Thoughts on Christkindlmarkt

This trip has been everything I expected and more.  It was like being in a winter wonderland.  The markts are all different, many different themes and attractions, some more focused on children and also, the foods are all different and each markt provides its own experiences.   I have never seen more beautiful Christmas decorations and displays and the food is a German girl’s delight!   We met St. Nikolaus, Krampus and saw the Christkind in Nurnberg…..everything I hoped to experience!  An extra treat were the carols by the children and adults from the blind school.

I learned that my stollen I make tastes just like the stollen in Germany!  I was delighted.  Now I must master the terrific gingerbread.

We are very tired, but it is a good tired.   One is outside all day while visiting these markts.  I quickly learned that no one worries about their hair and that one wears a hat all day, a scarf and gloves.  Long underwear, wool socks, boots!  No earrings, they become little cold pieces of metal turning your earlobes into ice cubes!  We were already prepared for this, but I rarely wear a hat at home unless I am shoveling snow….and I got used to wearing a hat every day and even pulling my hood up over it!!

I bought a new parka from LL Bean before leaving and I loved the thought that it had fake fur around the hood.  I used to have one like that back in the ‘70’s, but I was wondering if it would look out of place now.   No one at home seems to wear them but I have always liked them.  It seems I certainly wore it to the right place as everyone had down coats and most had fur on the hoods!   It was perfect!  I was in style!

Aside from being outside all day, one walks and stands all day as all the food is at the stands with the very European system of having little tables everyone stands around.  Everyone just crowds in together and huddles with their meal or snacks and warms their hands with their mug of Gluhwein.   There is no gluhwein like the kind we had on this trip.  We buy it at home – even the kind sold in Nurnberg at the stands, but it certainly isn’t as tasty as what we had at the markts.   Some of the stands had cookie jars with bars of gingerbread to go with your gluhwein – there is just no other treat so tasty when your hands are cold and the snow is pouring around you. 

The snow was wonderful, the temperatures 27-34 degrees every day and Jim suffered in silence, although he did put on a face for one of the photos at the Salzburg markt when the snow was falling heavily!!   It was fun being able to be out in the snow (they put cinders on the sidewalks) and not have to worry about driving.  We walked, or in Austria took the bus to and from the station.

Most of the decorations and items I would have liked to buy were the sort I probably would have had trouble getting back into the country….real nuts, greens, twigs and things that probably would be frowned upon and truthfully, most of them were too big to carry home.  So, sadly I left them all there.  Also, these handmade delights are also very expensive.

Hopefully, there will be another time I can return to such a great time.  Now however, we are headed home to 60 degree weather.  Heaven only knows when I will get to wear my hat again, as I have grown to like it!!

More photos have been added, especially to Munich - and video will soon be on a CD