Since the end of October, Freiburg has been busy setting up Christmas decorations in the town and setting up the booths for the Freiburg Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). On November 18, the market opened to visitors. Christmas markets are the key feature of the German Christmas season, and every major town has an impressive offering of Christmas decor, holiday foods, and gifts. This year’s Christmas market opened under the “3G” rules, which mean that anyone who enters must be either vaccinated, recovered, or have a valid covid test from that day. Unfortunately, the government mandated yesterday that all Christmas markets be closed after less than a week due to COVID. Luckily, I was able to go to the Christmas market last weekend and experience the wonder of German Christmas.
Lea (a German friend of mine) and I went to the Weihnachtsmarkt on Friday evening. We walked around and looked at all the beautiful decorations before deciding on something to eat. She got Schnupfnudeln (potato noodles with sauerkraut), and I got Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes, pictured below.) Another must at a German Christmas market is drinking Glühwein, or warm mulled wine. Although red wine is more common, there is also white Glühwein.
Freiburg’s Christmas market is unique in that the booths are located throughout the downtown area, instead of concentrated in one area. Some booths sell only food or drinks, and there are dozens of booths with handcrafts. It was hard to decide which crafts to get for Christmas gifts/souvenirs; they were all so intricate and beautiful!
