Christmas Markets!

Well, possibly my favourite time of year in Germany is here: Christmas market season! While I do not like the crowds that accompany many of the markets, I do like going to see all the stalls and enjoying the food and Glühwein. This year I have already been to three, and am going to Munich next weekend for more.

Many of the markets opened the last week of November, and so Haydn came to visit me that weekend to see the markets. We met up on Saturday evening, since I had been in Mainz all day for my baseball scoring exam. I met him at his hotel and to keep me occupied while he got ready, Haydn had a German phrase book for me to look at ... from 1936!

I learned some useful things: Haben Sie Fernsprechanschluss?

We had dinner at Wagner's, the most popular place to take my family when they visit. We enjoyed the German atmosphere, and even got speaking with the couple sitting next to us. Turns out she had once been an au pair in England and he was very interested in Benjamin Britten. This lead to such a long chat that the serving lady finally had to ask us to leave! (They are very crowded and always need to quickly free up tables). 

On Sunday we went out to Oberursel. They have a medieval market, and we lucked out as it only on for one weekend a year. We took the UBahn up to Oberursel, and almsot by chance discovered a part of the old town that I had never seen. Around the church, St. Ursula, are some very pretty old cobbled streets and timber framed houses. 

View from the church yard of the old timber framed houses.

Haydn enjoying the small steam engine.

Unfortunately it was raining, and we both ended up getting rather wet. We came back to my house for a cup of tea, before having dinner at a little Thai place near my house in Sachsenhausen. Then we said goodbye, before he left Monday back to the UK.

This weekend I started off Friday by going to the Frankfurt Christmas market with Regina. We had a lovely time, and it was only really busy in some areas. We had raclette for dinner and a couple of mugs of Glühwein. We also stopped and listened to a men's choir for a while. They were really good, and sang an interesting selection of carols. My favourite was an Udo Jürgen's carol in "Denglish". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFtE_iZn-k4.

Choir, Rathaus and the Christmas tree.

The most exciting Christmas market I went to was yesterday. Tamzin, Bryan and I drove out to Ronneburg to the medieval market in the castle there. It was so different from all the other markets I have been to. It was inside and outside the castle, and had all kinds of different stalls selling crafts, souvenirs, food and drink. They had a stage outside as well, with various medieval style performers. We had a good laugh watching a group of jugglers. Plus lots of people (visitors and people working there) were dressed up in medieval costumes. They ranged through all types of people: soldiers, commoners, nobility. We kept seeing this one group of people, who I called Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey.

Notice Cardinal Wolsey with his cell phone?

The merry-go-round, powered by the man grabbing one of the ropes and running around in circles.

View of the outside part of the market from the castle tower.