The Huguet House: Nurnberger Christkindlesmarkt

I've had my sights set on Germany for a while. Two years ago, I knew we'd be visiting the German Christmas markets before our time here was up. This was the year for it! What I didn't see coming was Vienna, Austria - a fantastic surprise, and we topped it all off with Amsterdam. Flexibility is a great thing to have when traveling, and for this trip, we went where the winds took us...

I couldn't decide between Nuremberg and Munich. After many days debate and research, I quit debating between the two and settled on both! Nuremberg's Christmas market is well known as one of the best in Europe, and Munich had a showing of The Nutcracker Ballet that I simply couldn't pass up. The other two cities were chosen in close collaboration with our traveling companion - not only did I get to spend Christmas in some incredible cities, I got to do it with my best friend! Robin joined us for Christmas in Vienna and then we all hopped over to Amsterdam, and I got her all to myself for 8 entire days!

So here is what we got up to during our two week venture through northern Europe:

We had a bit of a rough start. Three days before we left, JR woke up with a 104 degree fever. We panicked. About three months ago I had a conversation with someone who's daughter had a fever so high as a baby (110) that she had permanent brain damage and now lives in a home where she can have 24 hour assistance. I have been haunted by this story ever since, and when JR's fever registered at 104, it was all I could think about. We immediately shot some Tylenol down his throat and rushed him to the emergency clinic. The very kind pediatrician on duty checked him over, assured us it was not that uncommon for babies to have fevers that high, and held back giggles at the extremely anxious first time parents standing in front of her. She was confident that it was just a virus, likely the flu, and sent us home for lots of cuddles, rest, and juice, and said to keep the Tylenol flowing. We weren't entirely sure he would be in shape for vacation in only three days time, and were very nervous we would have to change our plans. But when it came time to go, the fever was low enough that we packed ourselves up anyway, assuming he was on the mend and just needed another day or so to get himself back to normal. In the end, that assumption was more or less correct. But before I could get my sweet little boy back, we had to endure hours of screaming on the train (locked in the bathroom - it was that bad), and two nights of coughing and crying fits that lasted hours, along with a handful of unusually early mornings (6 AM?!) while he sorted out his schedule again. We made it through, but it wasn't a very relaxing start to the vacation. Good thing Nuremberg isn't full of tourist attractions, and all we really had to do was spend two days strolling the aisles of the Christmas market and wandering the city.

Sick, grumpy baby aside, Nuremberg felt like being in a movie. The main Christmas market was compact, but plentiful. It took us an entire day to see all of the stalls; each one was so full of treasures I could have browsed for days. The spicy scent of gluhwein tempts you from two streets away, beautifully decorated cookies hang so thickly from the awnings that you can barely see the people working the booths behind them, and around every corner there is someone cooking up something deliciously greasy and sausage-y, And then there is the backdrop: a magnificent church dating from the 1300's towers over the market, complete with a working glockenspiel and flanked by Christmas trees. In front of the church are choir stands, where every few hours you can hear festive tunes put on by local choirs and bands. On the other side of the square is the impressive Schonner Brunnun, or Beautiful Fountain. The masterpiece is in fact so tall and unusually designed, that if you didn't know better, you may not suspect it to be a fountain at all. Also, we didn't see any water running through it so that was kind of a major element missing. I assume it was turned off because of the cold weather? The church bells chime hourly, and while the bells are singing their song, and the sun is quickly fading at the early hour of 5:00 P.M. and the decorated booths begin to glow and twinkle, the scenario seems impossibly perfect. Of course that's when the sick baby wakes up from his snooze in the stroller and reminds us that it is in fact, real life!

Some of the Christmas market highlights:

Christmas market stalls in front of the church

Cookies!!!

Vats full of steaming hot gluhwien

Close up of the glockenspiel

Beautiful Fountain at night

These "prune men" have been a Nuremberg tradition for decades. Likely invented by a father looking for something to delight his children, these little characters are now widely popular throughout the city and of course, with tourists!

The majority of the market is lined up in neat rows in one of the town squares, but it also seemed to go on and on throughout the streets of the city. At nearly every turn we spotted more red and white striped tents, mostly selling sausage sandwiches, cookies, and gluhwein, but every now and then surprising us with something yet unseen. And just when we thought we had seen it all, we stumbled upon the children's Christmas market. Less booths for shopping, but a market in it own. Here is where we found Santa and an angel ready to hear the little one's Christmas wishes, numerous small kiddie rides, baked cheesy pretzels, and a playroom full of toy trains and legos. But the highlight was easily the giant carousel in the center. It looked straight from the pages of a fairy tale. Intricately detailed, whimsical, and glowing in golden light, I could have started at it for hours. But it was quite cold out, so we settled for a quick spin with JR and called it a night. It was his first carousel ride, and he loved it!

We did pull ourselves away from the Christmas market for a few hours to see what else Nuremberg has to offer. We explored the outside of the old castle, but skipped the tour because really, we've done so many of them. The inner city was very typically and beautifully German. Skinny cobblestone streets that shone with fresh rain showers lined with tall, attractive buildings.