frenchhorn

There will be a lot of live greenery at the Christmas markets, so perhaps you should avoid a market cruise. We love them, but an allergy could create a huge problem.

We have enjoyed many markets in Germany including the well-known and the less known. We went to Lubeck in 2014 on a day trip from Berlin, because my English family had ancestors who were seamen from Lubeck. I grew up knowing that marzipan was our family's favorite candy. The Christmas market was delightful, and I remember that there were fresh cut trees everywhere. The food and the trees all smelled wonderful. Don't laugh too hard at the photo of my husband trying currywurst at the Lubeck Christmas market! I enjoyed my bratwurst. We also visited the beautiful craft market in the Heiligen-Geist Hospital in Lubeck, and the old hospital itself was fascinating. We spent a couple of hours in the Thomas Mann museum and sadly didn't have time to visit the Niederigger shop. The Christmas markets in Leipzig and Potsdam were also fun. In Leipzig a brass group played on a balcony over the market every evening. Potsdam had the funniest portable toilets with large pictures of actors and actresses in the stalls. My stall had George Clooney. The men's section had photos of beautiful women overlooking the fixtures. We considered taking photos but were afraid to look foolish!

I played the horn in high school and college bands and orchestras. It's a wonderful instrument to hear and to play. Our Elbe Christmas cruise was in 2014 on Grand Circle from Dresden to Berlin, and we spent extra time on our own in Berlin, Leipzig, and Lubeck. Depending upon the timing and your interests, you might be able to find special music in some of the churches. We heard a brass concert in Berlin and Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Meissen Cathedral and also in St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Prague will have a lot of music with signs outside churches and other venues. Foodwise, Dresden is known for stollen, and Berlin is known for currywurst. We tried currywurst - I thought it was awful, but my husband liked it. There is a curry-flavored sauce on the wurst. The cities and markets on the Elbe cruise are mostly less crowded. Dresden's market was jammed, but we were there on opening day in November with its many special events. The Berlin market at Gendarmenmarkt was especially pretty with white tents. Other markets in Berlin seem to specialize in specific types of goods. We stopped at another very small market in a small town, but I don't remember what town it was. The weather was a bit colder on the Elbe than in the other parts of Germany that we'd visited other years, but it's variable. My husband bought a much needed wool watch cap at one of the stalls on the Elbe. We went without coats in Munich once just before Christmas, and we needed scarves and several layers at other times. We like silk long underwear for extra warmth. We never had heavy rain, and we never saw snow, but we were ready with rain gear with hoods. The coldest we ever were was in Budpest at the end of December - windy and bitter at the Fisherman's Bastion.

We have enjoyed four Christmas market cruises with different companies on the Rhine, Main, Danube, and Elbe rivers (a much less common Christmas market cruise). We have also visited markets in non-cruise cities, like Lubeck and Leipzig. They were all different, and we loved all of them. Our favorite market item is the wooden German pyramid, and we have brought home several as gifts for our adult children. We bought our first one at the Munich Christmas market on a family trip in 1989, and they've become a much loved tradition. This year we are going on a short Avalon market cruise from Frankfurt to Basel. There are pyramids made in other countries like China, so it's important to establish the origin, if you want a good quality German one. I think many are made in the Erzebirge area of Germany. We have found the pyramids only in the German markets and didn't see them in other countries. They may have made their way across borders by now, however. I order new candles from a company in PA.