German Christmas Market Tour

Still catching up. Seems like we're always doing that.

So in order to get into the Christmas spirit, we decided to go to Germany. We wanted to visit our friends Frank & Heike, Diana's Tante Hannelore and her family, and go to the German Christmas markets. I wanted Diana to see some other areas of Germany, as most of her experience has been in Bavaria.

So we hit 5 cities in 4 days. We got some cheap flights round trip from London. I used hotel points and we stayed in the Hilton in Cologne and Munich, and Diana found an awesome deal on the German railways, so we traveled as 1 cheap person rather than 2.

So we started in Cologne. beautiful city, and we were staying right beside the Dom, the big cathedral. It's been incredibly cold in Europe this winter, since about the middle of November, it's rarely gotten above freezing, so we were traveling heavy, taking lots of warmth.

In Cologne, we hit no less than 5 or 6 markets. The most interesting was the Mittlearts Markt, or Middle Ages market. This was right beside the river, everyone was dressed from the Middle Ages, and there was no electricity, so the only lights were by candle and firepot.

Also went to Dusseldorf. It was a bit disappointing. The markets have become somewhat commercialized, and there are several shops you can find at all of them. Most of the markets offer some truly unique shops that are local and you can't find elsewhere. The markets in Dusseldorf didn't offer such. The local beer is sold in small glasses called alt beer, not James's favorite beer.

After 2 cold days in Cologne, we hopped the train to Aschaffenburg, where our friends Frank, Heike and Kai live. I've known Frank and Heike since 1991, and they are mine and Diana's oldest friends. They were closing down their summer place and we got in on the end of season party. there was lots of dancing! And, of course, we hit the local Christmas market on the way out.

We left there on the train to Munich. German trains are so great, they run on time and are very clean, safe and fast. We were in Munich about 1 1/2 hours faster than we could have driven it under best conditions.

The whole time we were in Cologne and Dusseldorf, we were hearing that it was snowing in Munich. We didn't get any snow there, but Diana found some on the ground. We saw several patches of snow, but none fell. I think it was too cold.

The Christmas markets are full of food and drinks. Bratwursts, fried potato cakes, roast pork sandwiches, candied almonds and other treats are everywhere, and we ate our way through. Also, Gluhwein, a hot mulled wine in lots of variants, schnapps and other drinks are in abundance. We sampled some of them as well. Finally, I tried the feuerzangenbowle, a mulled wine drink topped with 70% rum and a sugar cube, then set on fire. It warmed me :) and how, not a drink for Diana. She enjoyed the gluhwein.

Leaving Munich we took the train to Nurnburg to finish our visit at the oldest market, the Nurnbrug Christkindlsmarkt, and see Diana's Aunt. We had a great visit, saw the christmas angel, and had some nurnberger brats, the little ones. Nuremberg market is also famous for selling figurines called Zetschgenmannie made from nuts and dried plums. Then it was time to head for Frankfurt and the airport to come home.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. We had bought a small tree before we left and we picked up unique decorations and ornaments for it on the trip. We'll show those pictures in a later post. We tried to label the pictures as to where they were taken, then a comment about them.