In the weeks leading up to Christmas the pedestrian zone
takes on a special festive role. Apart from delightful and tasteful window
decorations a Christmas market, Christkindlmarkt, is set up with stalls selling
anything from traditional crafts to more modern junk. The hand crafted Christmas
tree decorations make generally nicer and easier to transport souvenirs than the
cheap low quality mass-produced beer mugs that are on sale everywhere in town.
The mood is jolly and festive or "gemuetlich" as the
Germans say. A vast selection of food is available ranging from sausages to huge
pretzels and divine pastries. I was also surprised at the astonishing variety of
fruits being sold here. The drink of choice is for a change not beer but
Gluehwein - hot wine with some spices. Non-alcoholic Kinderpunsch is also
available. The wine is served in mugs bearing the market’s name and often the
year count as well. You pay a deposit (Pfand) for the first mug and can then
reuse it and keep it if you like. Should you decide not to keep the mug as a
souvenir you can get the deposit back, not at the stand where you originally
bought the drink but at special stalls set up for this purpose. (Anyone who has
ever worked in a bar or at large catered parties would recognize this as a
marvelous idea to enhance the changes of the mug actually being rinsed with
water rather than just thin air before being reused!)
A nice feature of this market is that it is not only set
up for visitors - many locals also make an outing here at least once during the
advent season. The market is spread out along several streets of the pedestrian
zone but the center of activity is at the Marienplatz. It can get quite busy
here early in the evening but the mood is wonderful with locals quite willing to
help you order as the stall attendants speak heavily accented Bavarian and not
high German.
Also take time to study the window decorations of the
shops lining the pedestrian zone. Some have fantastic displays and most are very
tasteful. A large toy store had an excellent display of moving teddy bears
staffing a workshop that attracted huge crowds of all ages.
Most stalls open late afternoon when the main shops are
closing and stay open until 21:00 or 22:00.