Above/featured: Christmas market at Berlin’s memorial church – 6 Dec 2012 (450D).
It’s easy to underestimate how much “punch” is delivered in a single Glühwein drink at a Christmas market. If I’m not careful and drink Glühwein too quickly and without food to soften the blow, I’ll encounter the very repeatable experience of “mind-body separation”.
What is this magically mysterious Christmas concoction called “Glühwein”?
I’m always happy to be back in the German university town of Heidelberg, a place where I lived and worked as a research astronomer for 2 years.
Like many times before at the Heidelberg Christmas market, I’m happily immersed under bright coloured lights; a mulled wine in hand, standing next to the giant Christmas tree at Marktplatz; swimming in the sea of smiling residents and visitors, young and old; munching on grilled steak, Bratwurst, and Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) with apple or garlic sauce; nibbling on Marzipan, Stollen, and Spekulatius; and washing all of it down with more mulled wine …
The photos show scenes at a number of markets along the Hauptstrasse (main street). From west to east, Heidelberg’s markets along the Hauptstrasse are at:
http://instagram.com/p/g8o2IPJIiP/
With my Germanophile or Teutonophile status extending to embrace all that is the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt), here are reasons why I love these markets:
As 2012 comes to a close, so too approaches the end of my year of around-the-world travel. I want to take this opportunity and send my best wishes to friends and family around the world, to those whom I visited and stayed, and to those whom I met for the first time …
Merry Christmas and happy holidays: all the best to you and loved ones in 2013!
Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!
I made the photo above in Heumarkt in Cologne, Germany on 30 November 2012; this post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com.
Fotoeins Fotografie 