LordStorm rides the rails: the German Xmas market trundle, 20-24 December
A lovely 5-day dash to France and south-eastern Germany by rail to visit the famous Nuremberg Xmas markets, with 
stilkil, three years after our last visit to the markets in Cologne in 2010. This was, of course, right after I returned from my trip from South America, but it did allow me to adjust to the overseas headspace and languages far quicker than usual.
I took the Eurostar from St. Pancras station on Friday morning at the usual deity-forsaken hour and arrived in Paris on time, where after a quick dash across the city I took another high-speed train from Gare de Lyon to arrive in Dijon 2.5hrs later. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the lovely Burgundian city, wrapped in jacket and scarf and gloves in 2deg weather trying to adjust to the weather in the northern hemisphere. Saturday I took another TGV, crossing into the northern corner of Swizterland to change trains in Basel; as I had some time to kill, I wandered around the thrird-biggest Swiss city and even dropped by their own Xmas market stalls for a comparison. I left on a German high-speed ICE train (1st class! thankyou internet early-bird specials!) just after 1pm, crossing into my third country in as many hours and dashed to Frankfurt, changing for another high-speed ICE train (again 1st class) to Nuremberg, arriving there well after the sun set (and only realising later that day it was the winter solstice) at 1830hrs, meeting Susan at the hotel (who herself had trundled in from Austria), which was right around the corner from the Altstadt walls.
Rather than dither about, we entered the Altstadt by the landmark King's Tower, and dived straight into the city's main Xmas market, propped up with a mug or three of excellent mulled wine for a rather chilly evening. We wandered around the city for a little while, guided off my memory from the last time I was in Nuremberg just over 2 years ago, but we were caught out by surprise however when all the stalls shut promptly at 2100hrs that night, leaving us rather hungry (we eventually found a Turkish take-away place for a lahmacun).
There were three major markets dotted around the city: the biggest and best-known one right in the heart of the Altstadt in Hauptmarkt; a smaller cluster called the Sister Cities Market (comprising of international stalls from Nuremberg's European sister-cities), placed around the corner from the Rathaus and St. Sebalder church; and the nationally-renown Children's Market south-east of Hauptmarkt with a merry-go-round and stalls with children's toys and activities. Stalls offered a variety of things: hot food (mostly wurst/sausages, cheese and mustards, spiced bread and gingerbread, stollen, honeys and chocolate-dipped fruits, tea-stalls, and lots and lots of different kinds of confectionery), clothes (mostly leather and woollen goods), trinkets (glass beads, wooden toys, candles), and stalls for hot drinks (glühwein or mulled wine - red or white, and with or without a dash of rum or amaretto; hot cocoa - again, with or without a dash of spirits and/or cream; eggnog; and even shots of apple brandy).
Each market was lit spectacularly - the Hauptmarkt was pretty much flood-lit - with chains of flickering lights up and down the aisles and the city's main streets (and fairy-lights everywhere), so it was probably night-time which was the best time to visit: considering the chill evening, both customers and operators were propped up with a hot toddy and were probably more friendly and receptive because of it! Many stalls allowed customers to try or taste much of the wares or products they were selling, so it was also a very interactive experience as well, and the stall operators were very friendly and happy to help, in either German (which I was able to practice a bit!) or English. However, considering the time of week close to Xmas itself and how popular Nuremberg's markets were, it did get rather crowded later in the evenings, barely able to move in the aisles for all the people jostling around the stalls.
Sunday we took it easy, sleeping in and exploring the markets - and the rest of the city - more thoroughly, and even used Monday morning to drop by the Nuremberg Law Courts to visit the Nuremberg WWII Trials museum, even sitting in the famous Room 600 where the International Military Tribunal tried the top surviving Nazi figures of a freshly-defeated Third Reich. Monday night was a last shop and a last chance to pick up things we'd previously eyed and could budget for, before having a lovely dinner in a restaurant on Hauptmarkt one floor up over the market stalls.
By the time we left Nuremberg early this morning our bags were weighted down with quite a few purchases; bags were handled carefully as we boarded ICE trains (1st class again, gotta love online early-bird specials) across Germany via Frankfurt and Cologne, and switching to a Eurostar in Brussels; the weather had turned terrible by this stage (eliminating any chance of a possible trip into central Brussels to see their Xmas markets in the Grand Place), and it was in a miserable and partially-flooded London we finally arrived at 1600hrs this afternoon, still trying to mop up after horrendous weather that had struck southern England the day before.
It was a lovely experience, and our second German Xmas market. However, considering the experience from the Cologne markets three years ago, I think I preferred Cologne over Nuremberg. Don't get me wrong: Nuremberg's were by all means larger, and had an excellent Children's Market, but the market in Hauptmarkt was quite large (and exhausting to slowly jostle through once the crowds appeared around sunset), and Susan and I both agreed there appeared to be more variety in the Cologne markets than we saw here in Nuremberg. Still a good experience, though.
Photos in the usual place soon, once I get to work indexing my South American trip first.
This entry was originally posted at http://mnemonia.dreamwidth.org/331705.html. Comments may be left on either entry.
stilkil, three years after our last visit to the markets in Cologne in 2010. This was, of course, right after I returned from my trip from South America, but it did allow me to adjust to the overseas headspace and languages far quicker than usual.
I took the Eurostar from St. Pancras station on Friday morning at the usual deity-forsaken hour and arrived in Paris on time, where after a quick dash across the city I took another high-speed train from Gare de Lyon to arrive in Dijon 2.5hrs later. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the lovely Burgundian city, wrapped in jacket and scarf and gloves in 2deg weather trying to adjust to the weather in the northern hemisphere. Saturday I took another TGV, crossing into the northern corner of Swizterland to change trains in Basel; as I had some time to kill, I wandered around the thrird-biggest Swiss city and even dropped by their own Xmas market stalls for a comparison. I left on a German high-speed ICE train (1st class! thankyou internet early-bird specials!) just after 1pm, crossing into my third country in as many hours and dashed to Frankfurt, changing for another high-speed ICE train (again 1st class) to Nuremberg, arriving there well after the sun set (and only realising later that day it was the winter solstice) at 1830hrs, meeting Susan at the hotel (who herself had trundled in from Austria), which was right around the corner from the Altstadt walls.
Rather than dither about, we entered the Altstadt by the landmark King's Tower, and dived straight into the city's main Xmas market, propped up with a mug or three of excellent mulled wine for a rather chilly evening. We wandered around the city for a little while, guided off my memory from the last time I was in Nuremberg just over 2 years ago, but we were caught out by surprise however when all the stalls shut promptly at 2100hrs that night, leaving us rather hungry (we eventually found a Turkish take-away place for a lahmacun).
There were three major markets dotted around the city: the biggest and best-known one right in the heart of the Altstadt in Hauptmarkt; a smaller cluster called the Sister Cities Market (comprising of international stalls from Nuremberg's European sister-cities), placed around the corner from the Rathaus and St. Sebalder church; and the nationally-renown Children's Market south-east of Hauptmarkt with a merry-go-round and stalls with children's toys and activities. Stalls offered a variety of things: hot food (mostly wurst/sausages, cheese and mustards, spiced bread and gingerbread, stollen, honeys and chocolate-dipped fruits, tea-stalls, and lots and lots of different kinds of confectionery), clothes (mostly leather and woollen goods), trinkets (glass beads, wooden toys, candles), and stalls for hot drinks (glühwein or mulled wine - red or white, and with or without a dash of rum or amaretto; hot cocoa - again, with or without a dash of spirits and/or cream; eggnog; and even shots of apple brandy).
Each market was lit spectacularly - the Hauptmarkt was pretty much flood-lit - with chains of flickering lights up and down the aisles and the city's main streets (and fairy-lights everywhere), so it was probably night-time which was the best time to visit: considering the chill evening, both customers and operators were propped up with a hot toddy and were probably more friendly and receptive because of it! Many stalls allowed customers to try or taste much of the wares or products they were selling, so it was also a very interactive experience as well, and the stall operators were very friendly and happy to help, in either German (which I was able to practice a bit!) or English. However, considering the time of week close to Xmas itself and how popular Nuremberg's markets were, it did get rather crowded later in the evenings, barely able to move in the aisles for all the people jostling around the stalls.
Sunday we took it easy, sleeping in and exploring the markets - and the rest of the city - more thoroughly, and even used Monday morning to drop by the Nuremberg Law Courts to visit the Nuremberg WWII Trials museum, even sitting in the famous Room 600 where the International Military Tribunal tried the top surviving Nazi figures of a freshly-defeated Third Reich. Monday night was a last shop and a last chance to pick up things we'd previously eyed and could budget for, before having a lovely dinner in a restaurant on Hauptmarkt one floor up over the market stalls.
By the time we left Nuremberg early this morning our bags were weighted down with quite a few purchases; bags were handled carefully as we boarded ICE trains (1st class again, gotta love online early-bird specials) across Germany via Frankfurt and Cologne, and switching to a Eurostar in Brussels; the weather had turned terrible by this stage (eliminating any chance of a possible trip into central Brussels to see their Xmas markets in the Grand Place), and it was in a miserable and partially-flooded London we finally arrived at 1600hrs this afternoon, still trying to mop up after horrendous weather that had struck southern England the day before.
It was a lovely experience, and our second German Xmas market. However, considering the experience from the Cologne markets three years ago, I think I preferred Cologne over Nuremberg. Don't get me wrong: Nuremberg's were by all means larger, and had an excellent Children's Market, but the market in Hauptmarkt was quite large (and exhausting to slowly jostle through once the crowds appeared around sunset), and Susan and I both agreed there appeared to be more variety in the Cologne markets than we saw here in Nuremberg. Still a good experience, though.
Photos in the usual place soon, once I get to work indexing my South American trip first.
This entry was originally posted at http://mnemonia.dreamwidth.org/331705.html. Comments may be left on either entry.