Spiegel online writes more about the German Christmasmarkets: Today: Munich and Berlin
Ask a Munich resident what his or her favorite Christmas market in the Bavarian capital is and you’re likely to get a number of different answers. But for those who value the time honored tradition of a Christkindlmarkt being a place to stock up on hand-made Christmas decorations and clever arts and crafts sure to brighten any holiday stocking, the Christmas market on Marienplatz, smack in the center of the city, is sure to be the answer.
The market sprawls from directly beneath the city hall clock tower into the small streets surrounding the square and includes 156 booths full of christmassy trinkets, ornaments, candles, wooden toys, Alpine handicrafts, Christmas-cookie cutters, gingerbread and everything else one associates with Christmas. And there’s one thing the market doesn’t have: an overabundance of stands selling mulled wine and bratwurst. Priority number one for Munich’s main Christmas market is stuffing stockings, not faces.
Should Munich be blessed with a bit of pre-Christmas snowfall, there is hardly a place more romantic than the Marienplatz Christmas market, complete with the city’s Christmas tree just beneath the famous Glockenspiel. Should the December clouds, as they so often do, dump rain on the city, one is inclined to see the downsides to the market. Jammed as it is in the not-overly-large central square, it can feel incredibly cramped and overcrowded, even when it’s not. And the food offerings really are rather wanting.
But that’s not a hugely difficult problem to solve. If, after a bit of serious Christmas shopping, you’re in the mood for a more chilled atmosphere to enjoy your mulled wine in peace, jump on the subway and head north a couple stops to the Christmas market at Münchener Freiheit. It has art, handicrafts, and plenty of food and drink.
– Charles Hawley
Many in Berlin say that Gendarmenmarkt in the heart of the central Mitte district is the capital city’s most beautiful square, hemmed in as it is by the elegant German and French cathedrals. It is fitting, then, that the square hosts one of the best Christmas markets in the city-center.
Before you go, however, be aware that Christmas markets in the German capital have little to do with their fairy-tale, ornament-packed cousins in the southern part of the country. The emphasis seems not so much on the Christmas spirit as reflected in beautiful, charming decorations. Rather, the markets here seem intent on providing shoppers with a full Christmas shopping experience complete with creative gift ideas, massive quantities of bratwurst and mulled wine, entertainment, and, in many cases, ice skating.
Gendarmenmarkt is no different, though it often pays to make sure you’re a long way from the stage before ordering up your wine and brat. What separates the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market from others in the area is, first of all, it seems to have a bit of class. Rather than the same low-quality crap that seems to get carted from street fair to street fair in Berlin throughout the entire year, Gendarmenmarkt ups the quality, if only slightly. The same holds for the food: no Aldi bratwurst here.
– Charles Hawley
Berliners have long been renowned for having an attitude, for being rough around the edges, and for having little respect for authority. Which, when it comes to Christmas markets, can sometimes be a good thing. Take the Christmas market on Unter den Linden by the opera for example. The single best reason for visiting this market is the white mulled wine on offer. Not only is it a travesty to the tradition of hot red wine, it is also perhaps the single most delicious beverage you’ll ever drink.
The maze-like layout of the market is also charming — for awhile at least. Getting lost among the endless booths selling scarves, cheap toys, personalized nameplates, door handles, and lava lamps can be fun. But the crowds can also be overwhelming.
A lack of respect for tradition also has its downsides. Like the Christmas amusement park right next to the Opernpalais Christmas Market. What could be more fun, one wonders, than riding a rollercoaster in a cold, wet, December rain? Or a Ferris wheel in a snowstorm? Judging by the generally sparse crowds, it seems that we here at the Germany Survival Bible aren’t the only ones to have asked such questions.
– Charles Hawley
Christmas in Berlin, of course, would not be complete without a visit to what has to be the least magical of all Christmas markets in Germany. The rag-tag gathering of booths cluttering up Alexanderplatz — surrounded by some of the most stunningly ugly examples of communist architecture that the former East Bloc has to offer — is amazing for its ability to zap the Christmas spirit out of the soul of even the most hopeless of holiday romantics.
Should there be any doubts about the purpose of the market, the fact that it is surrounded by department stores and shops on three sides should be enough to clear them up. Fooling careless shoppers into shelling out cash for low quality wares seems to be the market’s raison d’etre — from the chewy pork steaks on sale to the machine-made scarves and industrial jewellery. Even the skating rink is rather pathetic — so small that even those standing around watching get dizzy.
But still, the market is worth a visit — or at least it is when it’s not surrounded by a construction site as it is this year. There is something uniquely charming about sipping on a watery mulled wine, chewing on a luke-warm sausage and shivering in the center of wind-swept Alexanderplatz.
– Charles Hawley
I’m still trying to find a good red wine.