MLT Notes

Friday, January 4

The Wiesbaden Market

My German host family loves the Wiesbaden market. It is different from other markets, in that the theme is shooting stars, and all of the lights and decorations are more in this motif. G, D and I headed out shortly after I got to Wiesbaden, and we first checked out a quick organ concert at the Protestant church near the market. It was a real treat, and my host parents really enjoyed it too! We then met some of G and D’s friends, who were super cute and nice! We wandered around the market some, and then later met G and D’s son and his girlfriend. So far, when I hang out with these Wiesbaden folks, a common theme concerning me is that I am not really an American, or at least not a stereotypical one! I like that I can be a connection for them all to the USA, all while knowing the language and the traditions well in Germany, so that we understand each other well and appreciate all that we learn from each other every time we are together! They love me so much, and they even picked me up again from the airport when I got back to Germany this week.

Following the requisite Glühwein, we went to the “Ratskeller” and got something small to eat and some beers to drink. Ganz Gemütlich! G and I went to the market again on Thursday night, including another visit to the organ concert at the Protestant church. We stayed for the service, which was randomly bilingual (English-German). We sang “O Come Emmanuel,” one of my favorites, but I did not hear a single other person singing along. It is not widely known in Germany, and we only got a copy of the text, not the music.

Overall I really enjoyed the Wiesbaden market, as it was definitely an example of something different, and the company was wonderful!

Here is a view of the church where we attended the organ concerts.

Me and a tree made of poinsettias! It was so beautiful!

One of the many Wiesbaden vendors.

Here you can see the unique lighting of my market. So pretty!

German Christmas tree!

Super Gluehwein in Wiesbaden!

These look like little marshmellow cakes. Mine was mocha flavored!

Geputzt, Gepackt, Gebacken und Gekauft!

Between my trip to Hamburg and my slow trek back to SD for Christmas, I had one day in Bonn to wrap up all of the above activities: cleaning, packing, baking, and shopping. I should also note, that even after arriving late Monday night, I still fit in washing a load of laundry and hanging out with some of my choir friends after their rehearsal that night. I was really glad I got to see them before heading home, as more people were at the bar than usual, and seemed to drink more than usual and were very friendly in wishing me a merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Tuesday was an extremely overwhelming day. I had to return a gift, plus pick up four or so final items to bring back to the USA. I think my favorite purchase is a bottle of “Holunderblütenlikör,” or elderberry blossom liquor. Germans and Europeans are big on elderberries, in both blossom and fruit form. I have no idea what type of cocktails I am going to make with this liquor, but I didn’t even know it existed before this year, and I have no idea if it is even available in the US. (I would welcome any comments on if this liquor is in the USA, or if you have a favorite cocktail using it!)

I also vacuumed most of the apartment, picked up my two rooms, washed the bathroom and toilet room, and baked a double batch of molasses cookies to share with my other choir, my host professor, and my host family in Wiesbaden. I admit that I was very disappointed that only ONE of my many cookies was eaten at my choir Christmas party, especially since I had made a double batch. To make up for that, though, one of the women in my choir said my cookies were delicious, and the department secretary in Koblenz was so impressed that she insisted on having the recipe!

Santa showed up to our choir party!

Christmas tree!

We had so much food!

After an entertaining and tasty Christmas fest on Tuesday night, I prepared for my Bonn departure Wednesday morning. I spent the midday in Koblenz, and then went to Wiesbaden to spend a day and a half with my German family (of Mainz soccer fame). I admit that the most stressful part of my holiday travel was Wednesday afternoon. My bus was almost 20 minutes late, between the traffic and how full it was, and I had to run to catch my train. My bus driver kept cursing all of the students who take the bus I ride. Of course there are tons of students on the bus that goes to the university. I really don’t think the better solution would be that they all have their own cars. I don’t like it when people hate on students being students and environmentally friendly. All in all, I was relieved to get to Wiesbaden, where I got to spend some quality time with my German friends and included visits to two different Christmas markets! More on those later…

Hamburg - Hafenstadt and Freistadt

The weekend of December 15, I took a less-planned, more relaxed and at times spontaneous, trip to Hamburg. Hamburg is my first German love. When I traveled to Germany in 2000 with my German class, we spent about a week in Munich and its environs and then headed north to Hamburg to stay with our German host families. That previous fall, my family and I hosted a girl from Hamburg, and I traveled to the old country in June to experience life as a teenager in Germany. I loved Hamburg. I loved the freedom people my age had there. I loved the harbor and seeing the evidence of the city’s strong shipping past and present. I guess I have always liked big ships, and Hamburg has tons of them. Hamburg is one of Germany’s largest cities, and in the past four months, I have actually spent time in the four largest. I had been to Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne before, but never during the same visit to Germany. From that experience, here are some of my thoughts on Germany’s super-cities:

· Berlin is the biggest hippy city of the four. People in Berlin are a bit more casual, and the cultural diversity and communist past (former east only) of the city marks a lot of its neighborhoods.

· Munich is the conservative city. It is always packed with tourists, and you notice them more than in the other four (except for maybe when you hang out at the cathedral in Cologne).

· Cologne seems small compared to the other three. Maybe I have spent the least amount of time in Cologne compared to the other cities, but I also don’t want to go to Cologne as much as I would rather be in the other three cities. The people, however, are very nice, and the melody of German speech in Cologne is probably the most attractive of all the regional dialects in Germany.

· Hamburg is the city with the beautiful people. With the shipping industry, there is a lot of international companies with influence throughout the world. Of the four, I would want to live here the most. The Elbe River is beautiful. The center of town has a lake too, the Alster, and there are so many great neighborhoods. Plus, you are close to the sea!

I was visiting my friend, EJ, who is also conducting fieldwork in Germany this year. We spent our days visiting as many Christmas markets as possible (I think we saw four or five!), and checking out some of her favorite places. On Saturday we had Persian food, at a restaurant where we had our own private concert. Sunday we went to her church, where I choir-bombed her choir and sang along with the rest of the members. Then we went carol-bombing! EJ goes caroling every year, and she was having a hard time getting her Hamburg friends to join her. Luckily, I also am a seasoned caroler and have no qualms about singing in public, as long as there is a purpose to do so. We brought much joy and good cheer to those who stopped to listen to us, and we tried not to take any donations. What we did get EJ has donated to a Hamburg charity.

One of our low points caroling was when the police stopped us in the underground station. We of course did not have a permit to perform in the underground, but we were there because it was warmer, not rainy, and provided good acoustics for singing. Thankfully the two police officers didn’t arrest us or make us pay a fine. In their stop, they also said we sounded nice, and they didn’t even interrupt us when we were singing one of our longer carols!

We went to a posh bar Sunday night that had a great view of the harbor, and Monday we attempted a walk along the river. It was too foggy to really see much, unfortunately.

Enjoy the photos! Hamburg, I hope to see you again soon!

View of the Rathaus and the Alster. The lights were beautiful at night!

The market at the Rathaus was so packed! But, it was fantastic!

Part of the entrance to the market.

Another view of the market, because it was awesome!

Here I am in one of the many shopping centers in Hamburg. I liked the arched lights!

Another Weihnachts-moose! So cute!

Here is a shot of the harbor from the bar EJ and I went to. I bet it is nice during the day too!

Thursday, December 20

Post-Salzburg Bliss!

After my Salzburg adventure, I have barely slowed down. After getting some good work done on Wednesday (I had my first interview for my dissertation research!), I spent the rest of the week working on getting ready for going to San Diego over the holiday.

Friday I continued my quest for Weihnachtsmarkt greatness! I spent the day with my friend J, from the department store excitement photo here. We first took a quick trip to Siegburg, which is a small town near Bonn. Siegburg is actually fairly significant, as one of Germany's main fast train lines runs through Siegburg on its way to Frankfurt Airport. I haven’t taken a train from Siegburg before, but lots of train searches suggest that I do so. Siegburg has a medieval Christmas market. What is a medieval Christmas market, you may be asking? Well, they aren’t that uncommon in Germany. Apparently Bremen has one, as well as other cities. In Siegburg, visitors are treated to a medieval atmosphere: some of the vendors use an antiquated version of German, vendors only use candles to light their booths, ancient delicacies, like “Met,” or mead, are offered to visitors, and most of the wares are hand-made. I was very tempted to buy this guy:

Dragon wind chime. This is something that no one needs, but it was really cool!

J and I got mead and walked around, checking out the guys in jester costumes and watching some of the craftsman build their products on site.

Kids were also trying their hand at wood carving. The carousal in the background was also hand-powered!

Here is a good example of the candlelight and lamplight at the Medieval market.

Mead, or "Met," is an alcoholic drink made of honey. I found it to be very sweet, but I should have expected it! All of the mugs in Siegburg were made of clay - very cool, and authentic, I guess!

In case you needed some pottery, this place had you covered!

We then left Siegburg for Aachen, a city on the Belgian-Dutch-German border. I have wanted to go to Aachen for awhile, as I had heard the city center is quite beautiful. I also heard good things about the Christmas market, so we checked it out for a couple of hours. Some of the highlights were visiting the cathedral, finding a boot-shaped Gluehwein mug, and eating Flammkuchen.

Here is a shot of the market from the Rathaus. It was very pretty at night.

The Christmas market is located around Aachen’s cathedral and city hall (Rathaus). Aachen is surprisingly hilly, and the Rathaus is up the hill from the cathedral. Aachen was a significant part of the Holy Roman Empire, and Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse) hung out there for a bit. The cathedral’s octagonal structure was first built in the 8^th(!!!) century. The mosaic tiles are so beautiful. It reminds me of Ottoman architecture and style, thanks to the inclusion of lots of blues and abstract images (vines, flowers, and shapes), as opposed to portraits (although this church has those too!). I need to go back during the day, and it was difficult to take photos, and the sanctuary portion of the church was very difficult to see in the dark lighting.

Here is a good example of the blue mosaic tiles and the different shapes on the ceiling.

Mother Mary

Yet another example of the beautiful tile work!

I knew the Christmas market was a real winner when I saw that they had boot-shaped mugs! I am not one to collect things, as I still maintain a semi-nomadic lifestyle as a graduate student and I don’t have the muscles or the space to transport and store objects. I do, however, have room for another boot-shaped mug a la the mugs from Chicago’s market. B and I have three different mugs from Chicago, and I finally have chosen a German mug to take home with me to add to the Gluehwein mug collection. I got another Eierpunsch at this market, this time with whipped cream and no cinnamon. I still compare the experience to drinking cake batter – sweet, and semi-thick, but hot! I also got Flammkuchen, which is a thin, pizza-like food with a cream sauce and toppings, like onions, bacon, and green onions. It was soooooo good! It certainly was a nice change from the greasy items, like Reibekuchen, that I still love, but probably don’t need to eat any more of this year. J got a fried fish filet, which she said was also great!

Here is my Flammkuchen. It was very tasty!

Finally, the long-awaited boot-shaped mug! I liked the color too!

Aachen is also known for Printen – a gingerbread-like cookie specific to this region. I bought a couple bags, tried a couple of types, and I really liked them! Some are hard, some are soft, some are covered in chocolate or sugar, others are plain. Aachen also has a confectionery that makes “Dominosteine,” which are chocolate-covered cubes of gingerbread, apricot, and a bit of marzipan. So wonderful!