The first one we went to was the Rudesheim Market of the Nations just after Thanksgiving. This Christmas tree type thing is made from the pruned grape vines from the local vineyards.
The different stalls at this market have flags to show where the food or merchandise comes from. You know we bought some stinky French cheese here. We also had Flammkuchen (my favorite,) and Bratwurst made from Finnish elk meat.
They claim this is the largest Christmas market nativity... but I believe I have heard that claim from at least four other Christmas markets, so who knows.
We let each of the kids choose one treat at this market. Amelie chose this Dickmann thing. It's a German treat with a chocolate covered marshmallow center. They are kind of hilarious, but she likes them.
Rob and I shared a Kinderpunsch and kept our souvenir mug for our growing collection.
Toby and Charlotte chose cotton candy, and Jake got a chocolate covered apple which made his loose tooth fall out on the way to the car.
What I liked best about this market was the setting. Rudesheim has a really quaint old town and is nestled between the Rhine and it's vineyards. I think this was my favorite market this year.
The next market some of us went to, was the Darmstadt market. Rob was going there with his co-workers for lunch, so Amelie and I drove down to meet up with them. Darmstadt feels like home to me. Whenever I go downtown I am just overwhelmed with memories of walking the streets with my babies in the stroller, hanging out with my girlfriends on girls night out, dinners at some of my favorite restaurants, all of those things. So it was fun to get some hot cocoa with my sweetheart and reminisce.
Another market that we had never visited before is the Frankfurt Christmas market. (In fact, Rob had never visited downtown Frankfurt at all yet.) We took the train from near our house so we wouldn't have to deal with parking in the city.
That was a good idea, because even though it was a bit of a walk from the Hauptbahnhof, the market was SO CROWDED. This is the only one that we visited on a Saturday this year, and we feel like in the future we will try not to go on Saturdays at all. Anyway, we ate chimney cakes, and window shopped.
They had a beautiful old two-story carousel, so we let the kiddos take a ride on that.
And then we ate MORE FOOD. This is a schnitzel sandwich with fried onions. Are you sensing a trend here? Basically our Christmas market plan is to eat our way from one end of the market to the other while enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the season. It's a lot of fun!
The next market Amelie and I visited was in Alsfeld. This is a tiny town about 90 minutes away from our house, but a friend had said it was one of her very favorites, so I had to check it out.
The market is small, but the old town is beautiful! The town is at least 1,000 years old and many of these buildings date from the 1500s. I do love German medieval cuteness.
Since the market was so small we strolled the shops a little bit too.
Some girlfriends from church met up with us there and Amelie was thrilled to hang out with her best friend too.
Rob also made it to a market without any kids. He and some co-workers visited the Mainz market as a farewell to someone leaving Germany. It was pouring down rain that day, but it looks like they had some fun anyway.
And finally we made the two hour drive to Würzburg to visit their Christmas market. Würzburg is a pretty sizable city, but nothing in comparison to Frankfur, Munich, or Berlin. The market was smaller than we expected, but still really lovely.
The boys found a meter long bratwurst to share.
Then we got to see a demonstration of how bratwurst are made by hand.
We picked up another Christmas market mug at one of these Gluhwein stands too. (Non-alcoholic version, of course.)
And we ate yummy food! Chocolate covered bananas and strawberries, Lebkuchen, and crepes with Nutella. There really seems to be no end to the tasty holiday treats in Germany!
It has been a fun month leading up to Christmas this year, and we are glad we braved the crowds and cold to enjoy the markets this year.
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