Gingerbread and Glühwein

... these are the things you will definitely find at the famous Nuremberg Christmas Market, which is called "Christkindlesmarkt".
For those of you who never heard of it, Glühwein is hot wine spiced with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pimento, sugar and fresh orange and lemon juice ... hmm delicious. "Elisen"-Gingerbread from Nuremberg is another delicacy, made without flour, very juicy and rich.


But the main attracion of course is the market itself.
It is one of the oldest markets in Germany, the first written proof of its existence dates back to the year 1628, thoug it is very likely that the beginnings of the market date back earlier. There are about 150 stalls, selling Glühwein, gingerbread, candies, toys, food (mainly Bratwurst), ornaments, candles, handicraft, christmas balls and "Zwetschgenmännla" - little figures made of dried prunes.

Right in the middle of the market a huge manger scene is placed. People throw coins into it and make a wish. The collected money is given to charity.

The biggest event is the opening of the market. The Nuremberg Christkind is standing on the top-balcony of the church, while saying the prologue.



The beautiful market is known all over the world and there's even the Chicago-fake-Christkindlesmarket!

But why do I bore you with all this stuff? Well, despite having the market, Nuremberg is also a sister city of Atlanta, GA. I know that's not really exciting, but Nuremberg offers a stall for every twin city to represent and sell goods from their country. Some of them are run by tradesmen, others cover the work-shifts with volunteers like me. This year will be my fourth year of working in the Atlanta-booth and I'm totally looking forward to it!

We are a mixed crew of Germans and Americans, which are either married to a German, work here or are exchange students. We sell hot apple cider, CocaCola merchandise, Braves and Falcons fanwear, candies, books, root beer, mugs and food - and yes Germans do pay 6 Euros for one box of Betty Crocker baking mix, cause you can't get it any cheaper here!

All incomes are donated to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

The market will open at November 30th and I will give you weekly updates about my work freom then on.

Prepare fpolks, Christmas is right around the corner ;)