Weihnachtsmarkts - Christmas Markets

With the onset of winter, the villages started putting up their Christmas lights and I started reminiscing about our trip to Germany last year to visit our friend Clemens and the Christmas markets. I have to admit, I kind of miss the fuss that comes along with Christmas in America, and I liked the spirit of the Christmas markets.

Well, as it happens, my friends Sabrina and Josh live just outside Frankfurt, and we had an open invitation to visit. When I proposed the idea to David, he decided that he enjoyed last year's trip, but he didn't want to try to outdo it this year. My trip would have to be solo.

So after a few e-mails back and forth with Sabrina, I bought a somewhat last minute ticket to Frankfurt.

David took me to the station on Friday night, and went as far as to escort me to my seat in the very last car. I worked and dozed on the train, and 4 hours later was wandering through another station, listening to chattering in an even more foreign language. Sabrina found me soon enough and escorted me to the car, where Josh was waiting to drive us back to their home in the village of Königstein.

Sabrina and Josh are working for GM, and have lived in Germany for nearly as long as we have been in France. I was introduced to their expatriate lifestyle: a sprawling two bedroom apartment, two nice cars with navigation, internet-streamed American television, and even an American radio station on a local US army base. Not too bad! I love hanging out with Sabrina and Josh and talking about what it's like to live as Americans in a foreign country.

Anyway, after a very comfortable night in the guest bedroom, on Saturday morning my hosts treated me to a cup of coffee and a bowl of instant oatmeal (an US import) for breakfast. Then Sabrina and I were off to check the one "to-do" off my list: visit an Aldi store.

Some years ago when I was visiting Germany on business, a colleague recommended I try a certain type of chocolate only found at Aldi stores. Aldi is a very simple store that often carries off brands, and the chocolate was a little over one euro for a bar. I brought some home for David to try, and it has been our favorite chocolate ever since. Thus, whenever one of us visits Germany, an Aldi run ensues.

I assure you, I did not buy all of that chocolate, but Sabrina certainly knows how to take a fun photo. :)

We returned back to the apartment to pick up Josh, then the three of us were off to our first Christmas market in the village of Taunnustein. It was a small one, only 20 stalls, but it had a medieval theme and was really fun to walk around and look at.

Next we went to Wiesbaden, where we went to the Sternschnuppen Markt. Sternschnuppen is German for "shooting stars", but in Wiesbaden they are the pretty flowery lights on poles throughout the market and city. The Sternschnuppen Markt was quite a bit bigger, and really crowded. I bought German Christmas cookies to bring home and into work, and a pretty olive wood cutting board. We navigated between booths for a while before deciding to get some food. We stopped at one booth for potato pancakes, another for the cherished bratwurst in buns, and a third for glühwein - warm wine. It was so cold, and the glühwein did its trick, warming us from the inside.

By then it was getting dark, and we moved onto our third market in Mainz. The Mainzer Weihnachtsmarkt wasn't as large as Wiesbaden, but had its own pretty lights, booths, and charm. After the market we walked to the Heiligeist (Holy Ghost), a beautiful church that had been converted to a restaurant. We all ordered traditional German Christmas dinners - Sabrina and I had wild boar, and Josh had goose. It was the perfect meal to end a great day.

The next morning I was having so much fun chatting and looking at photos with Sabrina and Josh that I lost track of the time and had to scramble to pack. But no need to rush, I was dropped off at the Frankfurt train station with plenty of time to find my platform and freak out just a little bit as three other trains came and went from the same platform before mine arrived. I guess I'm still getting used to train travel.

I had a train change in Karlsruhe, but otherwise had an uneventful trip back to Paris. Just a short weekend in Germany, but it was well worth the trip to see friends, sample life in another country, and drink glühwein!