| Augsburg
-- The first evening of the journey was spent at the opening ceremony at
the Augsburger Christkindlmarkt. The weather was thankfully
favorable, and the event was beautiful, with lots of music and singing and
light. The market sprawled throughout the downtown, but concentrated
at the main market square in front of the town hall. For the
ceremony, a stage was built in front of the Town Hall that hosted a choir,
Alpine Horn band, and a long-winded mayor. (The
Augsburg travelogue is available here)
Munchies:
Half-meter long Thuringian bratwurst
with mustard
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This is a close-up view of the
stage. The Alpine horn band are the three gentlemen at far
left. In the center is a boy's choir and its conductor. After
a few songs, the choir moved aside and the mayor came forward to address
the crowd. Afterwards, he was joined at the podium by the symbolic
"Christchild", a young child wearing a golden angel dress and
sporting curly hair. Being selected to be the Christchild is quite a
big deal.
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After the events on stage were
completed, the attention turned to the town hall building itself, as a
well-known classical piece was being played, other children wearing golden
angel outfits appeared in the windows of the town hall. The lighting
was such that they appeared as candles. Unfortunately, I was not
able to get a shot of it. The above shot shows the town hall at
left, and the children were arranged in the blocks of large windows in the
center of the building.
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| Fraueninsel Chiemsee
-- Chiemsee is the largest lake completely within Germany's
borders. Located in the SE of Bavaria, it is a major summertime
resort, big on water sports but also servicing winter sportsmen for the
nearby Alpine range. One of the two islands hosts a small
Christkindlmarkt each year on the first two Sundays of Advent, and it is
one of the more charming Christkindlmarkts around. (By the way, the
other island is the Herreninsel, home of one of King Ludwig's famous
castles, the Herrenchiemsee)
You can only get here by ferry.
Munchies:
Filet of smoked salmon on a roll
with creamed horseradish sauce, open-faced cheese sandwich with spicy
mustard
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The market was held around the large
Benedictine convent on the southern side of the island. It was well
dispersed, and very decorative, mostly selling ware with only a few
selling food or drink. Instead, the island's few restaurants and
guesthouses held specials to welcome the hungry and thirsty guests.
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I absolutely loved this scene of the
Alps in the distance between the lighted dock at the Fraueninsel.
Normally ferry rides were only available on the hour, but for the
Christmas Markets, they went every half hour between the Fraueninsel and
the main lakeside town of Prien. And speaking of Prien... |
| Prien am Chiemsee
-- Prien is the main lakeside town
on the Chiemsee and primarily serves as a tourist town. It was very
clearly a wealthy town, with some remarkably-decorated buildings for its
size. Its Christkindlmarkt was small, with only a dozen huts, but
about the entire town showed up on opening night.
Munchies:
Schupfnudeln (long dumplings) mixed
with sauerkraut and bacon bits
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The above building was across the
street from the Christkindlmarkt, and is actually an Advent
Calendar. The colors made it difficult to see, but each shutter had
a number on it. As this was the 29th of November, I didn't have any
idea what was behind the shutters.
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The Christkindlmarkt used an old barn
in the back as a flea market. The town church, shown in the
background, was hosting a Gospel Music rehearsal for an upcoming
service. Meanwhile, the three young lads shown here serenaded the
crowd with a beautiful suite of alpine horn music, while dressed in
traditional Bavarian costume.
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| Rosenheim
-- The final stop on the first day
was this brilliantly colored town with the brightest lights I found all
weekend. Rosenheim's architecture was fantastic, and lit up really
well, so I have this town high on my list to re-visit and add to the
website at a later time.
Munchies:
Candied almonds
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The City of Rosenheim was much bigger
than I thought it was, and very much modernized. So the older
buildings were brightly painted and new, while the newer buildings were
sharp and positively glowed under the snowflake lights.
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The main marketsquare was just
gorgeous. You can get a hint of the beautiful colors of the
architecture in the background. Another traditional Bavarian band
had just finished when I arrived.
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| Ingolstadt
-- The next morning's trek was a loop
between Augsburg and Regensberg, going up along the Danube in the morning,
and back by the Isar in the afternoon and evening. The first stop
was the city of Ingolstadt, a Danubian city often bypassed by tourists,
but with a wealth of beautiful architecture and loaded with busy
marketplaces and shopping centers. Unlike most cities, the
Christkindlmarkt did not take place in the main marketplace, rather it was
closer to the edge of town as the main square hosted the regular Saturday
markets. But that didn't dampen the crowds or the enthusiasm, which
were both building up despite my being there near the day's opening. (The
Ingolstadt travelogue is located here)
Munchies:
Pancake (crepe) filled with
pflaumenmuss (a paste made from prunes, it's much better than it sounds!)
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Contrary to most cities, Ingolstadt's
Christmas Market was located away from the main marketplaces in the center
of town. That was because the normal Saturday markets were still
taking place in front of the Old Town Hall. This market was rather
tightly packed, I thought.
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Roughly 11:00 AM, this band of mostly
teenagers appeared and began playing Christmas tunes. You get a
better picture of the traditional Bavarian dress worn by the bands here. |
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Most of the Christmas markets have a
nativity, normally done by local artisans. This one was commissioned
to a woodcarver who made these pieces from logs. Of course, the
artisan has his own advertisements present as well. |
