So I guess we didn't have enough of the Christmas markets in Denmark, so this weekend we decided to head down to Germany and visit the markets in the north: Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern areas.
Our first big problem was that our car had studded tyres for winter and so we couldn't drive on German roads - this meant we needed to hire a car and pay a fee for international driving (about an additional $200). We left on a Friday after work and made our way down to where we were staying in Boiensdorf. The trip took us back to Rødby and across the ferry to Puttgarden. Of course we would have been remiss if we didn't take the opportunity to stop in the border shop. This time we didn't stock up on alcohol but instead got a stack of soft drinks for Christmas. The ferry we took over to Puttgarden was the MS Prins Richard.
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| Border Shop |
We were tempted to pick up a 4.5kg toblerone (I took a photo of this last time but it didn't really show scale) but it was about $80 so we decided we couldn't really justify that much chocolate.
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| The kids posing and getting ready for their modelling careers |
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| An idea of scale - my hand and a single piece of the toblerone - I don't have small hands |
We arrived relatively late to the place we were staying so had an early night and set out the next day to our first destination - Wismar.
Wismar is a small port town and the capital of the Nordwestmecklenberg district. It is a UNESCO listed heritage city and was ruled by Sweden between 1658-1903. It was badly damaged by bombing in World War II and restored in 1990 after the German reunification.
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| Wismar |
The main sight of Wimar is the old Gothic Georgenkirche (St George's Church) which was built in 1404. The church avoided damage all throughout the war, only to be hit heavily by bombing three weeks before the end of the war. It was reconstructed in 2010 for 40 million euro.
The other church was Marienkirche (St Mary's Church) which was built in the first half of the 13th century but damaged in the war and partially raized in 1960 by the East German government. Only the tower remains (80m high).
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| Tower of Marienkirche |
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| Model of what Marienkirche and the surrounding area looked like |
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| Old red brick houses just outside Marienkirche |
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| Statue outside Marienkirche (, Karl Henning Seemann, 1985) |
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| A sight we didnt expect to see in Germany - An Aussie flag |
After having a look around the town we headed for the Christmas Market:
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| Wismar Christmas Market |
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| Santa takes his elf for a ride |
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| Nativity scene |
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| Things to notice here - Jesus is already into some form of baby yoga and the standing wise man is massively surprised to find a baby here! |
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| OMG BABY! |
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| And back to the sleigh again |
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| Decorations |
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| Some wooden crafts for sale |
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| Stalls |
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| Rides and stalls |
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| Mini Christmas village |
Then there was this thing... It was quite possibly the Funhouse with the most things wrong with it ever...
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| Hmmm |
Ok, so we can start with the fact that they must never have heard of licensing fees due fact it had Superman, Spiderman, Simpsons, Lara Croft, Batman and a stack more that I'm sure that they weren't paying licensing fees for... Then there was the crazy four-eyed Indiana Jones thing in the middle (it reminded me of the drawing of Twoflower from the Discworld with his four eyes..)
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| This is possibly the campest Batman I have ever seen... |
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| So on this side we have Ducktales, Lara Croft, Madagascar, Simpsons and that's the ones I can see easily... |
And I think this may be a koala:
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| WTH? |
The kids got to wear 3D glasses for special effects - but took them off when they were inside as they just made everything blurry. Apparently a few panes of glass in the mirror maze were broken and the kids said it was "Not very good" which is harsh criticism of a fun house from them.
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| Stylish |
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| Festive (?) Spiderman |
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| Homer is desperately trying to reach the half naked amazon women... |
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| German Christmas Pyramids |
All of the markets had a Christmas Pyramid (Weihnachtspyramid) which is possibly an early version of the Christmas tree. They rotate by means of a windmill style fan and the figures inside rotate around.
After finishing up at Wismar, we headed out to Rostock for our next market.
Rostock is the biggest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and also has many heritage listed buildings.
Our first sight was the awesome water tower:
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| Rostock Water Tower |
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| The 16th century Steintor city gate |
The Rostock market was huge! We spent 3 or 4 hours and still missed some parts of it.
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| Rostock Market |
One thing we quickly noticed is that German Christmas markets tended to repeat the same three stalls over and over.
1) Gingerbread hearts and candies,
2)
Glühwein/Glögg (mulled wine), and
3) Sausages and meat skewers.
There were a few handicraft stalls scattered throughout, but about 80% of the stalls were one of the three listed above. It was still really cool but we were a little disappointed that we didn't find more crafts and presents.
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| One of the Gingerbread hearts stalls |
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| These markets were very crowded too |
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| Glögg |
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| Christmas Pyramid |
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| Trying some Glögg in a collectable mug. We had to collect a mug from every market (I'm a bit OCD like that) so poor Kris had to keep trying the Glögg |
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| Quieter section |
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| Old town gate between markets |
It ended up getting late and dark so we headed back to our apartment and got ready for another day of Christmas Markets.
Day 2 saw us packing up and headed down to Schwerin. We had aimed to see Schwerin Castle, but it turned out that they had a Christmas market too. Schwerin is the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was first noted in 1018.
Schwerin Palace is the current seat of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern parliament. It is heritage listed and the initial castle was built in 973 and expanded until 1857.
Even before we got to the Palace, Schwerin was impressive:
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| Theater |
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| Museum |
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| Schwerin Palace |
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| Statues at the start of the bridge (Left) |
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| Statues at the start of the bridge (Right) |
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| Looking out over the lake |
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| Even the lamp-posts were ornate |
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| The Palace History |
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| Palace Timeline |
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| Bridge |
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| Pillars on the bridge |
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| Guard box |
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| Inside the gate looking out |
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| Front of the palace |
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| Tunnel to the Courtyard |
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| Courtyard |
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| Petermännchen ("little Peterman") a ghost said to haunt the castle |
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| Scultpures |
Some shots from inside the palace:
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| Royal Family Tree |
After the Palace it was onward to the Christmas market.
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| Schwerin Christmas Market |
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| Polar Bear band |
Our final stop was Lübeck another Heritage listed town with a very impressive gate. The Holsten Gate was the most significant gate of the middle ages in Germany (according to a sign on the gate). it was built between 1464 and 1478 and reconstructed 1863-1871 and 1933-1934.
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| Holsten Gate |
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| Holsten Gate |
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| Holsten Gate (Rear) |
If we though the other markets were big, Lübeck's markets were massive. There were several sections with the amazing Marienkirche as a backdrop. There was even a small medieval market. Again they repeated the same three types of stall but it was lots of fun.
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| The kids had Toffee Apples |
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| He swears that's toffee, not lipstick |
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| The Christmas Pyramid |
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| The markets |
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| Miniature Christmas houses |
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| Marienkirche |
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| Markets around the church |
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| That famous Germany Fairy Tale about the donkey that vomits and poops coins.. |
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| Pippi Longstockings |
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| A decrepit and slightly creepy Puss-In-Boots guard |
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| Another market street |
After it got dark in Lubeck, we took the ferry back home. Overall it was a pretty cool weekend that got us in the mood for Christmas and gingerbread.
