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!

A Week Without Classes

As part of our language course, we all awoke very early one Friday morning for a 12-hour excursion to the Bodensee, or Lake Constance, in southern Germany on the border with Switzerland. It takes less than two hours to drive there from Tübingen, meaning that we arrived before the fog had cleared off of the lake. The Bodensee is the largest body of water in Germany, however to us callous Americans it didn't seem that large. However it was absolutely beautiful, and we amused ourselves discussing how the water we had brought with us in our water bottles had originally come from there. (The Bodensee is also a giant reservoir that serves towns all across southern Germany, including Tübingen).

Our first stop was Birnau, where there was a beautiful view of the lake and a quick visit to an incredibly ornate rococo church. As this is one of my least favorite styles of religious art, I did not sneak an illegal photo, but instead will leave you with your imagination. Suffice it to say that it was one of the most ornately decorated churches I have seen, which is saying something after having traveled to eleven countries in Europe and visited countless churches.

From Birnau we took a lovely 45-minute walk through rolling hills covered with wine fields, ending up at a local open-air museum that has existed for almost 100 years. It showcases how the first settlers of the Bodensee would have lived, through a series of houses on stilts beginning in the Stone Age.

Pfahlbaumuseum in Unteruhlingden

From here we drove to Meersburg, where we had a lovely picnic in front of the lake and got ice cream as we walked through the adorable town. Meersburg is home to the oldest inhabited castle in Germany, which offers another beautiful view of the lake. We took a ferry from Meersburg to Konstanz, where we briefly journeyed across the border to Switzerland and spent some time shopping. We had an incredibly delicious dinner in a Turkish restaurant, where we discovered something called Börek. It looks like a smaller version of a calzone, and is filled with all kinds of delicious things. Mine was spinach, tomato, and sheep's cheese, and the best part was the special cleaver-type knife it was served with to help you cut into it.

Back in Tübingen it turned out that our program had some more fun activities planned. One of the fun things to do on the Neckar is to go punting, or, in German, on a Stocherkhanfahrt. Our entire course piled onto three boats to go out on one of the absolutely beautiful late summer days that we've been having.

Sinéad and Catie ready for Stocherkhan!

Our ride was beautiful, and our guide was very nice. He clearly really enjoyed taking us out, and even told us that he did it for the exercise and to be outside, rather than for the money. He asked us if we had a little extra time, because he knew a beautiful place at the farthest point you can go in the boat, where you can get out and wade in the water. After a few adventures where some people had to get out and help push the boat over the very shallow and rocky terrain at the end of the river, we managed to come to an area right before some gentle cascades. So after a delightful ride in the sun, enjoying pretzels, gummybears, and beer, we spent half an hour frolicking in the water :)

Besides these adventures in Baden-Württemberg, Catie and I returned to Bavaria last weekend for some adventures in Regensburg and Munich! I was amazed at how wonderful it was to go back to Regensburg, where I spent seven months in the spring/summer of 2009. I thought it might be weird to be back in a place that I associated with so many people that no longer lived there. My friend Frauke, however, happened to be there for two more weeks before making a big move to Ulm. So I got to see her, and we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening enjoying the city with coffee, cocktails, and dinner at my favorite asian imbiss, Ha Tien.

With Frauke in Regensburg

The steinerner Brücke and Dom in Regensburg

We also climbed a tower in a church that gives you a gorgeous view of Regensburg. It was a little crazy because I had climbed the same tower at the same time of day on one of my last days in Regensburg two years before. That was probably the only time that it felt strange to be in Regensburg, but I was glad that we climbed the tower because it was just as incredibly beautiful as it had been two years ago.

That night Catie and I stayed with her old au pair, who we had met in Regensburg and who lives about 20 minutes from the city. She lives in the most beautiful wooden house, with goats and a gorgeous starry sky, and near her incredibly nice parents. She was so caring and even got up at six am to drive us to the train! Here we are, ready for Oktoberfest, looking like true Bavarian Mädels.

6:00 a.m. on the way to Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest itself was SO much fun. We got to a tent right at 10 a.m. when it opened, meaning we could nab a table that was only reserved after 5:30 that afternoon. We hung out there for hours, singing, dancing, eating, and drinking three maß (liters) of beer each. We made friends with a group of women who sat next to us and gave us schnapps they had smuggled in, as well as the family that took their place. The father kept feeding us nuts in a fatherly manner, and after we bought teddy bears he asked us their names, again like a father. After about five or six hours in the tent we decided it was time to walk around and go on rides. Eventually we randomly ran into another group of Germans, one of whom, Albin, kept telling me he had fallen in love with me, and that I could just come live in his giant house in Munich. He also kept telling us about his brand new BMW and his Audi. It was pretty hilarious. But he bought us roses and beer (from a beer merry-go-round, where you all stand around a circular bar and get served as it rotates), and was very nice. All in all a really fun day, but we definitely collapsed when we finally got back to Tübingen that night after 2:00 a.m.

The crazy crowd

The tent we were in - The Hippodrom

Our new teddy bears Odo and Ludo

The band chugging a maß before their set

Learning about Oktoberfest at an early age

With Albin

The last thing that Catie and I have done in our week without classes is take a day-trip to Heidelberg. We went with some other people from our language program, because we can get there with a Baden-Württemberg ticket and have it only cost five euros if five people go. We went with ten people and two tickets, and it was a lovely day. It turned out that that was the last truly beautiful summery day, and we enjoyed it walking around Heidelberg, another delightful old university town. There is a castle in ruins up on the hill overlooking the city, which we visited after taking a funicular up to a look-out point and walking down some very tricky terrain in the woods. After the castle we enjoyed the afternoon by strolling across the Neckar and getting coffee at a little café. Which is pretty much how we've spent our time in Tübingen as well. Oh, life without classes...

Me and Catie with our Heidelberg Schlosskügeln 

A layer of chocolate, a layer of marzipan, a layer of cake, and a layer of nougat. Ahhh. 

The castle ruins

The largest wine barrel in the world

The view from the castle 

The little inlet where we waded

One last note is yet another thing about food! Catie, Sinéad, and I have discovered the most delicious place we have ever eaten. It is called the Kicher Erbsen, which translates to The Chick Pea, and it serves falafel. Incredible, incredible falafel. The falafel supreme mit alles is most likely the most delicious thing I have ever eaten - it is traditional falafel with lettuce, tomato, onions, tahini, and spice, but then it also has some of the creamiest hummus, delicious sauteed eggplant, and pockets of fried vegetables. To top it off, it has a large chunk of Schafskäse, which is sheep's cheese and tastes like a slightly milder version of feta. The man at the store is incredibly nice, and even waves to us on the street now (Tübingen is a small town, you see everyone all the time). The only problem is that they are not always open when they say they will be, which can cause some true disappointment...

 And now, I will leave you with an image of my day yesterday. My friend Josh has started working in the gummybear shop, so we got some delicious treats from him before heading to a store that sells chocolate/sweets/tea/coffee/everything wonderful, where I bought some marzipan acorns. Happy fall!