Chriskindlemarkt

So we stepped off the plane refreshed after travelling 26 hours....well you know that is a lie....into a cold (1C) and cloudy Frankfurt morning.   Off to the hotel in the vain hope our rooms would be ready at 0900.  Not a chance so we wandered around the shops for a while returning at 1300 to check in and fall asleep.

Arising early next day ;-) which was christmas market opening but we were hungry so off to Hofheim for a light lunch.  Nanna chose a schnitzel (which to her distress in Germany is made with pork rather than veal).  Still tasty though.

 Then off to the markets which is located in the Romer Platz surrounded by old style buildings (which were actually rebuilt in the old style after the blitz).  Tons of christmas trinkets, potato cakes, sausages in rolls, gluhwein, gingerbread and some delightful choc covered flavoured marshmallows.  A good time was had.

 Nanna and Aunty Jan took a ride in a merry go round.   They were going to try getting on the horses but decided the carriage was the safest bet.

And then to Bamberg.  Staying in a brewery hotel, it has been making beer since 1649 and is just a short 300m or so across the river from the market.

 Not excited about the idea of gluhwein, Nanna tried the Apfel wine and equally unimpressed.  I on the other hand sampled some of the Fassala brewery lager.  We loved the little elf logo too hich was on everything in the building.

 The ladies had some schnitzel and I tried the pork shoulder, sauerkraut and dumplings.  Pork was great but the dumplings were very gelatinous and virtually no flavour.  Sauerkraut was way better than that canned rubbish we get in Oz but still not one of my favourite things.

A quick dash down the Autobahn to Nurmberg.  Supposedly the biggest and one of the oldest in Germany it was packed with 180 stalls.  Nanna and Jan didn't even make it round the whole thing in day one.  We went back in the evening for the market opening tradition.  A local girl is selected as the Christmas Angel and appears on the church balcony to welcome everyone and declare the market open.  Bit kitsch but I imagine there is plenty of history behind it.

Finally for this post, there are plenty of rules in Germany as you would expect but here is one I hadn't seen before