A Regal Christkindlmarkt

'Tis the season to be Jolly, for sure.  How can you not be happy in the season of Glühwein and Christmas Markets?  And if you live in Germany, you have your fair share of Christkindlmarkts to choose from.  This past week, the Culture Club at the girl's school chose to visit the one in Regensburg.

About an hours drive outside of Munich, Regensburg is a UNESCO world heritage city and worthy of a visit all on its own.  But when you add it's two Christkindlmarkts, one of which is located on the grounds of a castle that a real life princess still lives in, and you have got yourself a must see.  And so we did.

Regensburg is the only authentically preserved large medieval city in Germany (hence its UNESCO designation) and its charm and beauty is unrivaled.  There are small cobblestoned alleyways everywhere you turn; there are gothic towers reaching towards the sky in every direction; there is an old stone bridge that crosses the Danube...add those Christmas markets and a dusting of snow and you feel like you are in a fairy tale.

We found the central square quite quickly and spied these towers disappearing into the mist.  Not one to pass up a quick tour of a church we headed in that direction but first we wandered through the market.  A quick tour because it was mighty cold and snowing and gray.  We had to keep moving for fear of freezing in place.

The gothic spires we saw belonged to the Regensburg Cathedral.  Work on the church began in 1275 and was completed in 1634 (with the exception of the towers which were finished in 1869) and it now stands as the main Gothic structure in all of Bavaria.  We ducked inside to get a better look...

It was gorgeous and dark and somehow even colder inside than it was outside so we headed back out and in search of some lunch.  We wandered the streets winding our way back around to where we had parked and stopped for Mexican food (hey, sometimes you just need something other than a sausage or schnitzel).  Warm and full, we headed back out into the gray and took the short walk to the castle grounds and the Romantischer Weihnachtmarkt at Thurn und Taxis Schloss.

Entering the ground, we quickly saw why they regard this as one of the most beautiful Christmas markets in the world.  Known worldwide, hundreds of thousands of visitors come each year to the castle grounds to be transported back in time to when noblemen and ladies of the court would take their horse-drawn carriage to these same grounds and browse the stalls for goods.  The family prides itself on the authenticity of their Christkindlmarkt and it shows.

So many cute handmade goods for sale...

and a few odd ones...

We had to cut our trip short as we had a snowy drive back to Munich to pick the kids up from school.  I think this city definitely deserves another trip back to see the rest of the sights - but maybe when it warms up a bit.