Year Abroad - Heidelberg Part 4

Christmas in Deutschland

Christmas in Germany was everything I expected it to be: lots of amazing Christmas markets filled with Wurst and Glühwein, amazing advent calendars (a mini Rittersport chocolate behind every door - YES PLEASE!), lots of chilly weather and a teeny bit of snow!

At the beginning of December I spent a brilliant couple of days in beautiful Bayern (Bavaria), where I visited the town of Bayreuth, the city of Nuremberg and my Bristol bezzies!

Friday 6th December I got up at the crack of dawn - 8am - to jump on a bus to Nuremberg, before getting a train to Bayreuth, where my friend Rachel is living this term. As we were coming in to Nuremberg on the bus it started snowing, only a little bit, but enough for me to get very excited. Little did I realise just how snowy it would be Bayreuth! From Nuremberg I got a (very speedy) train to Bayreuth, an had my first experience of the crazy Bavarian lingo! To my unexpecting south-west-germanised (I'm sure that's a word...) ears, the kindly train conductor came over to check my ticket and greeted me with a surprising "GRÜß GOTT". Now don't get me wrong, I have been educated in the beautiful Bayerische ways (thanks Eva <3) but somehow I had completely forgotten about their version of "Guten Tag". I'm sure the train conductor must have thought I was some rude, ignorant foreigner for staring at him, before sorting myself out and handing him my ticket... Arriving in Bayreuth I was greeted by the lovely Rachel, who gave me a quick tour of the pretty, snowy town on the way to her WG (student flat). So many of the buildings are old and grand, making the town a really cool place to visit.

The school Rachel is working at in all it's grandeur

After a short stop off at Rachel's flat to warm up, we headed in to the centre of town to check out the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) and Winterdorf (lots of really cool wooden huts joined together with amazing varieties Glühwein!). It was so pretty in the evening when it was all lit up, and literally every lamppost in Bayreuth had a Christmas tree attached to it!

Enjoying the Glühwein at Winterdorf

On the way to the station on Saturday we went the long way via the park to get in as much snow experience as we could. It pretty much doesn't snow in Heidelberg so I had to make the post of it while I could!

So much Schnee!

Sadly in my books, when it comes to making to "making the most of snow" this actually means doing a slightly dramatic slip up whilst zooming to the train station! So however much I love the snow, it's probably a good thing that we haven't had any in Heidelberg yet, or I'd have at least a broken wrist by now...

In Nuremberg we met up with Anna and Frankie (from Bristol) and had some typical Bavarian food for (I went for the Nuremberg sausages and potato salad) before walking up the hill to the castle for a view over the city. After a quick look at the view and taking some photos it was time to hit up the Christmas market. Now these was no easy task... Most of Germany (including 3 coach loads of exchange students from Heidelberg) had decided to descend upon the famed Christmas market in Nuremberg. Don't get me wrong, it was very pretty and had all the things you expect to buy in a Christmas market: chocolate covered fruit, Christmas decorations, gingerbread hearts etc. However to get to all these Christmassy goodies you had to fight through the crowds! It was a fun experience but I'd definitely like to go to Nuremberg again when the whole world isn't there too.

In Heidelberg the whole town has been taken over by the Weihnachtsmarkt! There is one in every available square and even at the castle, with endless Wurst, Glühwein and gingerbread hearts. I incidentally did get a loyalty card to one particular Glühwein stand... and yes I did fill it and claim my free one... oops. Every year for the whole of December Heidelberg is taken over by the sparkly excitement that is the Weihnachtsmarkt, making it one of the best places to do some Christmas shopping, but also making what is already a relatively small city extremely packed! You have to allow a good extra 10 minutes to get to lessons, so you can fight through the crowds of German, American and Asian tourists...

Christmas market in Heidelberg

For my final weekend in Heidelberg my family came to visit, so we did all the touristy things I have done with other people and added in some exciting new extras like the Studentenkarzer and a tour around the castle.

The Studentenkarzer (Student Prison)

As part of our touristing we went to the little town of Ladenburg, which was about 10 minutes from Heidelberg by train. This village is the epitome of German cuteness, and all the houses look like they have fallen out of a fairytale! The Christmas market was tiny compared to those in Nuremberg and Heidelberg, but that just made it even more lovable. We tested the Glühwein (it has to be done, everywhere) and went wandered around the tiny town centre before heading back to Heidelberg on the train. It may have been one of my favourite Christmas markets I have been to! And I've been to a fair few, if my Glühwein mug collection is anything to go by...

Ladenburg Christmas market

Basically this year I have discovered that one of the Christmassy places to be is Germany! There were definitely some things I missed (putting up the tree, listening to endless Christmas songs on the radio, having a fake Christmas with my friends) but for a general Christmas feel, endless gift ideas and a LOT of Glühwein and yummy foods, Germany really is the best place for it!

So watch out German friends, I will definitely back next year ;)