The Monday Podcast » Christmas

Christmas Markets in 2009

Graham — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:59:59 +0000

It has not been a good year for the Christmas markets in Germany. With so much damp and wet weather, many people have been staying away from them. After all, it is not much fun drinking Glühwein in the rain.

It has only been the last weekend in December when the temperature sank below zero – actually it sank a long way below zero – and there was some snow on the ground.

So rather than the planned series of podcasts from local Christmas markets, here is a summary of our attempts to visit them during the past weeks:

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Two more Christmas markets

Graham — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:51:17 +0000

Christmas market at the book shop...

To finish off our series of visiting Christmas markets in the area, we went to two smaller ones.

The first one was in front of our local supermarket and organised by the book shop there. There were stands selling waffles, mulled wine, crêpes, and of course books. But there were also stands from local organisations such as our Kindergarten selling home-made decorations and biscuits.

A local Nikolaus appeared at one point and took the children into the shop for a story.

... and at the animals' home

Our second visit was to the local Tierheim (animal home). This was a good chance to see inside the home, and although the market itself was somewhat spread out and not that big, we did partake of coffee and mulled wine, as well as buying a Christmas pyramid at the flea market.

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

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Bad Homburg Christmas Market

Graham — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:00:51 +0000

The ice rink in Bad Homburg

This week the Monday Podcast visited the Christmas Market in Bad Homburg, well at least part of it.

The market has been split into two parts this year, with the main market being at the castle, whilst there is a smaller set of stalls in front of the Kurhaus. At the smaller market, however, there is also an ice rink and this was our main destination.

I’m not sure why the market has been split in this way. It is a shame for the parents of children who want to go on the ice, as they only have a limited selection of stalls that they can visit. It would have been much nicer to have had everyone on one site.

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

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Rüdesheim Christmas Market

Graham — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:50:39 +0000

The Christmas Market on the bank of the Rhine

This week the Monday Podcast visited the Christmas Market in Rüdesheim – also known as the “Christmas Market of Nations“.

Having visited Rüdesheim previously, I drove to a car park near the centre of the town, rather than using the signed car parks for the Christmas Market, which turned out to be futher away.

The market itself is located in the streets of the town centre and along the bank of the Rhine. There are stalls with food and drink, but also handicraft stalls selling Christmas decorations and household goods.

The Obergasse in Rüdesheim

Two particular highlights are the nativity scene in the market square and the Christkind who opens a door on the advent calendar each evening at 6pm.

The market has an international theme, so that many of the stalls sell traditional goods and dishes from their own countries.

Eating Churros - a Spanish speciality

Unfortunately it rained on and off throughout the day, but even so there were large numbers of people there – especially after it got dark.

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

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Oberursel Christmas Market

Graham — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:55:27 +0000

This week the Monday Podcast visited the Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) in Oberursel. In comparison to last year, there was a lot more to see and better weather as well.

We spent the afternoon there, and the longer we stayed, the more people there were. It was very busy in the evening.

Oberursel Christmas Market

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

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Hessenbollen

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Christmas in Germany

Graham — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:00:51 +0000

With only one week to go until Christmas, Maria and Graham discuss how they celebrate with elements of different cultures and how much they stay with German traditions.

When do you celebrate on the 24th and when on the 25th of December? Who brings the presents – the Christkind, Weihnachtsmann or Santa Claus?

Listen to the podcast to find out:

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The Monday Podcast will return in the New Year.

Frankfurt Christmas Market

Graham — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:59:48 +0000

I haven’t had much of a chance to visit the Christmas Markets this year. I had good intentions of blogging and podcasting from different ones, but in the end the weather has stayed bad and to make things worse I was ill for the past week.

So yesterday we braved the elements and wrapped up warm to at least visit the Frankfurt Christmas Market. Last year I was critical of the high prices on some of the stalls, so I was interested to see if they had got any worse. I found out that it is easy to spend a lot of money on very little!

I also found out that Sunday evening was not the best time to go – it was absolutely full and there was little or no chance of taking a leisurely look at the stalls. You either went with the flow or got out of the way!

Listen to the podcast to find out more. Have you visited a Christmas Market this year?

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