Author Archives: Trysta

die Weihnachtsmärkte

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Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) are definitely all that they are cracked up to be in Germany. I  must admit, we were kind of slutty in visiting as many as possible this year.

Freiburg – We started of at the home front, taking Liv to the Freiburg Market on its opening day. The market is quaint, with the Rathaus proudly lit in the background.

Freiburg Rathaus

Including Liv in the adventure was not a good idea. The ground was covered in so many delicious morsels to vacuum up that we were literally dragging her by the collar to the point of choking. Breathing or eating? Breathing or eating? My dear Hündchen always picks eating!

We tried to carry her, but due to tight quarters, she started plate-and-cup-surfing from beneath my arm!

Hungry Hund

 

Heidelberg – Next was Heidelberg with 5 different markets in total. The Schloss is a beautiful backdrop for ice skating at Karlsplatz (and also on the list of 1000 Places!!).  The picture below is of a German candle pyramid. These are typical German Christmas decorations and can range from very simple to quite lavish. Before people had access to books, history was told through stories and plays. Parents would make small little people and adorn a multi-level pyramid with them. Then, candles were lit, which created enough heat to move the propellers of the wind-mill. As the wind-mill turned the figures on the pyramid, parents would tell their children the associated story.

German candle pyramid

This one was particularly large and hosted a Glühwein stand below! I wonder if it would fit in my apartment? I would let the neighbors have as much free Glühwein as they wanted!

 

Mannheim –Mannheim is really close to Heidelberg, so we took a day trip here to check out the Christmas Market where “Santa goes to shop”! The Wasserturm (Water Tower) is beautiful and the market completely encircles it. 

Mannheim Wasserturm

We discovered “Langos” at the Mannheim Market, a delicious Hungarian treat! Deep fried flat bread, covered in your personal selection of toppings. We went for the traditional sour cream and cheese. Yum!

Mannheim Weihnachtsmarkt

 

Nürnberg – The Nürnberg Market definitely had the most character! There are so many visual delights at each of the stalls, that it is easy to forget to look up and see the beautiful landmarks of the city. The market is nestled so perfectly amongst the 14th century Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain), 14th century Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), and 13th century St. Sebalduskirche, Nürnberg’s oldest church.

Ornament and decoration stall

 

13th century St. Sebalduskirche

Then, to top it all off, every once in a while a festively decorated horse-drawn carriage rolls by. When there are Clydesdales, you know you’re in a good place!

Clydesdales on Fleisch brüke

What was really interesting was that each of Nürnberg’s sister cities (Nice, France – Glasgow, Scotland, Prague, CR – Atlanta – Venice, Italy – and more) had its own stall with local/typical food and wares. “Atlanta” was selling Oreos, Harley-Davidson products, Jim Beam, Hershey’s, and traditional stockings, just to name a few. Funny.

Weihnachtsmark stalls on the Hauptmarkt

 

Colmar, France – It’s not Germany, and therefore not a “German Christmas Market” I know. However, the conversation usually goes like this: Want to go to France for the evening? Sure, why not. So we did, and it was well worth the trip!

There were many different squares in Colmar, filled with Christmas goodies. We wandered from street to street with our friends, enjoying the picturesque atmosphere of Colmar at night, decked out for the season. We finished up the evening with chocolate crepes…délicieux.

Colmar, France

 

Munich – Munich had endless options for marketing, and according to 1000 Places To See Before You Die, is only rivaled by Nürnberg. Good thing we went to both! The Medieval Market in Munich was serving up Mead and fish right off the wood-burning stove. Another market had an ice skating rink, for anyone who was brave enough and willing to become the evening’s entertainment for those watching from the viewing deck.

We discovered Glühbier at the Munich Christmas Market! It is hot, cherry-flavored beer!

Glühbier and Christmas Beer

 

Pink Christmas

We also discovered “Pink Christmas” in Munich, the all-pink, gay, Christmas Market.

 

 

 

 

Munich has an amazing Neues Rathaus (NewTown Hall). The architecture is so ornate and Gothic that you think it is a church at first glance. The church, Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), is actually the two domes with the clocks in the left of the picture.

Neues Rathaus and Frauenkirche

Together, with the Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree), they create a beautiful backdrop for reveling in the Christmas spirit on Marienplatz.

The Walls on Marienplatz

 

So, you ask, which market was my favorite?  The one with the Glühwein and the good company!

 

der Weihnachtsbaum

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Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum, how lovely are your branches?

You would think, in the land of Christmas Trees, at the foot of the Black Forest, that we would have a Weihnachtsbaum fit for a holiday card. Well, I am going to hope that all the beautiful trees are still standing, cleaning the Earth, and providing visual pleasure for countless years to come. I say thins because it seems that only the scraggly and unsightly trees are available for gracing the homes of Freiburgers.

History first: In the 16th century, German Christians brought decorated trees into their homes and are accredited with starting the Christmas tree tradition. It is rumored that Martin Luther, the 16th century Protestant reformer, first added candles to a tree. In the 1830s German settlers in Pennsylvania were the first ones to bring the Christmas tradition to America. Christmas tree ornaments were shipped from Germany in the 1890s, at a time when Christmas trees and ornaments were seen as pagan symbols by Americans. You’d think all these years of practice would yield some really great Christmas trees!

Reality next: Our Weihnachtsbaum is far from post-card quality. The first challenge was where to buy one. I asked my German teacher and she had no idea. We went to the Rathaus (Town Hall) and they were of little help. We ended up at the German version of Home Depot, which had about 3 parking spaces worth of selection. Every tree had at least two feet of branch-less trunk at the top and the rest was so sparse you could see through to the other side. After looking at four or five different trees, the man pulls one out and says, “DAS ist ein Tannenbaum!” (THAT is a fir tree!) He was pretty pumped about it. So I said, “Dann, das ist UNSER Tannenbaum!” (Then, that is OUR fir tree!) We loaded it into the trunk of our sedan, drove home, put it in the elevator, and then got to work!

Hanging the lights was an interesting task. I pretty much created a tangled mess of wires and lights where branches should be. I told Joe he had to take them all off in January. Poor kid.

The top of the trunk was about four inches too long to accommodate the star. I didn’t feel like trying to cut it with scissors, so I just folded it over. I expected it to snap and break, but no, it was just like folding a Twizzlers. Hmmm…that’s a new one.

The ornaments had to go through several screening processes since we were limited on space. To all those who didn’t make the cut: Sorry, try again next year.

The tree has been standing for several weeks now, thank goodness. We chose not to buy European Christmas lights, so we have the strands plugged into a transformer. It is always a surprise what the lights will look like when they are plugged in. Some strands go on, others don’t. Some turn off when they get too “tired”. Sometimes the entire tree just goes dark. We don’t ever leave the tree unattended, as it surely is a fire-hazard.

To top it all off, we get to keep the tree until January 18th! That is the only day that tree-pick up occurs on our street. Regardless of its idiosyncrasies, at its resemblance to Charlie Brown’s tree, it is our German Christmas tree and it makes us laugh.

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum, your branches green delight us.

Nürnberg ~ gute Menschen sind gute Menschen

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Nürnberg deserves more than the short weekend we gave it. In all honesty, it deserves more than a long weekend. In 1945 the city was demolished by Allied bombers, and has since been re-built using the original stone. Today, its Medieval charm remains, with the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) keeping watch over the wall-encircled Altstadt (downtown).

Joe and I definitely plan to return for two reasons: 1) Good people are good people. 2) We didn’t get to accomplish everything we set out to do in Nürnberg because we were hung-over from enjoying the company of reason #1.

We have an amazing friend in the States who has recently discovered family connections in Nürnberg. The main motivation behind our trip was to visit the world-renowned Christmas Market so we arranged to meet with our friend’s family there on Friday night. The husband speaks great English, however the wife has never had any English education and has a very limited vocabulary…beyond the word “shit” that is.

So, they graciously met us at our hotel and we walked to the market, stopping at some important sights for mini-history lessons from the husband along the way. He has even brought us some tourist brochures for the main sights in town. Good people. Now, it is important to know that older women in Germany usually walk down the street arm in arm. After about 5 sentences in German (the boys have quickly sped ahead by now) she slides her arm though my elbow and we continue to walk down the street as if we have been “old hens” for years. Nürnberg Christmas Market is known for its Lebkuchen (specialty gingerbread) and “Plum People”. While we are walking I ask the wife for the history behind the Plum People. A lot of the story is lost due to lack of my German understanding, but I gathered that mothers used to make toys out of dried plums for their children.

Glühwein mit Rum

We head to her favorite Glühwein stand, which includes 1 once of Rum! “It’s medicine!” they say. Prost! During the second round of Rum-laced Glühwein Joe tells the story of how we met. Apparently, he was roller-skating in a bikini on South Beach and I was so lucky as to spot and snag him because, naturally, I have such a nice rack. Prost!

 

We walk to the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) and spin its ring several times so our wishes will come true. Then, all of a sudden, we are standing in front of an amazing array of Plum People. As I am ogling the selection, the wife hands me a small bag. She has chosen two small Plum People for us, as a gift. For “Viel Glück” (good luck) she says. Good people. Next we walk to the Fußbar (literally: foot cash…a “shit” name according to the wife) for a beer. Well, apparently the glasses of beer come with shots of vodka in this family, and they come by the half-dozen. By the end of the night the wife is giving sex advice (the more the wine, the prettier the baby), has named our un-conceived child (after herself – middle name only, as she is struggling to understand the logic behind the Ts), and determined its Godmother (herself, naturally). She also said she would come take care of the baby because she has experience with scheiße (shit). Prost!

The Ehrenhalle

With four hours of sleep, Joe and I head to the Document Center and Nazi Party Rally Grounds on Saturday. The information presented in this amazing museum is overwhelming. The way they have organized the exhibit is unique and there are numerous videos that make the events of not-so-long-ago very tangible. I have never been a history buff, but I know that accepting the depth and breath of history is a choice. It is easy at the Rally Grounds to choose not to realize the immensity of what has occurred here, as it looks almost nothing like what it used to. But, if you just stop, take a deep breath, let what you have learned about a place flood your mind, and choose to be “in” history for a moment, you will be amazed. I chose to put my hand on the place where a man brought millions to their feet, and changed history, because only by choice will history not be repeated.

The horrors of Hitler and WWII go without saying. His manipulation skills border on genius, albeit with mal-intent. Joe and I struggled to find a figure in history who has used such power to move the people toward good. It’s unfortunate, but the examples of people who have moved populations toward horror are plenty: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini…

We also visited the location of the Nürnberg Trials, Courtroom 600. This is still a functional courtroom in the German legal system and has retained only bits and pieces of its post-war furnishings. The benches where dozens of NASDP leaders sat and awaited their fate are still present though. What amazed me here is that during the Trials, witnesses and defendants were housed in the same lodgings. I guess the “Witness Protection Plan” was yet to come!

Thank goodness we had time for a quick nap before meeting our new friends again. This time the son, daughter, and daughter’s boyfriend were in tow. Drinks first, of course, then dinner! After dinner we head to another bar for more “medicine”. On the way, I have the mom on one arm, and the daughter on the other. When we arrived, I thought I asked for a Rum and Coke, but what shows up….vodka shots with sugar packets! A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.

We are speaking half English, half German at this point, as everyone wants to practice their second language. I am talking with the son and trying to explain, in German, what the word “immersed” means. He is having trouble with the word and wants it spelled. That doesn’t work. I don’t know if it is the teacher in me, the traveler, or just the over-organized personality, but I always have paper and a pen in my bag. So I whip out a pad of sticky notes from my purse and a pen and start writing. I also explain that this is a $5 word in English. He is very intrigued by this catch phrase and asks for a $20 English word. I bust out “supercalafragalisticexpealadocious”.  As soon as I say it out loud he shouts “Mary Poppins”! I respond with an excited “Oh, you know!!” Apparently “supercalafragalisticexpealadocious” is exactly the same in German as it is in English. Maybe that is where they learned about combining sugar and “medicine”?!

Ich bin…

Joe now takes the pad of sticky notes and instructs us all on how to play the game he has just invented. Each of us must write something on a sticky that starts with “Ich bin…” (I am…) and then share out. We must guess who each person is referring to. I write “Ich bin sarkastisch” (I am sarcastic) as a tribute to our dear friend, family member, and cause of this crazy debacle. We all have a great time as the stickies get passed around and eventually soaked in beer and vodka “medicine”.

Seven and a half hours later we are tucking ourselves into bed, warm with plenty of medicine and the healthy joy of laughter. What good fortune to connect with good people.

‘Till Death Do Us Part

The next morning, all we could manage in Nürnberg was another walk through the Christmas Market and a visit to the Ehekarussel Brunnen (Marriage Carousel Fountain). This is a very interesting monstrosity of one man’s depiction of another man’s thoughts on marriage. Google it.

 

 

 

 

 

Good people are good people. Thanks to one great person, Joe and I will now forever have several more great people in our lives.