Last year I had the pleasure of being introduced to a concept popularized in western Europe: the Christmas Market. According to Wikipedia, the oldest known 'Christkindlmarkt' was held in Vienna, but it seems to be by popular consent that Germany owns the patent for what we see today: a twinkling blitz of toy wooden cabins littered with cute but hardly useful craft items, sweet and salty treats to pack on the pounds, and enough holiday charm to convince even Scrooge of the marvel that is Christmas.
However, last year was limited to the cozy market of Toulouse. This year I went on an elvish mission to capture the sparkling craze in 4 more cities: London, Prague, Vienna, and Munich. I will now try to describe the differences, beit I believe they are almost strictly limited to language.
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| Old Town Square, Prague, Czech Republic |
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| Winter Wonderland, London, England |
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| Le Capitole, Toulouse, France |
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| Maria Theresien Platz, Vienna, Austria Photo Credit: http://stadt-wien.at |
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| Airport Market, Munich, Germany |
If you know me, you won't be surprised to see me start with the food.
Without a doubt each country in Europe will attest to their talents in cheese and sausage making. Therefore if you are a fan (who isn't... uhh, other than my very respected vegan friends..), there are at least 2 or 3 booths chock full of animal products. Viennese wieners, French saucisson, German bratwürste, rindswürste, currywürste (which is definitely worst, imo) in all lengths and degrees of spiciness.
Otherwise, prague pork and chicken skewers caught my eye, and the round fluffy cheesy bread meals caught Anna's. All sorts of potatoes dotted with spices, soaked in butter, chopped, mashed, punched, sliced, diced...the germans know their potatoes, no doubt.
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| Honestly thought I'd never need to eat again after this. |
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| Then the French jump in with the crêpes.. |
But then there are the sweets..Trdelnik beats all. Forget the gingerbread, the sweet german hearts with little sweet sayings in icing, even the fruit cakes and the every-type-of-chocolate covered marshmallows. Prague has invented a swirly nutty cinnamon deliciousness to go perfectly with your hot drink and frozen hands. This is also made in Germany, called 'Baumstrezel'.
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| This is german chocolate for you..multiusage |
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| Czech honey and wax candles to accompany |
I gotta just put it out there that German hardly puts me at ease. When people start yelling, speaking excitedly, or even whispering goodnight, I feel like war is imminent.
However, the kitty city rockers in Munich took the 1st prize for music at the markets. That being said, most of the songs were classic eighties...english.
The guys at the Bavarian village in Winter Wonderland also put on a festive show, especially along with the cozy wood benches and big pints.
More entertainment consisted of games on ice rinks and for Winter Wonderland, a German carnival and ice sculptures.
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| Uncannily Philip Pullman, no? |
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| Vienna Punch Photo Credit: http://party.at |
So. Almost most importantly, the mulled wine, Glühwein, punch, or svarek, comes in a range of flavors. I found Vienna to have the most variety including orange, kindle, apple, and mozart (the priciest, either because it was the strongest or because it just sounds better, I'm not sure). London was the best tasting, but then perhaps because it was a whopping 4 pounds, or 6 dollars for a little cup versus 40 koruna (1 pound, 30 pence, or $1.75) in Prague and between 2 to 3 pounds/euro in the others.
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| Anna, our vin chaud modèle |
However the markets in Vienna and Germany won me over with the lovely affordable souvenir cups. Everyone appreciates porcelain over plastic. I should hope.
For those not after old red grapes, white mulled wine is sometimes offered, grog, and prague mead (which trumps any wine) should do the trick.
And then there's the beer.
In each market were sold pretty little things made by the talented surrounding country folk. Some people traveled far to sell their trinkets at Winter Wonderland, while of course some souvenirs were just general plasticky nationalist propaganda. Perhaps Toulouse actually took the cake for this category, being the smallest and less tourist-trafficked market, the target audience were looking for some genuine French quality goods.
The winter holidays undoubtedly satisfies that inkling to wander around old european cities, better still by being lit up by happy smiles and strings of lights. I hope I've convinced you.But we can't neglect the man himself, Father Christmas. Or le Père Noël, Santa Claus, Obrasky, or Weihnachtsmann.
