I know it has been a while......please forgive me.
My sister Sue and Dale finally came to visit us in Germany. They decided that a good time to come would be during Christmas Market season - good choice!
Off the plane and over to the Historic Erlangen Christmas Market in the Neustädter Kirchplatz (okay, we took them home first, to unpack and settle in a bit). It is not the main Christmas Market in Erlangen but it has the best feuerzangenbowle!
Feuerzangenbowle is a traditional German Christmas Market alcoholic drink for which a rum-soaked sugar cone is set on fire and drips into mulled wine.
But......we first stop at Enoteca, Tim and Jayne's favourite European cafe/bar in town....
Next stop the Historic Christmas Market
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| You can see the sugar cone melting/dripping into the mulled wine! |
The next morning we went down to the Schlossplatz to the daily market and bought fresh ingredients for dinner.
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| Dale and Sue at the Erlangen Market |
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| Gorgeous carrots! |
As they were only here for 10 days (including their little road trip to Zurich, Switzerland to visit a friend and to Lahr, Germany where Dale lived for a number of years as a child) there wasn't time to let them get over their jet lag. The second night we joined five of our friends at the famous Nurnberg Christmas Market - known as the Christkindlesmarkt. We went there a little early so we toured the market and then walked up to the Castle.
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| Welcome Sue and Dale to the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt!!! |
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| The masses at the Marktplatz - the main part of the Christkindlemsarkt |
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Nürnberg Castle
(sorry about the lovely signs - I don't have photo shop)) |
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Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain).
Originally built around 1385 it
was replaced with a replica earlier last century.
The stone tower is 62
feet high and contains the statues of the Electors, along with heroes of
Christian and Jewish heritage. Set into the railings around the
octagonal pool is a golden ring that is
supposed to grant you wishes if
you should turn it three times before asking.
Sue went and turned the ring but didn't realize that there was a line up to do so.
Oops....... lol |
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| Sue and Dale buying some goodies for the kiddies back home. |
Meeting time - 1830 hrs so off to the Feuerzangenbowle booth on the Pegnitz River.
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| Dale, Dayle, Tim, Timo (kneeling), Rowan, Dale, Jayne and Sue (yes three Dales) |
After a number of drinks we stopped for a famous Nürnberg Sausage and then on to a bar that is a gelato shop during the rest of the year.
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| Tim buys a round and this is how it was served! |
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| Love this picture! |
After the bar we all walked over to Dayle and Timo's place for a night cap. We walked to the subway station then race to catch the train in Furth - made it by10 seconds. Thank goodness or we would have had to wait for another hour! Nooooo. We would have taken a taxi.
A very late night!
The next day Sue and Dale head off on their road trip...
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| ...to visit Sue's friend Anne-Marie in Zurich, Switzerland |
and....
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| then to Dale's old stomping grounds. The apartment his family lived in, in Kippenheimweiler, Germany. |
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| One never grows up! lol This is what Dale used to do when he was a kid - on the exact handrail. |
Upon their return we headed to the TaylorMade (owned by adidas) Centre of Excellence for a custom golf club fitting for Sue. Nearly three hours of technical fitting. It was very interesting.
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| Sue all wired up. |
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| Fore! |
The next day we jumped on a train and headed up to Coburg to go to their Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market).
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| Not a bad way to travel, the drink cart came around, at around 1030 am and we bought beer!!! |
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| Surprise, surprise, we found a great wine store and sampled a few! |
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| Dale and his new scarf and the 'right' t-shirt - very European!!! |
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| More Feuerzangenbowle |
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| We took a walk up through the town park to the Coburg Veste (castle) |
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| Magical - Coburg Christmas Market at night! |
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| What's in those mugs boys? Hot chocolate and ...... |
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| Coburg Christmas Market in the morning. |
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| Dale and Sue in a great little Gasthof - Biergarten. |
We had a great time and stayed the night in a little gasthaus right on the main square.
The next day we hopped back on the train and headed home, but first we stopped in Bamberg to visit this lovely UNESCO Heritage city and its Christmas Market.
Some of the sights at the various Christmas Markets that we visited....
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| children lining up to buy their treats |
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| Various meats - all pork! |
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| Cookie ornaments |
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| Marzipan Santas |
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| Famous German wooden ornaments |
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| The Prune People |
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| Yummy chocolate |
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| all things wood! |
Here is some of the meals that we had....
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| Breakfast at Schneider Backerei - Tim and Jayne's go to Bakery |
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Kartofflen Suppe mit Weiner
(Potato soup with a hot dog) |
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Schnitzel 'Wiener Art' mit Pommes
-no translation needed |
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Schäufele mit Kloß
It is a traditional dish from the South of Germany.
It is made from the pig's shoulder meat which gives the dish its name as "Schäufele"
is the depiction for the pig's shoulder blade |
The recipe for Sch
äufele, in Franconia (where we live), the meat, the pork rind
and the bone are scratched in a criss-cross-pattern, seasoned with salt, pepper and caraway and put in a casserole dish with diced root vegetables and onions
where it is overpoured with beer
and roasted in the oven for about two or three hours. The roast is
ready as soon as the meat is easy to separate from the bone and the pork rind
is crispy and golden brown. It is then served with various side dishes including gravy, Kartoffelklo
ße, salad
, sauerkraut, red cabbage and savoy cabbage
. OMG is this good, but not so good for the waistline. Well, either is the Schnitzel, but......
We all had a great time with too much laughing, eating and drinking!
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| Sue and Jayne!!!! |
Come back again soon. We love you.
TSCHUSS!!!!!
It is now 3 months later and I believe Sue has just now mastered how to say Feuerzangenbowle!!!!!!
