Birmingham Christmas Market

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The festive lights of Birmingham with the ferris wheel turning was really pretty as we started our virtual tour with Heygo.

It was interesting to hear from Ian how Birmingham’s German market was set up in 1997, known more formally as the Frankfurt Christmas Market Birmingham because traders come from the German twin city.

Kurt Stroscher, Frankfurt City Council’s director of festivals and events, came up with the idea as a way to market his home city overseas.

Birmingham was the first city the Christmas markets came to because Frankfurt has a partnership with Birmingham as twin towns.

Birmingham City Council chiefs initially agreed to a one-off venture in which the Frankfurt stallholders came over to hold a similar event. It was such a success that it has become an annual event every year since then.

The market was starting to get busy and the atmosphere was very festive as we strolled around admiring all there was on offer.

At the end of they our we were able to view the magnificent stained-glass windows created by Birmingham-born Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones at Birmingham Cathedral.

A love start to the festive season.

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