and pinecones, and a double-decker Christmas pyramid (that goes with the single-decker one I bought at a Christmas market in France - my room is incredibly decked out for Christmas now). Unfortunately I did not have my camera at this market, so there are no photos. But I do have photos from the Tübingen market, which took place over the second weekend in December. Catie, Gilder, and I came back a day early from Amsterdam to explore this market, but because that meant going on Sunday night it was insanely crowded. So crowded that you could barely move. If there had been fewer people it would have been a fantastic atmosphere, as there were adorable children playing Christmas music everywhere. The hardest thing in the world is not giving money to children brave enough to play music by themselves in public, but unfortunately there were at least fifty different groups and I couldn't give money to them all. I did support one young boy who was playing a wooden alto recorder (more legit than those plastic sopranos you play in grade school), because I felt obligated as a former recorder player. I also tasted something called Holunderwunder, which was hot elderberry/elderflower syrup with an optional shot of alcohol. Germans really like elderflower flavor, and it is something I have really enjoyed being here in Tübingen. Most of the stalls were filled with hand crafts, and once again it was very winter-y rather than christmas-y. But I believe if it had been less crowded I would have enjoyed it more.

The Tübingen Market:

The last episode in my Christmas market spectacular was a trip with four friends to Esslingen and Ludwigsburg for the markets in those two towns. Esslingen has one traditional market, and then a medieval one, which was particularly great. People were dressed up in medieval clothing, selling mead, wild boar, and bread that you could eat off a stick. They had both sweet and savory varieties of this stick-bread, and I tried a sweet, thinking the savory could contain meat. It tasted sort of like a cinnamon-raisin bagel, but without raisins. It was delicious, and I would definitely recommend one if you ever come across them, if nothing else, for the novelty of eating it off a stick. The best food item was definitely apples that were sliced in rings, battered, and then fried. It was like a very light coating of fried dough around a melty, baked apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Heaven. There were also all sorts of fun things to buy, and when I went back a few days later in the snow that suddenly enveloped Baden-Württemberg, it was particularly beautiful. I also tried cherry Glühwein in the normal market, which was once again delicious. I've decided I have so far not had a form of Glühwein I did not like.
We went to Ludwigsburg because my friend Ivor told us that you have to go at night, when the lights all around the square light up. There is a circle of angels (made of lights), which make a ring around the stalls, the churches on either side of the square are lit up, and everything is covered with pine needles. It was an absolutely perfect picture of a Christmas market, and if what had been for sale had been as traditional as in Nürnberg it would have been perfect. There were some traditional wares, such as the aforementioned Christmas pyramids, however theses are made specially in this area, and so the ones we saw in Esslingen and Ludwigsburg were incredibly expensive. We settled for some more Schnupfnudeln (which they made vegetarian with only sauerkraut and no bacon), and Glühwein (this time with a shot of amaretto). This tasted essentially like hot amaretto, and was fantastic. And it came in a mug shaped like a boot, so what could be better? We also tried something called Eierlikör, or "egg liquor," which tastes sort of like alcoholic custard. I've been wondering what it tastes like for a long time, and this sample confirmed that it is delicious, and something I would purchase in the future. I believe it would be delicious in eggnog, and as I don't like rum much I might use it as a substitute.

Entrance to the medieval market

Stockbrot at the medieval market

The most delicious apples I have ever eaten

Sampling the mead

 Esslingen Christmas market in the snow:

The market in Ludwigsburg:

Ultimately, I had an advent in Germany to rival what I had always imagined. My grandmother had often said that she wanted to take us to Germany for advent, and so I felt like I was in some way fulfilling her dream this past month. The markets were amazing, and I truly feel like I've welcomed in Christmas. I've also learned about Advent Wreaths, which are wreaths with four candles, and each Sunday of advent you light one more and let the candles burn all day, until all more are burning on the last Sunday. In terms of markets, I actually went to many more in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Amsterdam, but those will be described in future posts that focus on specific cities. Sadly I have to go pack up my Christmas-y room, but that means that I get to go home on Thursday! I'm incredibly excited to be home for the holidays, and now I'll have memories of Europe to bring back with me. Merry Christmas!