December: Gluhwein ... what the hell is Gluhwein?

It's December ... time for the start of the much loved Christkindlmarkts!

Since our arrival in Germany, everyone has been extolling the wonders of the German Christmas markets and everyone's favorite .. Gluhwein.  Every town has one, and every weekend is spent visiting a different one to see the decorations, shop for locally made Christmas goodies, and of course, sampling the local Gluhwein....which is basically hot mulled wine, served up with spices, alcohol (lots of alcohol, which I personally have found to be the best part) in a local mug produced just for this annual occasion.

We started our Gluhwein journey on December 1st, when we arrived back in Nuremberg from London. It was 10:00am, which seemed a little early for wine in my book, but not the Germans! And since we'd been up since 3:30a.m., it seemed like the right anecdote for our pseudo-jet lag!

 

 

 

 



 

Nuremberg has one of the biggest and best known Christkindlemarkts so we were glad to be there on opening day ... and in the morning because by evening the crowds are so thick that it's hard to drink your wine w/o getting an elbow in the face. We shopped, we ate, we drank, we checked Nuremberg off the list and went home for a nap.

 

The next weekend, we were up for two more Christkindlemarkts.  This is when I discovered that rum and amaretto really add a delightful twist to Gluhwein!  And, of course, it was snowing and nothing says CHRISTMAS more than snow hanging from decorations.

 

Welcome to Shloss Gutneck ...

 

 

Each Christkindlemarkt is a little different, but all have adorable German children with ruddy red cheeks, even if they are not riding adorable mini-ponies!

 

 

 

The market is full of small wooden shops selling all sorts of food and jewelry, ornaments, knit hats/mittens/scarves, wood art, metal art, more food, and of course, Gluhwein.  My favorite markets also have open fire pits scattered every few hundred feet so you have a toasty spot to warm up and drink up!

 

 

 



Meat on a stick is a staple.  Everyone is grilling something. Brats, wild boar, pork, turkey ...

Turkey wrapped in pastry ... on a stick ... at this booth.

 

Toasted nuts of all varieties



 





Michelle's friends, Ashley and Faraon were with us and the first to find the mistletoe! 


Cheese sampling


Ornament shopping

My personal favorite


Large halls full of Germans in good spirits

and 5 of that crowd was us!

And if you're lucky, there's a castle thrown in the mix. Gotta love German towns with castles!


and what's a castle w/o musicians playing carols

As the night wore on, LOTS of gluhwein was consumed!

 

 

And the highlight of the Christmas markets is lining up your collection of mugs the next day.

 

 

Ready for some more?

 

Bamberg, Germany

 

 

 

How can anyone leave a Christkindlmarkt empty-handed?

 

And to think we are only halfway thru the month!  We are going skiing in the Austrian Alps next weekend which will cut into our gluhwein consumption and leave us only one weekend of markets before the Christmas holiday.  No worries though ... we'll make the most of it!  Regensburg, Rothenburg, Munich .... here we come!

 

So, we discovered that the best gluhwein is found heating over an open fire,

in a big kettle, with a chunk of sugar melting over the top.

 

yummmmmm.

 

 

we're not too particular ... but markets inside castles are our favorites ..

 

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS ....