Saturday, December 22, 2012

Frankfurt Christkindlmarkt

Since we were dropping our BMW off just south of the Frankfurt airport, with the folks that would be shipping it to States, we decided to take the opportunity to visit the Frankfurt am Main Christkindlmarkt. The Frankfurt Christmas market is one of the biggest in Germany and draws just about the largest attendance of visitors of any Christmas market in the country. So, this is our last Christmas market of the season and of our stay here in Germany. It was a Thursday afternoon so the crowds were quite manageable which made the day there much more enjoyable. Here's some of the images of our last Christmas market of 2012.

We've just dropped off the BMW and now we're driving into the big city.  Frankfurt is one of the few cities in Europe that includes skyscrapers in its skyline.  Here, we're crossing over the Main River.

We've checked into our favorite hotel in Frankfurt, the Fleming's Deluxe.  We've blogged about this before and some of the unique characteristics of this hotel.

Here's one of those unique characteristics, the glass shower in the center of the room.  I took this picture of Jeff  from our bed.  Yeah, that's a bit different.

You can see the city skyline and traffic reflected in the glass walls of the building next to our hotel.

The first time we visited the Frankfurt Christmas market was in 1988.  We thought it was big then and it was quite crowded.  Well, here we are on the periphery of the city's Christmas market which has grown north from the Römerberg (Roman Platz) all the way the main shopping district on the Zeil.  Here's a cute barrel shaped warm drink vendor.  Interestingly, they don't sell Glüwein.  Say what!?!?

Another chocolate vendor but here the chocolates are in the shape of tools and other common, every day items.   Here you can see chocolate cameras and those light gray items are chocolate handcuffs.

Here we're on Paulsplatz, just across the street from Römerberg.  Pretty vendor huts.

These paper star decorations are very popular at German Christmas markets.

You don't see this often.  Hand frosting their ginger bread cookies.

Obligatory merry-go-round in the Paulsplatz.  In the background is Wagner Honighaus (honey house).  They build that house just for the Christmas market.  Obviously, they sell all sorts of honey products including bee's wax candles and that sort of thing.

Here we're crossing the street from the Paulsplatz into the Römerberg, the main square of Frankfurt's old town.

Once we're into the Römerberg we're immediately confronted by Jeff's krytonite, the dreaded Kräuterbonbons.  These vendors are at every German festival.  These are strong liquorice or anise flavored candies and Jeff finds the smell quite repugnant.



This area was almost completely destroyed during the war. These six buildings were reconstructed from 1981-1984 and make a magnificent back ground for the Frankfurt Christmas market.

Prune people with walnut heads.  Just what everyone wants for Christmas.

Not just any merry-go-round in the Römerberg.  This pretty one is a double-decker.

Incredibly colorful Christmas market in Frankfurt with the beautiful rebuilt half-timbered buildings.

The Frankfurt Christmas market has expanded all the way south to the Main River.

What says Christmas more in Germany than the Mexikanisch (Mexican) vendor.  Tacos anyone?

As always, the sausage vendor is a popular place at any German festival market.

Again, what would put you in the Christmas spirit more than Hot Africa's Christmas Circus?

Never too cold for a bit of the amber nectar.  We stopped at this vendor for a Carolus Doppelbock der Stark, a Belgium dark beer.

Me too.

They brought their Christmas tree all the way from Bavaria.

Another pretty view of the Frankfurt Christmas market in the old town Römerberg.

It's evening and we're walking back to the hotel. Almost forgot, gotta get a Glüwein.  It's the last one of the season.  As always, tasty and warm.

Just north of the Zeil, Frankfurt's main shopping district, is our hotel, the Fleming's Deluxe.  That's it with the yellow light top floor just across the street from the Eschenheimer Turm, one of Frankfurt's medieval city gates.

Well, that's it.  Our German Christmas market season is over. We hit some big city markets and a couple of small ones this year but they all shared one thing in common, fun and Glüwein.

We're flying out of the country for Christmas.  More on that when we return.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!

2 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas

    Safe travels home.

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  2. Looks like a good one to finish your Christmas market tour. The pictures are beautiful. Can't believe they didn't have any Gluwein though. The Frankfurt hotels are always so funny. Great blog.

    ReplyDelete