Christkindlesmarkt

You ever do something just because?
Well, we did.  We really love Christmas and the whole way different cultures celebrate it.  We've been mostly exposed to American and for the last 2 years the British, we've spent 3 Christmas seasons here now.  We wanted to see how the Germans do it.

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Get your own

We decided to travel to Nuremberg Germany to take part in their centuries long tradition of Christkindlesmarkt.  We read that Nuremberg is the largest one in Germany but I'm sure other town will say the same.  Not only does Nuremberg have a Christmas Market but they were also the seat of the Nazi party before WWII.  This meant there would be some side trips during the weekend.

We chose to fly through London City as it's really easy to get there and very close for us.  We have gone through Gatwick and Stansted but those require you going via train for 45 minutes with a bus ride getting to the train station.  With London City you take a bus and a train and you're there within 30 minutes from our place.  It reminds me of flying through Burbank, small and really easy to manage.

Nuremberg is the 2nd largest city in Bravaria with Munich in 1st place.  We've been to Munich before and I love that city.  Nuremberg has the Altstadt or Old Town where it's kept most of the castle wall around it.  However it was the 2nd most bombed city in Germany during the war and most of everything you see in the Altstadt has been rebuilt to look like the old stuff or they just built new stuff in the 50's and 60's where that doesn't even fit in.  But it's cool to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere of Christmas and eat sausages!  I've learned I'm not a fan of Gluhwien or mulled wine. 


Out of the city lies the Nazi Rally parade grounds and some of the buildings too big to demolish.  There's this huge Congress Hall or Kongresshalle that was supposed to have a roof on it for their indoor rallies that was never finished.  When you walk inside it you feel really small, now it's got some trees growing in the cracks and houses the Document Center showing the rise of the Nazi Party.  We got to see the Zeppelin Field where they held huge parades, now it's a parking lot.  There's the Great Road or Große Straße that was used for parades but when the Americans liberated Nuremberg it was used as an air strip.  Can you imagine landing a plane on granite blocks?  There was even plans to build a stadium, German Stadium, it would have held 400,000 people!  They got as far as sinking in the poles for the foundations but stopped there to go pick a fight with the rest of Europe.  The whole area is vast!  Most of the structures are still standing but with some levels of decay and in need of repair or attention.

I'm not one to praise the Nazi Party but I do find the architecture fascinating.  I just wonder what it would have looked like had they not been shot up or left alone.

We took a day to visit Bamberg about an hour outside of Nuremberg.  This was a much more manageable town and Christmas Market.  I kept saying "This is what I expected".  We got there right at lunch time and by 4pm the place got crowded but still not nearly as busy as Nuremberg.

We had to have more sausage sandwiches and tried Rauchbier or 'smoked' beer.  I had yummy apple cider with a splash of some kind of alcohol and Kevin had to try this flaming mulled wine.  I'd like to go back to Bamberg when it's warmer and spend time just relaxing there.

So we can check another thing off our list.  Probably won't need to go to another German Christmas Market in Germany again.  We've seen the commercial and the crafty side of them and I prefer the country, small and friendly version better.