Christmas markets question

Hello purduemom1,

 

I checked again about that mug and I think I actually found the mug you were given. There is a collector out there who has put his mugs online: http://www.weihnachtsmarkttassen.de/media/3475782938649037ffff811afffffff0.JPG

 

I think the blue is just painted on rather than in the glazing, so I am slightly wrong, I think. But it comes close to what I meant: http://www.keramik-maurer.de/epages/61334935.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61334935/Products/20008

 

Sorry, a commercial site, but interesting in that the company produces the mugs very locally, in fact just across the Main in the suburb called Sachsenhausen, the old part of this place is famous for its wine taverns where you traditionally drink the local cider called "Äppelwoi". They fill the cider also in "Bembel", a regional word for "Krug", jug. Words I would never use, and I do not drink that cider, either, although only around 150 km away from me, the place is to me almost like a foreign country. :D

 

But the Christmas traditions are more or less the same as ours around here.

 

notamermaid

Yes, notamermaid, that is exactly the mug I have! I always wash it by hand so I am hoping it will last for many Christmas seasons.

Any tips for getting our hand crafted treasures safely home? We'll bring bubble wrap and have a little extra room in our suitcases. Any other advice you can share from your experiences?

Thanks!

Any tips for getting our hand crafted treasures safely home? We'll bring bubble wrap and have a little extra room in our suitcases. Any other advice you can share from your experiences?

Either use hard-sided suitcases or put the bubble-wrapped items inside cardboard boxes (obtainable at post offices) inside the clothing in your soft-sided bags.

Any tips for getting our hand crafted treasures safely home? We'll bring bubble wrap and have a little extra room in our suitcases. Any other advice you can share from your experiences?

 

Thanks!

For small to med size glass ornaments, disposable cups and lids along with bubble wrap or other padding works well. I prefer to pack breakables in my carry on so I am careful about what I buy-quantity and size.

A cardboard (not plastic) shoe box with small bubble plastic wrap in a hard side suitcase has always worked well for breakable ornaments and fragile cookies. Plastic wrap (cling wrap) is good for sealing candy and cookies. Of course, dirty clothes make ideal additional packing. :)

We often pack bubble wrap or foam packing - we tend to bring back beer. I brought back 6 german beer bottles from our Christmas market cruise ;)

Sadly no Christmas markets last year (we were in London the first week of January) and this year we're going to Asia late Nov/early December. Oh well.

One market we loved (and I know I wrote about it in my review but not sure if it's in this thread) was one of the markets in Basel - it was a children's market that had all sorts of traditional handicrafts & artisans - kids (and a few adults:p) bought tokens to help bake cookies or work at blacksmithing. This was across from the regular Christmas market up at the Cathedral (Munsterplatz)

https://www.basel.com/en/Christmas-in-Basel/Christmas-Market

Hello Hoyaheel,

I remember you mentioning this earlier in the thread (i.e. last year). It sounds a really nice idea.

You say you are going to Asia where there will obviously not much Christmas market activity. Yet, it appears that there will be Christmas markets in Japan (well, they love European, especially German traditions, anyway) and the Käthe Wohlfahrt company will have stalls! The markets are in Tokyo and Sapphoro.

Have a great trip.

notamermaid

Christmas markets have become really popular in the U.S. and Canada, it appears. The company Käthe Wohlfahrt will be joining in with stalls at some markets in the U.S. and one in Canada. So if you cannot make it over this season, perhaps you can have a look at this list:

http://www.christmasfromgermany.com/articles.asp?id=135

I have found a few more that sound to be in German tradition/style, one of them at a place called Cambria in California. I imgagine California to be mild in winter and wonder if it will be cold enough to appreciate glühwein?

notamermaid

Notamermaid, I bought some dried spices used to make Gluhwein in one of the German towns a few years ago as a gift for the lady who watches my cats, and low-and-behold, they were made in Colorado 😳. What a disappointment to find that written on the back of the container. She enjoyed it anyhow.

Thanks for all of the packing tips. Another question, to bargain, or not to bargain?

Thanks!

Christmas markets have become really popular in the U.S. and Canada, it appears. The company Käthe Wohlfahrt will be joining in with stalls at some markets in the U.S. and one in Canada. So if you cannot make it over this season, perhaps you can have a look at this list:

 

http://www.christmasfromgermany.com/articles.asp?id=135

 

I have found a few more that sound to be in German tradition/style, one of them at a place called Cambria in California. I imgagine California to be mild in winter and wonder if it will be cold enough to appreciate glühwein?

 

notamermaid

Cambria is a lovely beach town on the central coast of California. There won't be snow but it can get chilly since it is on the coast. A warm drink would be most welcome. We are only a few hours away so just might plan a visit and check things out! Thanks notamermaid for the info:)

Hello H2Otstr,

Notamermaid, I bought some dried spices used to make Gluhwein in one of the German towns a few years ago as a gift for the lady who watches my cats, and low-and-behold, they were made in Colorado 😳. What a disappointment to find that written on the back of the container. She enjoyed it anyhow.

I certainly understand your disappointment. And I am a little puzzled. The spices that go in Glühwein are certainly not native to Europe but I doubt they all grow in Colorado. Really unusual.

Many Christmas gifts and ornaments are made in the Far East these days. It is something I bemoan every season when I think about all those cheap items in British supermarkets. Why would I need to have a glass filled with wax in a nice packaging shipped all the way from China??

I love the stuff at the Christmas markets for the reason that the stall holders are chosen by the event managers for the goods that they sell making sure that at least most of it is German or European made.

Last year I heard the story of a German company that makes Christmas ornaments having outsourced partly to Asia getting many complaints from customers. So much that they were planning to go back to Germany with that production line.

Part of my job has to do with merchandise which is increasingly made in the Far East.

For leisure I like to indulge in the catalogues of high quality mail order and online shops and window shopping of local traders and I almost jumped with joy when I found the Christmas catalogue of one of my favourite online shops in the post the other day. :)

notamermaid

Hello purduemom1,

my pleasure. That is the website: http://cambriachristmasmarket.com/

notamermaid

Thanks for all of the packing tips. Another question, to bargain, or not to bargain?

 

Thanks!

No bargaining.

Do you two mean "haggle" in British English, here: try and offer the stall holder a lower price?

Then, Floridiana, you are of course right. They do not like that at stalls. You can do this at antique fairs and flea markets, i.e. for second hand goods it is accepted.

notamermaid

Christmas markets are very common in Europe, esp Germany. The involve spiced wine & beer (gluhwein, gluhbier), gingerbread treats, brats cooked outdoors, and stalls of handicrafts (some locally made, others imported cheaply from elsewhere - you can usually tell the difference).

 

Christmas markets were the only way I was going to get on a river cruise, because I love them!:p There are reviews and photos all over the place, even some youtube videos.

 

Upside- you get the regular tours of a river cruise with the added bonus of time exploring the local Christmas Markets.

 

Downside - very little daytime sailing or sightseeting, and the cooler temps/darkness means very few people are sitting on deck watching the sights go by. Though we did:D But then, autumn/winter is our preferred travel time - usually cheaper, and fewer children and crowds in general. We just dress for the weather.

We lived in Bavaria for four years and loved the Christmas Markets. They come before Christmas and usually end just before Christmas. The decorations are great and the atmosphere is wonderful.

However, personally, flying to Central Europe just for this in the cold of Winter, with it getting dark at 4:30 is not my choice. Who wants to sightsee in freezing weather?

Of course, I have done the Christmas Market thing and I am a Southerner than likes warm weather.

If you love Christmas, you would love the markets. Just is it worth spending thousands to see while freezing>

Good point about the early dusk, 4774Papa.

One needs to be aware that this is not the best time for great "catalogue advertising" photos. 4.30pm is about right in December. You know this very well from Bavaria, complete with freezing temperatures. When you get out of Bavaria and head west along the Main the weather gets milder. It is a general pattern throughout the year, unless there is a special weather condition called "Föhn". You will have experienced this, too. It suddenly raises the temperature, something to do with the Alps.

It is usually two to three degrees warmer along the Rhine than it is in Bavaria. And as regards snow: we sometimes watch the telly around here at three degrees with a light drizzle and the report says: "10cm of fresh snow in Bavaria".

If you are used to mild temperatures in winter you will be cold in Germany, is it worth spending thousands of dollars on such a trip when you are likely to freeze? Difficult to answer...

One thing is for sure, you are less likely to freeze in the Rhine valley than in Bavaria. If you want a greater chance of snow, choose a trip along the Main and Danube.

notamermaid

Who wants to sightsee in freezing weather?

Of course, I have done the Christmas Market thing and I am a Southerner than likes warm weather.

Me! I LOVE to travel to cold places in late fall or winter!! Primarily because I'm a northerner who's been living in the South for almost 20 years - we travel to get the winter we miss! I also love the Christmas Markets (as I've noted repeatedly:D) as well as traveling in cheaper seasons when there are fewer tourists about. We have proper clothing, touring in cold, snow or rain doesn't bother us.

But I've also noted I'm a committed DIY traveler and until travel becomes difficult for me, I'll likely skip the expensive river cruises and pick a place to visit, rent an apartment and book the airfare. Just started discussing Budapest and/or Prague next December (2017).

I won't say "never" to a river cruise if the right price pops up. A wine cruise in France would be lovely. Husband says I need to find him the "magic" boat that goes to the French wine country via Bamberg because he wants to go there again:p

We lived in Bavaria for four years and loved the Christmas Markets. They come before Christmas and usually end just before Christmas. The decorations are great and the atmosphere is wonderful.

 

However, personally, flying to Central Europe just for this in the cold of Winter, with it getting dark at 4:30 is not my choice. Who wants to sightsee in freezing weather?

Of course, I have done the Christmas Market thing and I am a Southerner than likes warm weather.

 

If you love Christmas, you would love the markets. Just is it worth spending thousands to see while freezing>

YES!!! The cold weather is a bonus! It has been almost 90 all week this week in Houston and the summer was miserable! The thought of wandering around a beautiful Bavarian town enjoying Gluwein and sausage in the cold sounds wonderful! Even the early sundown has its advantages, you can see all the wonderful Christmas lights in the markets and around town.

 

If you love Christmas, you would love the markets. Just is it worth spending thousands to see while freezing>

Papa, when you live in a place where winter is warmer than many other's summers, it is worth it. After visiting Canada for Christmas a couple of years back - I could finally appreciate and understand "Santa hats". That's one of the reasons we will spend 24hrs flying to the other side of the world to visit the European Christmas markets this year (and be back home again for Christmas with cold drinks and a swim in the pool)

Hello vada 9,

how lovely for your to be able to make your way over to Europe. I read in your signature box that you will be on the Avalon Tranquility II - just before Christmas then? What is your itinerary?

I must admit, as much as I love travelling, I could not spend December in warm temperatures, it always feels wrong to me when it is warmer than 8 degrees, which has happened in recent years in the Rhine valley. When it gets as warm as 12 degrees the Glühwein looses its appeal.

I have spent December and Christmas away from home, that is fine, but without the cold - no, not for me. But January or February away in mild temperatures, now that would be great. :)

notamermaid

Hello vada 9,

 

how lovely for your to be able to make your way over to Europe. I read in your signature box that you will be on the Avalon Tranquility II - just before Christmas then? What is your itinerary?

 

I must admit, as much as I love travelling, I could not spend December in warm temperatures, it always feels wrong to me when it is warmer than 8 degrees, which has happened in recent years in the Rhine valley. When it gets as warm as 12 degrees the Glühwein looses its appeal.

 

I have spent December and Christmas away from home, that is fine, but without the cold - no, not for me. But January or February away in mild temperatures, now that would be great. :)

 

notamermaid

Mermaid, we are flying to London to visit our daughter (who is on a working holiday) for 5 nights, then Eurostar to Frankfurt for the cruise to Nurenberg, then 2 nights Prague then return home. Away just over 2 weeks. Home for Christmas with our grandson.

Hello purduemom1,

 

my pleasure. That is the website: http://cambriachristmasmarket.com/

 

notamermaid

Thank you notamermaid! I see there is an admission charge-that surprised me. I looked at the list of vendors and it appears that the items are not mass made or imported from Asia so might be a few interesting items. I think that shopping at the European Christmas Markets may have spoiled me!

Me! I LOVE to travel to cold places in late fall or winter!! Primarily because I'm a northerner who's been living in the South for almost 20 years - we travel to get the winter we miss! I also love the Christmas Markets (as I've noted repeatedly:D) as well as traveling in cheaper seasons when there are fewer tourists about. We have proper clothing, touring in cold, snow or rain doesn't bother us.

 

But I've also noted I'm a committed DIY traveler and until travel becomes difficult for me, I'll likely skip the expensive river cruises and pick a place to visit, rent an apartment and book the airfare. Just started discussing Budapest and/or Prague next December (2017).

 

I won't say "never" to a river cruise if the right price pops up. A wine cruise in France would be lovely. Husband says I need to find him the "magic" boat that goes to the French wine country via Bamberg because he wants to go there again:p

I'm with you! Love traveling fall and winter. In fact my travel wardrobe is made up of winter clothing. It's much harder for me to pack when we travel during warm weather.

I am another who loves the idea of traveling to experience cold weather around the holidays. We are Florida natives and it never really feels like Christmas here, Europe on the other hand is just magical that time of year. We leave in 28 days for our second Christmas market cruise, I cannot wait! There are some German cinnamon star cookies with my name on them in Regensberg!:D