Weihnachten in Deutschland - Part II

We have experienced four different Christmas Markets so far this year:  The "world famous" one (according to MSN) held in Frankfurt for almost four weeks and then three very small ones, which are held for only a weekend or two.  I decided to do a separate blog for these smaller ones.
The first small one was in Niederau, the village where our Associate Director, Ralf Grünke, lives.  Our first stop there was a building with local crafts.  We enjoyed this re-creation of spinning wool and then seeing the same yarn put to use in knitting and crocheting.
Loved the period costumes!

We were there early enough to experience the small local market in daylight.

Although this was pretty much all there was, it was still fun to experience this tradition
celebrated in almost every German town.

With a few minutes' head start. the mayor spoke, 

and then everyone counted-down as he turned on all the lights at exactly 5 p.m.

AWESOME!!!

We were then treated to a number of tunes played on the alpen horns.  

By then we were really beginning to feel we were in Germany for Christmas!

On our drive home, we were treated to quite a beautiful display of Christmas lights.  

Eat your heart out, Clark Griswold!

The next weekend we were able to experience a few other small Christmas Markets with our son, Derek!  The first was at Erbach, where there was a huge "pyramid," a bigger-than-life-size version of the traditional German Christmas decoration.

We thought the unique wooden nativity was very interesting.

The next market was on the grounds of the Ronneberg Castle.  

Not only was there a Christmas market there, but it was done in conjunction with a Medieval Fair.

We loved how so many people were just wandering around in period dress.  We think it was local people who just enjoy re-enacting that time in history.

 The booths sold lots of interesting food and mostly weapons of war.  

The grandsons would love this!

I thought the old fash merry-go-round was very interesting!

More medieval weaponry, no less!

  Even a couple of juggling acts to entertain us.

There was no doubt that Derek preferred this type of Christmas market to the glitzy, 

commercial one in Frankfurt! 

 

Inside the central courtyard you could buy drinks and climb the tower.  Derek and I did the latter.

 And what a fitting finale to see St. Nikolaus there at the fair just as we were leaving!
Fröliche Weihnachten!

Weihnachten in Deutschland - Part I

As you view the home page of my blog above, you are looking at the old Frankfurt town center, called Römer Platz, with its beautiful half-timbered buildings.  It's usually fairly open with a few tourists gazing at the beautiful buildings surrounding the town.  But not in December where Christmas markets throughout Germany are a tradition!

With numerous Christmas booths and thousands of people there to enjoy the Weihnachtsmarkt, one can scarcely make out the famous buildings anymore.  But, oh, what an amazing, 

festive atmosphere is present this time of the year!

Elder G just LOVED the huge lighted tree!

And it gets prettier when the sun goes down and the lights are illuminated.

The colorful temporary shops sold everything from Christmas ornaments and crafts

to wine, beer, hot drinks, and food.

 

So many ornaments and decorations to choose from!

   

And there was even a merry-go-round!

There were food booths galore!  This one sold meat and cheese.

Here you could buy a variety of chocolate-covered fruits on a skewer!  

I tried the pineapple.  Truly yummy!

Licorice, anyone? 

Plenty of pretzels - cheese or chocolate covered!

Iced gingerbread cookies!

And chocolate-covered apples

And for every ornament or food booth, there was an equal number of booths where one could buy the drink of choice.  Wine, beer, or hot drinks were purchased and then drunk, standing and visiting around nearby tables. Seriously, we think drinking and eating were the favorite pastimes

with actual shopping coming in third.

  

  

Just a few blocks away is the upscale pedestrian shopping district, the Zeil.  It, too,was just as festive. The crowds at both places were unbelievable!!!

One night about 50 of us missionaries and youth from the Frankfurt Ward tried caroling
in the center of the Zeil one night.  We got one referral out of the event.
Apparently, the year before they got even more!

Christmas Markets in Germany are truly an experience to be remembered!