One of my fondest memories of my first visit to Rothenburg during summer was eating an enormous hot freshly made waffle with sour cherries and cream accompanied by an excellent cold pilsner under the linden trees on a terrace close to the St Jakobskirche. It was late afternoon, the day-trippers were leaving town and there were still at least four hours of daylight left to explore the town and walls in peace.

The most recent visit came the week before Christmas and al fresco dining was not foremost on my mind. However, the Christmas market was in full swing and we could not but enjoy in the open air some of the fine Glühwein, non-alcoholic Kinderpunsch and sausages on offer. Having spent the previous couple of days in Munich it was interesting to compare the fare on offer. In Rothenburg there were several different kinds of sausages including long thin ones that tasted absolutely divine. As the "mad cow" scare broke in Germany shortly before our visit most stands had signs either declaring the sausages beef free or claiming to use only organic produce. After a few mugs of Glühwein these guarantees seemed of lesser importance.

Snow balls - Schneeballe - is a local specialty and is a round doughy pastry with lots of fine sugar on it. Truth be told it is hard to eat without making a mess and some of the other less famous but still local pastries we tried tasted a lot better without leaving white icing sugar all over our coats.

The Christmas Market was as could be expected much smaller than what we found in Munich and Frankfurt but still had a wide selection of food and drink and trinkets on sale. The main focus is the huge Christmas tree in the Market Square and along some of the narrow alleys towards the square in front of St Jakob’s Church.

As at other Christmas Markets in Germany you pay a deposit on the Gluhwein mug and can claim your deposit or Pfand back only at a special counter. As anyone who has worked in a bar or catered at a big party would know, this is a good idea to ensure the mug actually getting washed before being reused. We had some trouble finding the Pfand counter and by the time we did find it hidden in a narrow covered alley behind the Rathaus, we had already refilled and decided to keep the mugs as souvenirs anyway.

The proliferation of Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas shops guarantees a year round Christmas atmosphere in much of Rothenburg and the Christmas Market was a nice opportunity to have the real thing complement the shops.