One final Christkindlemarkt

After a busy 4 days of catching up, sightseeing and drinking too much Glühwein, we said goodbye to our visitors very early on Friday morning.  It is always sad to see friends go but I didn't have time to dwell because I had to quickly pack the girls and I for our weekend in Nürnberg.  I was excited to be going to see the world famous Christkindlemarkt but I was even more excited to be able to spend some time with our good friends from Prague - the W's.  The only thing that would have been better was if B could have joined us but he had a prior family commitment in Spain (rough, I know).  I picked the girls up from their early dismissal at school and we were promptly on the road.  It is a short drive (just over an hour) and we timed it so that both families would arrive at our rental house about the same time.  The kids were thrilled to be back together again (and so were the adults).  We had no plans for the evening except catching up and having fun.  Which is exactly what we did. 

Saturday morning we made a loose plan for the day.  It included catching the train into the town center, drinking too much Glühwein, eating too many sausages, and doing a little bit of shopping along the way while making sure that everyone had fun.  In other words, the usual things that we do when our families are together.  

The train dropped us at Central Station which is about 1 km from the Christkindlemarkt.  Which seems like it's a bit out of the way but once outside of the station we realized that the whole city center was just one giant Christmas decoration. We hadn't walked more than 20 meters before hitting our first stalls and, of course, that meant we had to stop for our first wine of the day.

 

The kids were busy while we sipped our wine.  They played in the ornaments and then toured a pottery store that even gave them a free necklace...

But we were still quite a ways from our destination so we meandered up the road hoping we were headed in the right direction.  When we stumbled upon this sign we figured we should celebrate our sense of direction with, what else, Glühwein (and some hot chocolate for the kids)...

 If it seems like we are drinking at a pretty fast clip, it is because we are.  It was COLD that day and we were trying to warm up any way we could.  

We had now made it about 100 meters from the station.  At this rate we would make it to the markets tomorrow afternoon so we picked up the pace a bit.  Well, at least for the next 10 meters when we decided we all really needed a meter long sausage or a famous Rostbratwurst (which are served 3 to a bun).  We stopped (again) to eat...

then took our picture with an angel...

and were on the move again.

We made it about 200 meters or so, taking in the scenery as we went...

and then we ran into this giant bear and just HAD to take a picture...

Stopped to listen to some seasonal music...

Watched an artist create a spray paint drawing...

and found we were thirsty again.  Naturally, we stopped to slake our thirst.  And suddenly this appeared in front of us...

The kids market!  Of course we stopped to ride some rides (and have some food and drinks while they did so)...

We pried the kids away from the carousel because it was now well into the afternoon and we still had not reached our destination.  But we could finally see it...

And the closer we got the more we questioned our want to enter the square.  The crowds were unbelievable.  I guess we didn't really think through the fact that it was a Saturday and it was the last Saturday before Christmas Eve (which is when the German's celebrate Christmas).  The place was teeming with people.  We had to get out of the crowds for fear of losing a child or two so we ducked into the Frauenkirche where we climbed the stairs to the top so we could get a good look at the market without the crowds - and the kids could see the Christkind.

Each year a young local girl between the ages of 16 and 19 is elected for a two year term to be the Christkind.  She is dressed in gold and white, dons a tall golden crown and opens the market each Friday with a speech given from the top of the church's outdoor balcony.  Sadly, she was not in while we were there but we did get to see her mannequin.  And a great view of the alter...

We made our way back downstairs and decided we had come all of this way so we had to brave the crowds.  Of course, we couldn't do it on empty half-full stomachs so we stopped to refuel...

We walked a bit through the square and then decided to cut our losses and head back towards the house.  The sun, which had never really shown it's shiny self, was now about to set and it was already cold.  We warmed up with another hot drink and stopped to watch the birds that swarmed along the bridge over the river...

No need to wonder why there were so many...

One last sausage and a soup...

 and we called it a day.  But not before stopping to pick up some food for dinner (yes, I am actually serious).  We made it back to the rental, got warm in front of the fireplace (both on TV and in real life) and put on a movie for the kids before calling it an early night. 

The next morning we had to vacate our house by noon so we cleaned up, packed up and headed on our way.  But not before making a promise to do it again soon - but not too soon - our stomachs and our livers couldn't take it...