O Tannenbaum - A tour of German Christmas Markets and other spots

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The tower of the Imperial Castle can be seen in the background of this photo



I made my wife share this 1/2 metre sausage. Unfortunately it was one of the poorer ones we had in Germany - about on the level of a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. Most of the markets we visited had them for sale but once was enough.



The four of us had a meal here on the first night. We had to wait about 10 minutes to get a table. They claim to have been operating since 1432. The waiter was talking to our friend in German initially but once he found out that we were Australian he made a great fuss about kangaroos. Luckily my wife had a 'postcard' she had made of some kangaroos we had photographed on the beach at Lucky Bay near Esperance. When she gave it to him he was highly delighted.



Sauerbraten



Trout



On the next night we ate at one of the Beer Cellars. This building only dates from 1489.





It is really noticeable how the range of non-alcoholic drinks available in Germany increases every time we visit. The Red Beer was also nice

 

[OZDUCK]

And now for something different ---

Our friends took us out for a day trip to Amberg. She had spent 4 years there in a Catholic Girls Boarding School and wanted to show us around. It is actually a very attractive place that we would probably never have got to otherwise. It is a little under 70 km from Nuremberg.

To avoid the risk of starvation on such a long and hazardous journey some supplies were necessary. Homemade of course. We were gifted the tin and the remainder of the biscuits after our day out and bought it back home to Perth.






The Schulkirche that was attached to the, now closed, boarding school. Apparently one of the most important rococo churches in Germany. Consecrated in 1699 and the rococo decorations added in 1758.







The Schweinchenbrunnen. You can see by the ice that it was still a bit chilly.





The Eh'häusl - marriage house.

Built in 1728, the 2 metre wide house was sold between young couples to circumvent local laws prohibiting marriage between poor people who did not own their own home.

It is now claimed to be the smallest luxury hotel in the world.

https://www.onetz.de/sites/default/files/flipbook/insert/2799688/bavariantimes_juli_klein_S39.pdf

 

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A lot of the city walls are still standing









A nice little piece of street art




Parish Church of St George. Another splendid rococo church. Originally built in 1359 as a "high Gothic Church". It lost most of its decoration during a period when the area was strongly Calvinist. During the 18th century, the Jesuits installed a Rococo interior

 

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Some of the streetscapes. There were very few 'half timbered' houses to be seen







Banished to the 'husbands seat' in the bookstore while our wives shopped. There were "Bluey" books in stock.



The marketplace with the compulsory Christmas Market





Were the people really that short in the past? I am 6'3" (192 cm) and he is 6' 7" (204 cm)



St Martins Basilica - built from 1427 on. It has undergone a number of tribulations including shelling during The War of the Spanish Succession. It was originally decorated in the Gothic style, subject to the attentions of Calvinists iconoclasts, given a rococo makeover after the Reformation and then re-Gothicised in the 19th C. Compared to the other churches in Amberg it is somewhat gloomy.

 

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A plan of Amberg 'old town'.



The Vils River runs through the centre of town.



The St Martin Basilica is on the riverside







One of the major sights is the "Town Spectacles".

 

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Some more street shots







A little street next to the gate



The old town prison was built into the fortified walls



You can now stay there - both in the old cells and warders quarters. The hotels moto is - Rast Im Knast - Rest in Jail

Hotel Fronfeste in Amberg - Knasthotel in Bayern

Die Rast im Knast. Erleben Sie Geschichte und Geschichten aus über 300 Jahren im historischen Gefängnis.

www.hotel-fronfeste.de

Wallfischhaus (Whale House). The two statues of Jonah being swallowed by a 'whale' date to 1693.

 

[OZDUCK]

After our friends headed back home to Hannover we had a look for other towns close by Nuremberg that were an easy train trip away. We took every opportunity to make an 'extra profit' on our Deutschland Tickets. In the end we chose to visit a small town called Altdorf about 30 minutes away. More correctly it is Altdorf bei Nürnberg. With the apparent German fixation with giving as many towns as possible the same name you have to be careful in checking that you have the correct town. I just spent 10 minute trying to locate some buildings on Google Earth before I realised that I was looking at another Altdorf still in Bavaria but a couple of hundred kilometres away. If you want to have some 'fun' look up all the Neustadt's in Germany.

We went there on the S Bahn



I think a lot of people commute to Nuremberg from here. As well as these bike shelters there were also some locked ones. It was about a 10 minute walk from the bahnhof to the centre of town.



It was still pretty cold - around 3 or 4 C if I remember correctly



It was soon apparent that we had made a good move in coming here. The town was very picturesque - even if the weather was not.









The Rathaus - built in 1565 and renovated in 1860





The local police occupy the former town Schloss - originally constructed in 1504



You get used to this sound in German towns and cities

 

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The town gates at both 'ends' of the Old Town are still extant. This one dates to around 1387









A nice little pond just outside the gate







This street leads to some historic buildings that now house a disability services centre - "Children, young people and adults with physical disabilities and multiple disabilities live and learn in the Wichernhaus in Altdorf." The main buildings began construction in 1565 and for nearly 400 years it operated as a University



An early hand powered wheelchair on display



The courtyard houses the Christmas Market

 

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The famous philosopher and mathematician Liebnitz obtained his Doctorate of Law in Altdorf. He and Isaac Newton developed Calculus independently of each other in the 17th C

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is a real feeling of age in this part of the building









Obviously an old Coach House

 

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The other gate














Most of the restaurants were shut for lunch on the day we visited so we had a simple but tasty meal in the local bakery



A memorial to the local fallen of the Franco - Prussian War



This building was in a little park on the the way to the bahnhof. They certainly appear to like their honey.

 

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Finishing off Nuremberg

This is the only place I have seen that has an U Bahn station built into historic fortifications. This one is in the outer wall of the old moat near the HBF.







The moat at night - our friends photo



As is our habit we hopped on a tram to see where it went. This one terminated at the unfinished naz_ Congress Hall. We visited the excellent Documentation Centre here in 2013 so just had a quick look around before jumping onto another tram.





This tram was advertising for recruits for the Bundeswehr (German Army). This is not something that we have seen before so I wonder if the Ukrainian situation is the cause.



We stayed on the next tram to the 'other side' of Nuremberg.

The city walls with the Imperial Castle in the background

 

[OZDUCK]

I saw that the the tram was passing an apparently famous baroque garden so we hopped off. Unfortunately the garden was closed for winter.

So we had a bit of a wander through the historic Johannisfriedhof Cemetery which dates back to the 14th Century. To my surprise burials are still occurring. The artist Albert Dürer famous for his woodcuts and engravings is buried here.












Then we had a wander through the streets beneath the Imperial Castle. Again, we had done an extensive tour of the castle in 2013. The buildings look very attractive and historic. However they are almost all entirely reconstructions as this part of Nuremberg was near enough to completely destroyed during WW 2.









The same part Nuremberg in 1945

 

[OZDUCK]

The Christmas Market during the day - it does lose a bit of visual excitement.





The next morning we were due to catch an IC train to Leipzig. Like me you will probably not be surprised to learn that this train was cancelled. This was the second time our train on this particular leg had been cancelled. Not only that but because of extensive track works the trip time had increased from 2 hrs 5 m to a little over 4 hours. The next available train was about 2 1/2 hours later than the one we had booked, The train described a giant half circle instead of heading directly north. To be fair the train we eventually caught was absolutely on time and in good condition with plenty of baggage room.





While in Nuremberg I noticed these a couple of times in various shops. For those of us who have enjoyed raclette it is a pity these sets are not freely available at a similar price here.

 

[OZDUCK]

Leipzig was a city that surprised us by being such a nice place to visit. During the East German days it was one of their most important industrial cities so I was expecting it to be very 'gritty'. Although on one day we did walk through such an area on the whole it was remarkably attractive. I think that because of the lack of development during the communist area much of the remaining old town was allowed to remain unmolested and has now been lovingly restored.

Firstly the Hauptbahnhof - the biggest terminating (i.e trains have to reverse out instead of passing through) train station in Europe. It has a huge shopping arcade spread over several floors.





Above ground tt has 19 platforms in 6 'sheds'. There is S Bahn station underneath and a tram station out the front.









It even contains a train museum

 

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The Coca Cola Christmas train turned up one day

 

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A couple more shots of the HBF



In Leipzig we stayed at the Adina Apartment Hotel. This was barely a 5 minute walk from the HBF. It was pretty new and well equipped. We had a useful kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine - it was also a combination dryer that was unfortunately one of those German 'steam' dryers that simply do not work. Luckily we had heated towel rails in the large bathroom which worked well.



View from the window of a large and very long shopping mall between us and the HBF.



Reclining very elegantly - not. At least I remembered to keep my shoes off the bedspread.





As you can see we made plenty of use of the kitchen.



A sauna, gym and swimming pool was in the basement. It was very pleasant to use after days walking. On request the hotel front desk gives out bathrobes and slippers to use in the pool area.



I was convinced that this was an East German era building but it was actually built in 1928.



However this building, the Ringbebauung, next door is definitely from the DDR era. The apartments were opened in1955. It was built in the 'socialist classicism' style and was designed to offer "palaces" for the workers.

 

[VPS]

The Europeans knew how to build railway stations didn't they?

 

[OZDUCK]

The Europeans knew how to build railway stations didn't they?

The Berlin HBF is pretty spectacular as a newish build. But then you have the redevelopment in an around the Stuttgart one. Cost has increased from €4.5 billion to €9.15 billion and it is currently expected to finish 6 years late. The station environs were a bit of mess when we were there last year.

Stuttgart 21 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[OZDUCK]

And in line with the title of this TR - yet another Christmas Market. I liked the markets in Leipzig they were again spread over several localities but none were so big as to be overwhelming. They also seemed a bit 'different' from other markets - perhaps more local.
.

The marketplace. The building with the Clock Tower is the old Town Hall now the City Museum. Parts of it date back to the 15th C but there have been numerous renovations repairs and extension over the years.



As usual the markets were jampacked in the evenings



A nice light display in front of St Thomas Church. Johann Sebastian Bach was its music director from 1723 until his death in 1750. We were going to attend a performance of his work there but unfortunately my wife had developed a persistent cough.





In another part of the city there were markets dedicated to other regions and countries






The Finns were smoking some salmon.



And it was delicious - hot and sweet. They gave you a good serve as well.



As seems to be common at the German markets there was a large and brightly lit Ferriss Wheel

 

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We went to the market pretty much every night.

There was also a children's market. Märchenland means fairy-tale land. There were plenty of reference to the Brothers Grimm stories



The Frog Prince



Hansel and Gretel



I have no clue about this one - any ideas?





We tried a waffle with vanilla cream foam. It was not very exciting



I had this one night. I think it was local version of sauerbraten. If so it was not the best version I have had.