Advertisement
Published: January 6th 2008
December 2007 was the month of the Christmas market for me. First, mum and I headed to the Nuremburg Christmas markets to celebrate mum's last weekend in the Northern hemisphere. They are one of the oldest in Europe (dating back to 1628) and are held in the square in front of the Frauenkirche church.
They work hard to keep them traditional. All the stalls have to have the same striped red and white roofs, they are not allowed to sell certain things (like war toys), there are rules about the way that the wares are displayed (no tatty cardboard boxes) and so on.
The main wares are Christmas decorations (of all kinds), gingerbread, candied nuts, gluhwein and some winter type clothes (hats and scarves) - although not many of these. Luckily, I have a slight Christmas decoration obsession - as does mum - so we were in Christmas market heaven. We managed to spend up big on decorations, my spending not at all hampered by the fact that as I will not be in London for Christmas, I will have no tree.
And the crowds love it! The markets are packed, especially as evening comes. It would certainly
be a haven for pickpockets as you are constantly being bumped or pushed past - in the nicest possible way of course. In particular, the gluhwein stands created traffic jams as people gathered around them sipping from their special Nuremberg market mugs (they make a new one each year). Eager to partake in the whole experience, mum and I of course sampled a wide variety of the gluhweins on offer - from the traditional red wine version, to white wine, cherry wine, beer and creamy versions.
Surprisingly, there was a significant German tourist element present, so it seems the markets are not yet too overrun by tourists (although it’s hard to see how more people could fit in!)
Clearly, the markets made me feel particularly Christmassy, and I think the only way to share the experience is by way if a revised Christmas carol. (Slight poetic licence has been taken with the suggestion that mum bought me all of the below - although I did end up with some cool presents!)
The 12 buys of Christmas
In the Nuremberg Christmas markets my mother bought for me:
12 chesnuts roasting
11 dried prune people
10 hanging snowflakes
9 candied nut cones
8 bratwurst rolls
7 santas sleighing
6 hand blown baubles
5 gluhwein mugs
4 angels singing
3 snowmen
2 cuckoo clocks
And 1 German Christmas pyramid
Merry Christmas all!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 20; qc: 87; dbt: 0.0678s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
