One of the Biggest and Oldest

Nuremberg was a must for us. It is by far the best known and biggest Christkindlesmarkt in Germany.
We were lucky to stay with our friends Detlef and Gaby for the night, and when we arrived, it was snowing, which added a layer of romance to the visit.
We left the car at their house and took a bus and the train about 20 minutes into the city, and from the station, we could not go wrong. Christmas lights were everywhere.

Walking to the market with about a million others was quite festive and freezing cold.

The Christkindlesmarkt fills the plaza with St. Lawrence Cathedral in the background.

 Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt was very organized, commercial and very brightly lit, which made photographing stalls at night a bit tricky.

This market is very big, located in the plaza in front of the Church of Our Lady, a beautiful church we had to visit.

Church of Our Lady

Church of Our Lady overseeing the market

Of course, like every market, there are vendors, but the specialty of Nuremberg is Lebkuchen or Gingerbread, as we say in English.

Mind you, there are also sausages and, did we mention, Gluehwein.

We loved the atmosphere and the surroundings of the market.

12th Century well tower

Inside St Lawrence Cathedral, the 12th Century gothic basillica, we found a woman passing on the tradition.

A mother teaching her daughter to light a votive candle.

We spent a long time walking around looking at the stalls and in the process got very cold, so after we found the place Detlef recommended for some Feuerzangen Bole,

Largest boiling punch cauldron

 we made our way to the restaurant 'Der Barfuessler' to warm ourselves before taking the train back to a warm bed.

We had some tea and a dessert.

While the people next to us had a Schweinshaxen,
pig knuckle, with potato dumplings.

Bridge over the Pegnitz River

Next morning we woke not only to a great breakfast with Gaby and Detlef but to more snow.

Detlef pointed us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our next destination and we were off again.