EUROPEAN CHRISTMAS
MARKETS
29 November – 14
December 2012
This
was our third trip to visit European Christmas Markets. Ironically, the trips
happened five years apart and were all on the same riverboat line, Uniworld. Traditionally,
Christmas Markets do not begin until Advent. We flew from DFW through Frankfurt
to Munich and checked into the Kempenski Hotel at the airport. We saw snow,
like a sprinkling of powdered sugar, on trees and rooftops as we neared the
airport and the pilot announced a temperature of 2C.
Germany:
Munich
–The TV said the temperature was -2C or 27F so we bundled up really well before
leaving the hotel. We asked at the desk for directions to the train station
where we boarded the train for Marinplatz
in Munich’s city center. There are two trains that make the run and we took the
long route which took us through a little bit of countryside. More snow must
have fallen overnight and the overcast skies held the promise of more. The cold
temperatures froze snow on bare tree branches and even on the wire fences. The
ride took around three-quarters of an hour and we arrived around 11:00. Once in
Marinplatz, we spent several hours
wandering around and looking at the stalls. Crowds of people made walking somewhat
difficult but we managed to see everything. One area of the market was devoted
to “Christmas Cribs,” and contained everything needed to begin, add to, or to
complete a nativity set. Many Germans add one figure---sheep, angel, animal, etc.---every
year. Most were wooden and reminded us of Oberammergau. We rode the train back
to the hotel. We reversed the morning’s route and noted that even though there
was no snow in the city center, there was still some in the outlying areas
although it appeared to have melted a little.
The coach of Ludwig II was on display at the airport.
Germany:
Passau
- The temperature was around 31F and snow was falling. We returned to the cabin
and organized things for our walking tour of Passau. We left the ship at 9:00
with Daniel as our guide. The tour was much the same as last time with a slow
walk through the baroque town and a stop at Stephensdom
where Daniel gave a good explanation as we sat in pews.
We attended the “Captain’s Welcome
Reception and Dinner.” At the Reception, all 55 crew members were introduced. Exceptionally
delicious food and attentive service combined for a great meal.
Austria:
Linz & Salzberg
- We sailed after midnight and arrived in Linz around 8:00. At 8:30, we left
Linz aboard a bus with Helmut as guide. During the two-hour-drive to Salzburg
he gave a history of the city, area and spoke of the “Sound of Music.” We made
a brief pit stop at Montsee on the way. Upon arrival in Salzburg, we began our
tour by walking through the Mirabella
Gardens before crossing the river and heading into the old town. Helmut
presented a concise history of sights as we made our way to the Dom and other areas and provided
commentaries on vantage points. After the tour, we had free time to explore.
We
first walked the Christmas Markets set
up in Residence Square and an
adjacent one. We ate lunch at Café
Tomaselli, the oldest in Austria and perhaps the world. After lunch, we
wandered through the town.
When we rejoined the tour at 3:00, we walked to the
bus and left Salzburg; we retraced our route to Linz and arrived in that city
around 4:45. It was dark and we enjoyed the drive through the city center on
our way to the ship; the lights at the market were very attractive. The
temperature hovered between 2C & 4C all day. Morning drizzle dissipated and
nothing fell. Snow was everywhere in the landscape except for roads and paved
services. The snow-covered landscape was stereotypical winter and beautiful.
Austria:
Cruising the Wachau Valley; Krems All morning we cruised the Danube
between Linz and Krems but the overcast day and cold temperatures dulled the
landscape. There was an onboard Christmas Market with gluwein and a gingerbread
demonstration. We tied up on the south bank of the Danube near Krems around
noon. After lunch, we got ready for the afternoon tour of Gottweig Abbey perched atop a hill north of the Danube.
We left the
ship at 1:30 for the tour making the mistake of taking bus #2; Walter, the
guide, was terrible and the driver Joe a smartass. Once at the Abbey,
we entered and saw the Imperial Staircase and learned a brief
history.
Then we walked a hall and saw figures portraying the life of Jesus
and the room where Napoleon stayed
before heading across a courtyard and into the church for what was to be a
twenty-minute organ concert. Instead we were subjected to a choir of old ladies
who sang for an hour. The church was very cold with cold air moving through so
strongly that the chandelier swayed.
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When
we finally exited the church, it was snowing/sleeting as we made our way back
to the Abbey. There we went to an Advent
Market filled with handcrafted items. We left Gottweig Abbey around 4:30 and drove back to the pier; we chose not
to go into the town of Krems proper as it was dark.
Austria:
Vienna
– We must have been good children because St. Nicholas left chocolate candy in
our shoes which we placed outside our door last night. ‘Twas a cold day in
Vienna. It was -1C when we left the ship at 8:30. We got the usual “Ring Road”
talk as we drove into town. As it is “St. Nicholas’ Day,” we saw a few people
in costume and some were also dressed as devils. On St. Nicholas Eve, he
appears to learn if children have been good and his companion, the devil,
carries a switch to inflict some pain on bad children. We rode the bus for the
tour to Stephensdom, but didn’t do
the tour. We left and walked up and down the shopping area. Then we slowly made
our way across the old town until we reached the Christmas Market in front of
the Ratthaus, around 10:45. This
large market contained many interesting stands surrounding a huge Christmas
tree. We decided to walk the market and check out many of the stalls. As we
began to retrace our steps and look for items we wished to purchase, it began
to snow. It was a wet snow which changed from drops of rain to snowflakes and
back many times per minute. At noon we boarded the bus for the ship and ate
lunch aboard. At 1:30 we took the complimentary Amex tour to Shonbrunn Palace but didn’t go inside
for the tour. We enjoyed the market on the square in front. Here it really
snowed hard and we took shelter in a cranny of the palace and enjoyed hot
chocolate. Then we looked for the bus, but it wasn’t there. We found a place to
wait out of the pelting snow and waited quite a while for the others. Some
finally came and we all waited together for the buses which arrived later than
the scheduled 4:05.
Still, with all the traffic, we were back aboard shortly
before 5:00.After dinner, we boarded busses for the Kursalon where we enjoyed a musical evening.
Slovakia:
Bratislava
– We sailed to Bratislava, Slovakia in the early morning hours and docked about
8:00. After breakfast, we bundled us as it was 27F this morning under sunny
skies. We enjoyed an hour-and-a-half walking tour of the old town with a guide
who explained the sights. We enjoyed learning about this small country.
Dom
Statue of the Nosy Neighbor Sitting on the Toilet and Peering at his Neighbors
Sculputure of City Worker Idling and Looking Up Skirts
After
the tour, we wandered the Christmas Market in the main square. Then we walked
back to the Dom where we looked at
the interior.
Hungary:
Budapest
– BRRR! It was COLD! The temperature was around 23F this morning as we sailed
into Budapest. I went topside and made some photos as commentary was broadcast over
the ship’s PA system.
We left the ship at 9:00 for the tour and boarded buses.
We enjoyed the warm ride which did a standard tour through the city
highlighting the Parliament; Palace; Opera; Heroes’ Square; St. Stephen’s
Basilica; Fishermen’s Bastion: St. Mattias Church.
Then about 11:30 we stopped
near the Intercontinental Hotel where
we got off the bus and walked to the Christmas Market in Vorosmarty Square. We were to return to the bus at 12:20 and the
market was fairly large, so we rushed. It was also too cold to linger. Everyone
seemed bundled up against the cold. After reboarding the bus, we returned near
the ship and reboarded the vessel. This was the coldest day of the entire trip.
Post
Cruise On Our Own:
If travel is an adventure, then today was
definitely an exponential ADVENTURE. All seemed well when we left the ship at
7:00, boarded a warm bus, and drove to the airport in Budapest. Other than still being cold with a very cold
wind, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Flight check-in and security were
no problem, and we went to the Lufthansa Lounge to await the departure of LH
1395 to Frankfurt at 10:00. The flight was delayed because of weather
conditions in Frankfurt but the gate agent assured me that we could take a
later flight to Prague if we missed our connection at 1:00 because all flight
were delayed in Frankfurt. We finally boarded shortly before 11:00. Then we had
to wait for a time for a landing slot in Frankfurt before taking off. Once
airborne, we noted quite a bit of snow on the ground. As time neared for
landing, we realized that the plane was circling and in a holding pattern.
Before long the captain announced that the Frankfurt Airport was closed and we
would land in Cologne. It was after 3:00 when we reached Cologne and parked on
the very end of the runway. The Captain announced that the plane would be
refueled; they have to open the doors to do this. After refueling, someone
somewhere made the decision that we would leave the plane in Cologne and return
to Frankfurt by train---a 45 minute ride. We called “Starwood Preferred Guest”
and booked a club level room using points at the hotel in Frankfurt. They
finally brought stairs and buses and we were taken to the terminal where we
learned that we would have a two-hour-bus-ride instead of a
one-hour-train-ride. Luggage did not arrive for around an hour and then we had
to transport it via a convoluted route outside baggage claim, through the
ticketing area and shops, down an elevator and across a slushy parking lot.
There a driver loaded it into the storage bay of the bus. It was 4:55 and pitch
black dark when we left Cologne. The drive might be a pretty one in the
daytime. There was little “light pollution” and many areas were just black but
there seemed to be towns and/or villages in some areas. We also saw a few
floodlit churches and castles. We arrived at the Frankfurt Airport Terminal at 6:45.
As we had the last seats, we were also last off the bus. The driver had left
our two bags sitting on the sidewalk; fortunately, a young man who sat beside
us on the bus and his traveling companion watched them until we could retrieve
them. We made our way into the terminal and across the skybridge to the Sheraton Hotel and the club level. We
felt so fortunate to have the reservation as the line to check-in in the lobby
stretched out into the hallway. We called “American Express Platinum Travel
Service” and arranged seats for us on LH 1394 leaving Frankfurt for Prague at
9:15 on Monday morning. Via email, we contacted “Prague Airport Transfers” and
reserved a ride into town tomorrow. It had been a hectic and frustrating day.
Czech
Republic: Prague
– We got up at 6:00 and ate breakfast in the lounge. We checked out and headed
across to the airport shortly before 7:00. “Hectic Chaos” would be an
understatement to describe the airport scene with everyone who couldn’t go
anywhere yesterday trying to get somewhere today. We stood in the check-in line
for “Business Class” for about 15 minutes but the reservation was there and we
were assigned seats 1A & 1C. Then we went to “Security” where it took at
least 30 minutes to run the line, and they were working as rapidly as they
could. We were so far from the gate that we decided to just wait for the flight
in the gate area and not try to find a “Business Class Lounge.” We had to go
down steps and board a bus to be driven to the plane parked on the apron; as we
passed beside it, we saw our bags being loaded. LH 1394 scheduled for 9:15 took
off at 9:45. As we looked down, we could see that everything below was
snow-covered; it was beautiful. As we landed in Prague at 10:30, they gave the
outside temperature as 1C and a heavy snow was falling. Upon leaving the plane
via a jet bridge, we made our way to baggage claim; our bags were the first two
on the belt. We walked through “Customs – Nothing to Declare” and met our driver
from “Prague Airport Transfers.” Deep snow covered the landscape piling up on
the ground; clinging to tree branches; frosting roofs and vehicles. Prague Castle looked positively “fairy
tale” with snow atop its green roof. We arrived at the Hotel Palace around 11:35 and made a reservation to be picked up at
8:00 tomorrow morning. Upon entering the hotel, there was confusion over our
not arriving yesterday, but that was soon resolved and we were given a room. We
added a few layers of clothing and headed out to locate the “Christmas
Markets.” By this time, the snow had turned to an occasional sprinkle of rain. We
walked to Wenceslas Square and looked
at the stalls in the “Christmas Market” there; we were disappointed as almost
every stall sold either food and drink or commercially produced items.
We
walked down the square and made our way over to Old Town stopping at another market selling fruits, vegetables and
utilitarian items as we passed. The “Christmas Market” in Old Town was much better. Here we decided to have some Trdelnik
which is pronounced somewhat like “turd.” It is a sweet pastry made from dough
wrapped around a stick like a rolling pin, ready for spinning on an open fire.
Brushed in a sugar and walnut mix, and then grilled until crispy on the outside
and slightly gooey on the inside.
We continued to walk the market and bought some
delicious homemade potato chips which were served in a paper cone. As we headed
back toward the hotel, we stopped several times and made photos; two were of
large carved wooden nativity scenes set against a Christmas tree backdrop. While
it was definitely wintertime, there was no wind and it didn’t feel nearly as
cold; there was a brief period of sunshine. It was around 3:30 when we returned
to the hotel and had already begun to get dark by 4:00.
At the hotel, the café/bar
was decorated for Christmas. Gingerbread and cookies had been attached to one
of the walls with icing.
More
Adventurous Travel:
Today was another day of ADVENTURE travel. We noticed that it had snowed
overnight in Prague when we went to breakfast around 6:30. Promptly at 8:00 the
driver from “Prague Airport Transfers” arrived, loaded our bags, and we were
off. Traffic was terrible. We enjoyed the beautiful snow-covered landscape,
especially the way it clung to trees and shrubs. The thermometer in the car
showed -4.5C. The driver knew several alternate routes and we drove through
lots of neighborhoods attempting to avoid snarled traffic. Even with his
expertise, the half-hour drive took forty-five minutes. We entered the airport
and went to the Lufthansa check-in counter where we learned that LH 1395 to
Frankfurt had just been canceled. We went to an agent who changed our flights.
We were booked on LH 1689 to Munich scheduled to leave at 9:30. We had to
return to the check-in counter for boarding passes and to check the luggage.
Then we made a mad dash through “Security” and the “Fast Track” lane to get to
the gate. Today the people at Security were very slow and it seemed to take
forever---they even checked the pockets of our coats after they were scanned
and ran one bag through twice. Of course, the people directly in front of us
had to be checked multiple times, too. We made it to the gate about 9:20 and
were somewhat frazzled. We didn’t board until 9:45 and took off even later. Once
in Munich, we made our way to the “Business Class Lounge” to await the
departure of LH 2126 to Dresden at 3:20. We simply “made a nest” in two chairs
in a corner until time to leave. Luckily, food and restrooms were available.
Around 2:30, we left the lounge and walked to the gate where we learned that
the plane had not arrived. By this time, we knew that Frankfurt Airport was
closed. Our plane arrived and we boarded about 3:45; then the plane had to be
de-iced. After that, the Captain announced that if we didn’t take off fairly
soon, we would have to wait another half hour for them to remove nonexistent
snow from the runway. We made it, but the plane behind us did not. We had a
smooth hour’s flight to Dresden which had lots of snow on the ground and more
falling with a temperature of about -5C. After finally claiming the bags, we
went outside and waited at least 30 minutes for a taxi into town. It was
probably 7:30 by the time we arrived in room 3105 of the Hilton. Another exhausting day of travel; all in all, the two
flights totaled less than 2 hours but we spent almost twelve hours getting from
Prague to Dresden.
Germany:
Dresden
–The view from our window showed deep snow on roofs and the ground; we heard
someone cleaning sidewalks/streets around 5:30. The sun was shining and the
temperature was somewhere around 19F. Our materials stated that most of the
markets opened at 11:00 and we left the room around 10:30. The Traditional Christmas Market at the
Frauenkirche next to the hotel was already open, and we walked through it.
After leaving
that market, we found a couple more markets but they were either too commercial
or food. We returned to the market beside the hotel and climbed steps for a
cold and wintry view of the Elbe River. We
made our way back to the hotel to warm up. Around 5:00, we decided to go back
out and see the markets after dark. Dresden was definitely worth all the hassle
and frustration involved in yesterday’s flights. Walking where everything is
frozen seemed to pose less problems and slush.
We walked in front of the Frauenkirche
and went through Advent on Neumarket
that wasn’t open until we reached Dresden
Striezelmarkt at the Altmarkt. This large market features a huge pyramid
which turns and many stalls. It took us quite a while to wend our way through
the crowds and around the food vendor booths. We enjoyed this market a lot.
From there we returned to Advent on
Neumarket but found it to be mostly food booths. We decided it was time to
return to the hotel to warm up and eat lunch. The sun had disappeared but there
was very little wind; still, it was cold. After lunch, we visited the interior
of the Frauenkirche, a huge domed
structure all blue, white and gold rococo style; it’s billed as the
“Protestant’s St. Peter’s” and has a huge statue of Martin Luther outside.
Then
we used directions from the Hotel Concierge and visited Advent Spectacular in the Stall Courtyard, which bills itself as a
medieval market. We weren’t impressed even though most of the vendors were in
costume; it was interesting to see the man work the foot lathe.
After leaving
that market, we found a couple more markets but they were either too commercial
or food. We returned to the market beside the hotel and climbed steps for a
cold and wintry view of the Elbe River. We
made our way back to the hotel to warm up.
We
made our way back to the hotel to warm up. Around 5:00, we decided to go back
out and see the markets after dark. Dresden was definitely worth all the hassle
and frustration involved in yesterday’s flights. Walking where everything is
frozen seemed to pose less problems and slush.
Dresden
to Frankfurt: It was still below freezing but didn’t look
as if any snow fell during the night. Around 11:00, we checked out and then
took a taxi to the airport; it only took about 20 minutes today. Everything
looks like a “winter wonderland” and the snow looks to be at least 6 inches
deep; the taxi driver told us it was -2C. He also said that a thaw is forecast
for the next day or so; it’s much better to be here when everything is frozen
solid; slush would be really messy. Check-in for LH 215 scheduled to leave at
2:45 was easy and we even got boarding passes for tomorrow’s flight to DFW.
After Security, we went to the Lufthansa Lounge and waited until about 2:00. We
walked to the gate and found the flight to be delayed for about 10 minutes.
Once aboard, the 45-minute-flight went smoothly. After landing on the outer
edge of the Frankfurt Airport, we taxied for at least 10 minutes before parking
on the apron; we rode a bus to the terminal and walked to baggage claim. Then
we made our way through the terminal to the “Sheraton Hotel.”
Flight HomeWe walked into the terminal and checked our luggage to DFW on LH 438. After
passing through Passport Control, we went through Security. It was very slow
and we were glad it wasn’t crowded. Then we headed toward the Z gates. Then we
went to the lounge to wait until time to board the flight at 9:15. The lounge
was a new one for us and was nice and comfortable. When we boarded the flight,
we had to ride a bus. The boarding passes were scanned at the gate and the
passports checked at the bottom of the stairs just before boarding the bus. We
enjoyed the flight and the crew worked well together. We slept only
sporadically during the 10 ½ hours and it was an exceptionally bumpy ride. We
must have gone through/around several storms.
