Leipzig

Today marked the second leg of our trip, one that will be much more intense than the first half. Over the course of the next four days we will hit seven cities all banking on the Germany efficient train system and good weather. We began our next day bright and early to head west to the town of Weimar but before we hit our final destination for the day, we planned a five hour stopover in the town of Leipzig to capture as many markets as we could.

Queue the Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt (Leipzig Christmas Market…surely you’re catching on by now) which is the second oldest market in Europe dating back to 1453. Unlike the others we’ve experienced thus far, Leipzig’s market is inclusive many smaller markets that are scattered around the city center. Naturally our first inclination was to find something tasty for lunch and Lauren found a booth making Kartoffelpuffer, essentially a deep fried potato batter that comes out in a funnel cake shape and is served traditionally (as we ordered it) with apfelmus (applesauce!). If you’re thinking that eating a glorified hash brown with applesauce is a bit strange, we did too but the homemade applesauce made a delightful paring with the saltiness of the kartoffelpuffer. We ordered two to split and immediately regretted it since they were as filling as you’d expect them to be. Rounding out our ridiculously unhealthy lunch was a quarkbällchen (Quark ball) that resembled a fritter but is actually made from quark batter, which is donut-esque but is cheese based resulting in a sweet fried dough with a little sharpness from the cheese. We had ours plain but they’re often dipped in cinnamon sugar, chocolate or dusted with powdered sugar. We both agreed that they’d be much better fresh out of the frier with cinnamon sugar.

We made our way to the Medieval market which is decorated in that style with chalkboard menus, huge copper vats holding glühwein, grog and other hot drinks. We had feurerzangenbowle served in a tan ceramic mug that was unlike anything we’ve seen prior, so we kept it to add to our growing collection of market mugs.

Since we’re in the double digits now in the total markets we’ve explored, we’ve been very efficient in how we walk each and from town to town there (expectedly) has been a lot of overlap in what booths are selling. Because of that we were able to complete the circuit in Leipzig in about two hours and began wandering the rest of the city. On the west side of the city center lies the Bach Museum (the composer) which outlines the latter portion of the composers life in Leipzig, where he created most of the music used in the Lutheran churches and where he eventually died. While we didn’t take the tour of the museum, we did have a peek in the gift shop.

We ended our stint in Leipzig with a stop for coffee at Lukas Bäcker, a chain of coffee shops in Germany where we warmed up and awaited for our scheduled departure to Weimar.

Weimar

We arrived in Weimar just before six that evening and checked into our hotel – a delightfully eccentric guest room that was over a restaurant all incapsulated within a traditional German house. After checking in and receiving our skeleton key, we dropped our bags off and set on within the city.

Weimar, said to be home to the very first Christmas tree, hosts four separate Christmas markets, all situated within the center of town (noticing a pattern?). Because we arrived so late, we weren’t able to see the town in the daylight but we were able to walk the markets under the glow of thousands of lights.

• Weimarer Marktplatz – our first stop and the largest of the four. Here a large adorned fir tree towers over visitors that is complimented by Weimar Town Hall, whose 24 front windows turn into an interactive advent calendar. Each day beginning on Dec 1, a new window is opened revealing a painting from the local children followed by Santa handing out gift to a few lucky kids in the market (see featured image).
• Weihnacht bei Goethe Market – A new market for 2023, this market sits in front of the house of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, arguably the most influential German writer who called Weimar his home. Local glühwein flows freely along with local artisan wares such as pottery, soaps and candles but oddly enough, a chili stand, as in the soup! Naturally we helped ourselves since it was a nice change from the potatos and würsts we’ve been having for the past few days. Interestingly enough, a block from our hotel a restaurant simply known as “Texas” was also offering chili which made me believe that owner of the stall was also the owner of the restaurant. It also goes to show that one can never escape the influence of that state…despite my best efforts.
• Herderpkatz Market – A tiny, six stall market a few blocks from the marktplatz that had a medieval theme, similar to the one we discovered in Dresden. So similar in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if folks moved between the two without missing a beat.
• Theater Square Market – Even though it only consists of a handful of stalls, the centerpiece of this market is the huge ice rink that occupies the majority of the square that circles the statues of Goathe and Friedrich Schiller (another notable German writer). Due to it being 20 degrees out and the incredible odds of breaking my coccyx, we did not skate but did have a ham and cheese sandwich, with a delicious dill cream sauce at one of the neighboring stalls.

Erfurt

Erfurt was another one of those stopovers where it was on our route south so we thought we may as well explore and continue our journey later in the day. The Erfurter Weihnachtsmarkt was a 20 minute jaunt from the train station, located in Domplatz square under the towering St Mary’s Cathedral. Erfurt really only has this one market but what they lack in numbers they make up for in density. Throughout the square over eighty stalls surrounded a 12 meter tall Christmas pyramid. Here we drank glühwein weiss (white, instead of brot or red) had a lunch of delicious rind fleischspieße, which sounds fancier than it is as its steak in a skewer, grilled to medium served with a kräuterbutter (herb butter) that we both swooned over. For our dessert we finally subjected to the roasted nut both and picked up honey roasted macadamias and chocolate covered marshmallows (on a stick!).

Erfurt’s unique attraction at this market is the Florales zur Weihnactszeit, or Christmas Floral Exhibition. Tucked away in the medieval vaults of the Felaemkeller, under the cathedral like a few dozen small chapel like cutouts that are decorated by local florists to encapsulate the festivities of yesterday and today. A favorite was an intricate display using dried apple slices to form a forced perspective that reflects on the it’s religious narrative as the original forbidden fruit.

Naturally it wouldn’t be a proper trip to Europe without finding my way into a church at some point, so I want the record to show that Lauren and I did explore St Mary’s Cathedral and of course it lives up to the centuries old churches across Europe, with is captivating stained glass and its highly adorned alter (you’re welcome Mom!).

As we made our way back to the train station, we got word that a winter storm was making its way across the southern part of Germany. We would soon discover that a few feet of snow had been dropped in a matter of a few hours which was causing train disruptions to that part of the country. If you look at a map, you’d see that we would be included in that description. Upon arrival at the station, we realized that our scheduled train was cancelled and we had to figure out how we’d get to Nürnberg, our final stop of the day.

Nürnberg

Delays and cancellations happen. If you travel often enough, you’re bound to have one…or several ruin your day. The snowstorm in southern Germany was taking a toll on the entire public transport system and was particularly impacting those heading to Munich. Normally these things wouldn’t bother us but today just happened to be the only day on this trip where we had a booked and paid for tour of the Nurnberg Christmas markets and we were already anticipating a tight arrival with our original train…which was now cancelled. After five minutes of deliberation, we were able to find a train that wasn’t cancelled and would get us to our destination a mere 15 minutes before our tour began and luckily we got there without much additional difficulty.

Nürnberg’s Christkindlemarkt is the most popular and famous markets in the world. Dating back to 1530, over 160 booths pop up in hauptmarkt square and is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to ring in the holiday season. It was incredibly apparent upon our arrival at the square the number of people that come here. The tour began at 4:00 in the evening and shortly there after the market was swarmed with visitors that led to a shoulder to shoulder navigation of the rows of booths. As our tiny tour guide expertly weaved us through the walls of people, we were able to take in the history and the eccentric aspects of the market.

Unsurprisingly, our first stop was for glühwein, this time of the apple variety. Essentially an hot apple cider it warmed us up for the rest of the tour. Our second stop was to the Angel booth that sells handmade versions of the Rauschgold angel, the symbol of the market. These angels, originally made from beaten brass, are modeled off of the Nürnberg Christkind who was a Protestant creation of Martin Luther and would bring gifts to the children on Christmas Eve. Our next stop was…odd. We continued to move through the dense crowd and ended up at our next stop, the Prune Men booth. Ranging in size from 2-20 centimeters, these little figures are made by hand using wire and dried prunes. It’s believed that these originated in the 18th century by a man with very little as a gift for children using only the scrap wire he possessed and the plum tree in his front yard. These became a staple in the market ever since and is the only market in Germany where they can be found. Next we were off to a lebkuchen booth who has been making the treat since 1911, using their proprietary recipe. It’s a subjective opinion but I stil think the lebkuchen we got in Berlin. Finally our tour ended, the same way as it began – with more glüwein, this time of the apple cherry and pear variety. So far, the pear has been the best one yet!

While the main market is situated in hauptmarkt square, two offshoots have been added that seamlessly connect – the Sister Cities market and the Children’s market both seamlessly attached. The former reminded me of Epcot with an international contingent all participating in the market offering their local food, drink and wares. Representation from Italy, France, England, Cuba, Tonga, Belgium and Romania (to name a few) created a unique atmosphere where locals and tourists alike can experience what other countries have to offer all within the confines of the market.

Travel/Post Notes:

• Post includes travel from December 1-2, 2023
• Accommodation:
  • Weimar: Watzdorfer Geleitschenke und Herberge
  • Nürnberg: Sorat Hotel Saxx
• Featured Image: Weimar Town Hall decorated as an advent calendar with the Christmas Pyramid lighting up the square
• Nürnberg tour was booked with Wie schmeckt meine Stadt
  • During the tour we also stopped at Heilig Geist Spital (Holy Spirit Hospital) the largest institution for care of the sick and elderly in Germany and still operational. Before the war it was the storage place of the reich jewels, crown and lance
  • We also stopped at the sausage booth where we had the traditional three small sausages on a Kaiser bun