Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts tagged ‘Weihnachten’

Weihnachten, Christmas Day 2012, Bielefeld, North-Rhine Westphalia, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, fifty-three

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

25 December 2012.

I look at this image with fondness and bittersweet ache.

I’m in Bielefeld for Christmas, and I’m at the family home of Dr. S with his wife and two daughters. There is warmth, laughter, and the low murmurs and snippets of chat about the best possible recipe or step forward at the stove. I have to hold onto this tiny spark in time, that’ll be lost forever if I don’t grab my camera. In truth, this is the kind of thing I’ve always yearned for and avoided at the same time. But, the flicker is strong in the moment, and this memory will remain true and long.

He passed away suddenly in July 2020. I miss our chats, especially about American football because he was a lifelong fan of the Minnesota Vikings.

I made the image on 25 Dec 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/20-sec, f/3.5, ISO800 and 18mm focal length (29mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-nfY.

Lights of Hope, St. Paul's Hospital, Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Christmas on display

Above/featured: Annual “Lights of Hope” display at St. Paul’s Hospital: Vancouver, BC – 24 Nov 2018 (X70).

Display (noun):

•   a performance, show, or event staged for public entertainment.
•   a collection of objects arranged for public viewing.

e.g., a display of Christmas lights, food, and drink in an open public venue.

In Germany, there is no admission charge to any of the multiple Christmas markets in a town or city, and there are no restricted drinking areas, as you’ll see people carrying mugs of hot steaming goodness up and down the open streets. But all the same, it’s about the lights; it’s about food, drink, and frivolity; and it’s all the better if it’s snowing or there’s a few centimetres of the white fluffy stuff on the ground.

Is there a Christmas market where you live or where you’re going to visit? Enjoy the display, and please have a Glühwein for me.

Or two. Or three.

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Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt, Christmas market, Markt, Leipzig, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: A Christmas star shines on Leipzig

It’s time once again for the Christmas markets, and in Leipzig, I found this beautiful illuminated star at the Leipziger Weihnachtsmarkt at the city’s market square. Leipzig has continued the tradition of a Christmas market for the last 500-plus years (since 1458). It’s a reminder for me to find the nearest market and get me some Glühwein. You can read much more about the Leipzig Christmas Market (in English) here.

I made the photo above on 2 December 2014 with Canon EOS6D, EF 24-105 zoom-lens, and the following settings: 1/1000s, f/5, ISO10000, and 58mm focal length. Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH (LTM) hosted my visit on 2-4 December. Access to public transport was kindly provided by LTM and the MDV Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund regional transport authority. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-7aj.

Easter (Xmas) eggs, Miniatur Wunderland, Speicherstadt, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Hamburg: Miniature Wonderland’s Christmas eggs

Above/featured: “Stranded.”

Since 2001, Miniatur Wunderland has been delighting children of all ages in the northern German city of Hamburg with the world’s largest miniature railway set, attracting a total of 12 million visitors so far. After many visits to the city over the last decade, I’ve somehow managed to stay away, but it’s finally high time curiosity wins the day.

The Urban Dictionary describes “easter eggs” as: “hidden items placed in a movie, television show, or otherwise visual media for close watchers”; see also here. Plenty of details in the form of “easter eggs” await visitors at various sections in the museum. With a few shorts weeks before Christmas, the designers have cleverly inserted many Santa Claus and other Christmas- or winter-related figures throughout the entire venue.

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Jesuitenplatz, Altstadt, Koblenzer Weihnachtsmarkt, Koblenz, Germany, fotoeins.com

Koblenz: Christmas markets in the Old Town

Someone once said to me: “when the weather gets cold and crappy, it’s never too early for Weihnachtsmarkt.”

I replied that depends how early into opening week it is, how many people are aware the markets are open, and how many people are around.

It seems early, but I’m having Glühwein at one of Christmas Market stalls in the southwest German city of Koblenz.

Markets have been set up at six plazas in the city’s Old Town:

  1. Jesuitenplatz (J)
  2. Liebfrauenkirche (L)
  3. Münzplatz (M)
  4. Am Plan (P)
  5. Willi-Hörter-Platz (W) and
  6. Zentralplatz (Z).

At the intersection of the Mosel and Rhine rivers, within this special wine-growing region, it makes sense to have a ‘white’ Glühwein: it’s hot, it’s got alcohol, and it’s goin’ down somethin’ awful smooooth, like throwing on warm tonic to ward the late-autumn humid chill.

What’s also important is how all of this fuels the remaining two of my four weeks in the country.

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Augustusbruecke, Neustadt, Dresden, Germany, fotoeins.com

Dresdner Weihnachtsmärkte – Dresden’s Christmas Markets

You’re visiting Dresden, either on a day-trip from Berlin or Leipzig, or you’re staying in Dresden for a couple of nights. By day, you’ll see, for example, the Semper Oper and the Zwinger, and you’ll walk through the Neustadt. At night after dinner, you might catch the golden glow cast by lights on the architecture.

But by late-November in the Saxon state capital city, you will likely encounter at least one of the following Christmas markets in the city:

  1. Augustusmarkt am Neustädter Markt
  2. Weihnachtsmarkt an der Frauenkirche in der Münzgasse
  3. Advent auf dem Neumarkt
  4. Mittelalter-Weihnacht im Stallhof (Residenzschloss)
  5. the big central Striezelmarkt am Altmarkt

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Willy-Hörter-Platz, Altstadt, Koblenzer Weihnachtsmarkt, Koblenz, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Christmas stars in Koblenz

I’m on a 4-week 13-city cross-country tour throughout Germany, and beyond the hectic schedule, I’m definitely taking time to enjoy this opening week of the Christmas market in Koblenz, a city several millennia in the making at the special junction of the Mosel and Rhine rivers. Next to the Rathaus in the city’s Altstadt, stands are up with the usual array of food, drink, and a variety of wares to look and buy, including illuminated Christmas stars. Time I find me some Glühwein …

Thanks to Koblenz Touristik for access to Forum Confluentes and the Romanticum, and to Romantic Germany for their support in various cities along the Rhine river. I made the photo on 25 November 2015 with the Canon EOS6D, 24-105 zoom, and settings: 1/200-sec, f/4, ISO1600, and 58mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-7tS.

My Germany: Christmas Markets Around the Country

An annual trip to Germany generally involves a wander out and about and across the country, and little surprise to me or to my friends, the visit(s) generally coincide with the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) season.

Have you visited the Christmas markets in Germany? You’ll know if you have, because …

… there’s gotta be a big Christmas tree somewhere;
… there’s a murmur in the crowds, from the quiet escalating to the jolly;
… the klang of porcelain mugs;
… the smell of sweet liquor, grilled sausage, and fried potato pancakes.

By day or at night, people are subjected to the simple whims of the sights, smells, and sounds of the markets.

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Weihnachten, Backwaren, Cafe Gundel, Karlsplatz, Hauptstrasse 212, Heidelberg, Germany, fotoeins.com

My Heidelberg: Café Gundel’s Christmas cakes & cookies (Weihnachtsgebäck)

Short sensory list

•   Sights of the Weihnachtsmarkt: bright lights; Christmas pyramid; red and yellow stars; unveiling of the Backwaren (backed goods) made especially for the holiday season.

•   Sounds of the Christmas market: the klang of full mugs distributed and empty ones collected, shouts of laughter from conversations scattered throughout the area.

•   Smells and tastes of the Christmas market: candied almonds, cashews, and peanuts; roasted chestnuts; balls of fried dough with powdered sugar; mugs of hot mulled wine, available in several fruit flavours; grilled bratwurst; fried potato pancakes with apple sauce.

When the Christmas season brings out special baked goods, it’s time to pay attention. In Heidelberg, my favourite café in the university town doesn’t hold back as photos of the “Backwaren” (baked goods) show. There’s something for everybody at Café Gundel.

And on it goes: small lifetimes can be spent, seeing, smelling, and sampling the entire collection.

A short exchange

“Noch einen Wunsch?”

“Something more?“, asks the lady behind the counter when I’ve ordered a few of this and a few more of that.

“Das war’s. Komm ich wieder morgen …”

“That’s all. I’ll come back tomorrow …” I reply, with the sound of hope and promise in my voice. I’m sure she’s heard it all before. And yet, she humours me with a smile and a chuckle.

“Wir sind noch für Sie da …”

“We’ll still be here …”

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My Berlin: Mitte on Christmas Eve

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Hauptstadt,
no residents were stirring, not even a tourist …

Well, except me, that is …

It’s little surprise many find themselves where they’re supposed to be on Christmas Eve.

Ever since visiting Berlin the first time in 2002, I’ve always entertained the idea of photographing the German capital city during winter holidays. The city slows down, becomes quiet, and sits back as if to take a deep long breath.

Crammed train stations seem cold, emptied of all who normally stream through the halls. The usual sounds of the city are muted by diminished traffic on the day before Christmas and by the sound-diffusing and -absorbing property of falling snow. City fixtures and Christmas decorations cast bright spotlights down on the ground layer of snow while diffuse glow of colour is scattered up to the cloud deck overhead.

Under blizzard-like conditions and little street traffic, I cannot deny myself this beautiful photographic opportunity.

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