Hameln, Germany

This was one of a few trips we took with a group organized by the University's international office. This time we took a bus to the city of Hameln, not too far from Bielefeld.

Hameln is not particularly well-known. What you do probably know, however, is the story of the Pied Piper. Little did you know that this is where the story comes from! The story begins in the year 1284, when the city of Hameln was being overrun with rats (and similarly, with plague). Legend holds that a man came forth saying he could get rid of the rats if the city would pay him. They agreed. He played his flute, and all of the rats followed him into the river, where they drowned. The story is already suspicious, because rats are apt swimmers, but that's beside the point...

Anyway, the city did not pay the piper. Angrily, he played his flute again while all the adults were in church, and lured all of the children in town away with him, into the mountains. They were never seen again.

Historically, it appears that there really was a drop in the population of Hameln during this time. Some people speculate that it could have been deaths from the plague, or the colonization of Eastern Europe during this particularly difficult time in Western Europe. Some superstition remains; on a particular alley in the city where numerous children are said to have left from, music is still not allowed today!

We visited Hameln during the early Christmas season...early enough to see the Weihnachtsmarkt. Much of it was the same as in other German cities, but one particular corner of the town center was made to look like you were stepping back into the middle ages, with musicians and even a rope-maker.

The highlight of the trip for me was visiting a glass-blowing workshop. We watched as a master glass blower sculpted a perfect horse in under 30 seconds, and then a perfectly shaped pitcher. The talent was pretty amazing. After the demonstration, we got to blow our own baubles! A ball of molten glass is dipped in small broken pieces of colored glass, and then you blow through the pipe as you turn it. I'm glad I had help....it was pretty hard, actually.

Our handmade ornament looked great on our first German Christmas tree.

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Hammeln, Germany

Münster and Dortmund Weihnachtmärkt (Christmas Markets)- 2011

It's that time of year again...the time when the German winter starts to seep into Germans' bones, and people must find a reason to party in order to ward off depression. Time for the Weihnachtsmarkt!

The German Christmas markets were such a treat for us last year...I'd never seen anything like it. Dozens of little huts that look like traditional half-timbered houses are trucked into the pedestrian zones, and planted there for the whole month of December (seems like it starts earlier every year). The vendors in each hut then work awfully hard decorating them- stapling evergreen branches to them, hanging lights, making sure their glüwein sign is bigger than everyone else's...

Glüwein is the traditional drink of the Christmas season. It's a mulled, spiced wine that is served hot. I prefer the hot chocolate. There is also a German version of eggnog, which only I seem interested in having a non-alcoholic version of (is it really Christmas without eggnog?).

The food is the best part of these Christmas markets. Naturally there is bratwurst and a large selection of other pork foods (like always), hot soups, and the traditional decorated gingerbread hearts. My favorite are the huts that sell roasted almonds in every flavor you could think of (coconut is the best!).

Last year, a number of Bielefelders criticized the punyness of our own local weihnachtmarkt, so to broaden our horizons we branched out this year to see the two best-known Christmas markets in our state of North Rhine Westphalia- in the cities of Münster and Dortmund.

We had been to both cities before; Münster is a quaint city with beautiful old buildings pushed up next to unique, modern ones. There were huts everywhere and the crowds were very dense. Most of the markets are set up next to cathedrals, setting quite an impressive scene. Most of the huts sell the same sorts of things...food, ornaments, carved wooden trinkets...but occasionally you'll see something really odd, like boomerangs!

Dortmund is a bigger place, known for its shopping. At the center of the Weihnachtsmarkt was an enormous Christmas tree, which was really made up of hundreds of Christmas trees. There was a sign near it that said this was the largest Christmas tree in the world! The crowds here were CRAZY! It actually was a bit concerning; when you're sandwiched in between thousands of people, if suddenly there was any event that caused panic and people trying to get away, people could be trampled. They didn't seem concerned, though....just thousands of jolly Germans drinking their glüwein and forgetting the winter.

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Weihnachtsmarkts '11