Surviving the "Feuerwzangenbowle" and Bach in Nuremberg

When we planned this trip, one stop had to be Nuremburg for a few reasons.  We knew it was the biggest and most famous of the Christmas markets; I had never been there before and, with my interest in WWII, I wanted to see the town where the war trials took place; and, finally, my sister wanted to experience a concert in a church with an orchestra and choir and we found there was going to be a Bach one in Nuremberg.

So, late Saturday afternoon, we arrived here and, once we were settled into our hotel after the autobahn drive from Rothenberg (amazing how quickly one gets accustomed to driving over 140 km!), we wandered into the Altstadt (old town) just across a main street and through the medieval gate from our hotel.  I am not sure either of us was prepared for the crowds although I guess we should have expected it - the city is, after all, a university town and it was a Saturday evening!  As we walked toward the "zentrum" (centre), the first thing we came upon was the Feuerzangenbowle, a stall featuring the specialty of the town at this time of the year.  Picture a very large flaming cauldron filled with wine, rum, spices and heaven knows what else.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people gathered around this thing - all drinking (and it appeared they had been there for a while!).  There was no way I could get a photo.  We had intended to go back and try the punch but we never got around to it - probably a good thing - although I did get a photo but there was no fire in the cauldron!

A photo of the flaming punch bowl I took the next morning. Picture flames coming out of the cauldron at the top

Next up was going to the Christkindlesmarkt itself.  What an experience!  It was almost impossible to move and we were constantly being pushed and shoved around so we gave up on that pretty quickly and found a restaurant for dinner before we retreated to the sanctity of our hotel rooms.

 

The Heilig Geist Spital - started as a hospital for the poor and now
a residence for needy seniors

The Nuremberg “Rauschgoldengel, symbolic ambassador for Nuremburg's Advent season

 

One of the quiet squares on the walk back to the city wall and our hotel

It had been disappointing not to see the market stalls; however, I had a plan:  surely all those people who were getting drunk on Gluhwein and all the other alcohol being sold. - including that flaming punch thing - wouldn't be up and around in the morning.  Indeed, they were not so I managed to get lots of photos in the market without having hundreds of people in them.  They say over 10,000 people visit the market daily and probably more on the weekend.  I believe it!  That first hour or so between 10 and 11 am was the perfect time to explore the stalls and check out everything that was being sold.  One of Nuremberg's specialties at this time of the year is Lebkuche, gingerbread cookies.  Of course, we had to try one.  We also sampled the Weissgluhwein (hot, spicy white wine) and the Heidelbeer-Gluhwein, a hot blueberry-flavoured beer.  I thought both were cloyingly sweet but at least I can say I tried them!  Below are photos of some stalls in the market.  Many of them were truly magical.

 

One of the gingerbread cookie stands

Above and below are photos of one of the many marzipan and Stollen stalls
Below you can see marzipan Wursts and potatoes!

 

 

At 1 pm, we did a walking tour of the town and it was very interesting although I won't try to capture the historic details here.  Suffice it to say, that this town has a chequered history from medieval times until the present - some good, some not so much.  It is, after all, where the Nazis had their huge parade grounds built to show the power of that party during the 1930s. Instead, I thought I'd keep the focus on Christmas.

Later, we went to the concert my sister was so excited about because she is a classical trained musician.  It was Bach's Christmas Oratorio Cantatas 3 through 6.  On the other hand, I was dreading it.  Bach is not my thing!  Actually, I survived it in a Maslov sort of way. The church was so incredibly cold that I was concentrating so much on trying to stay warm that I completely forgot about the music!  It actually was amazing to hear the voices of the choir and sounds of the orchestra powerfully filling a 1000 year old building.  I have to admit it was quite stunning - but it still took me a couple of hours to thaw from the experience and I was not exactly humming any Bach in my head after the concert!  We had dinner at a lovely French restaurant - no loud, drunk Bavarians there and great food!

Next up, Bamberg, the next stop on our tour of German Christmas markets.