And here we are, on Christmas Eve, on the Christmassy post from my trip to the German Christmas Market! I’ve covered two swimming trips, one indoor and one outdoor, a Christmas light trail and a trip to Cologne Cathedral but at last we come to Frankfurt Christmas Market!
There are four or five separate sections. The most obvious ones are the big one at Römerberg and across the road at Paulskirche. In the evenings, those get so packed that you have to shove your way through, shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of strangers. I’m not a fan of crowds, particularly since the events of the last nearly-three years, but it’s kind of atmospheric – lots of lights and stalls and cups of glühwein and wurst and interesting pastries and a hum of people having fun.
By day, I liked being able to see what’s in the stalls and breathe in between them. I liked being able to have a cup of hot chocolate without risk of passers-by jostling it out of my hands, to be able to take photos of that gorgeous Hanseatic square (almost entirely recreated postwar, admittedly), to not freeze quite as much as I did after the sun went down. I probably spent more time at the market by day but I kept going in the evening. It just kept calling, even though I knew how busy it was. Oh, it was so beautiful by night!
I did the expected things. I got my cups. Germany has a lovely tradition where instead of using disposable cups, they use ceramic mugs. You pay a deposit, €3 in this case, and you get that back when you return the cup – or you can keep the cup and lose the deposit. I have two. According to the website, the one I got on my first evening, full of hot orange juice, was the official one. It’s matt black with a red inner and it commemorates the National Assembly, Germany’s first freely elected parliament, held in Paulskirche in 1848. But at least 90% of the cups I was seeing around the market were red inside and out. I had a cup of hot chocolate the next day in the red one. It was a really good hot chocolate! Hot chocolate can be oily or watery – or sometimes, charmingly, both – but this was perfect, especially considering that it came from a glass bottle in a heater. I’ve never seen anything quite like that heater. It looked a bit like an open fridge but it keeps the drinks hot. I’m not into alcohol so glühwein in assorted colours – apparently it even comes in rosé nowadays – just wasn’t for me but it was definitely popular.
I also did a little shopping. The intricate stable sets for your nativity set were beyond both my budget and my baggage allowance (and I’m not even 1000% sure they were for sale) but I settled for a little wooden star with the Holy Family in the middle in commemoration of what I didn’t buy, plus the cutest little wooden moose.
From a stall by the road in Römerberg I bought a glass candy cane – there are always candy canes on the tree but I wanted a permanent one (and then I bought some colourful edible ones because if they’re important enough to buy a glass one, they’re important enough to buy the real things). And I think the only other thing I bought in Frankfurt was an owl-shaped biscuit cutter. I don’t make many biscuits and I suspect by the time they’ve baked and expanded, they won’t look very owl-like but it was so cute. I wonder if we have the ingredients for ginger bread and if my mum will let me have a little oven time today? I suppose you should also count the little watercolour picture of the square but I bought that in the souvenir shop rather than the market.
It’s all very accessible – I took the U-Bahn two stops from the Hauptbahnhof and that popped me out on the very edge of Römerberg. There’s also a direct tram that drops you precisely between the two biggest markets. And speaking of biggest markets, if you carry on past Paulskirche there’s another bit of market across the big road. But then down the road from that, just out of sight, is the Pink Market. It’s not so much a market as a place to eat, drink and be merry which obviously means it’s absolutely deserted at 11am. It has pink tablecloths, pink lights, pink trees, pink writing on the chalkboards, pink aprons or jumpers on the staff. Then there’s a bit more market just above that and down the road is the Red Market, which is another one that looks quite evening- and drinks-based. There was little to no actual shopping at either the Pink or the Red Market. I went back to the Pink Market that evening and that really wasn’t for me. Römerberg had been busy in the evening but it was nothing compared to the Pink Market. I’d had to push a bit to get through the people in Römerberg but in the Pink Market I had to actually shove to get through. Lubricated by alcohol I’m sure it’s very atmospheric and great fun but it’s not for me.
But the other markets – oh, as Christmassy as it comes! Gingerbread Annas and Elsas, steaming cups flowing, so much food, designer dog biscuits, jewellery, star-shaped lights and all surrounded by the most Germanic surroundings. As the icing on the cake, it snowed on my first morning. It didn’t hang around where feet or wheels could wear it away but it stayed on the rooftops and the stall-tops until my last morning. A bit of snow really is the perfect finishing touch to a Christmas market. It did mean it was so cold my nose was permanently about to fall off but I had a scarf and could defrost my nose every now and then. Not for long, because it made my glasses steam up and I found I was eating bits of fluff but it was handy and it looks good in photos!
I’m not generally a very Christmassy person but this year, what with the market and the reduction in work-related enforced fun and not having to listen to Christmas music (I like carols but Christmas songs are the second-worst thing on the planet behind only Christmas films) has found me a little more festive than usual. I’m writing this wearing Christmas earrings and I have the lights on my little tree switched on. Also, yesterday I harvested the Christmas parsnips which I grew myself, so that’s very exciting. And with that, have a good Christmas and I’ll see you on Monday as usual.