Germany - Three Nights Three Markets

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Earlier this month - the first week-end in December, we headed off to Germany. We stayed with our old friends Ingrid and Eckhardt in Gross Gerau just south of Frankfurt. We flew with Ryanair into Frankfurt(!?) Hahn, which is only(?) 120km from Frankfurt - though just 85km from Gross Gerau! We hired a car and were in Ingrid's by noon on Friday. On Friday afternoon we chilled out - myself and Katy took a walk around the Fasenarie and visited her old primary school. We passed by our old house and met with our neighbour Herr Baltzhauser.

All Together, Darmstadt
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After dinner we headed into Darmstadt. This was Christmas Market Number One. Darmstadt was lively and after walking around for a while we had some Bratwurst and Gluhwein - isn't that why we travelled! Senan had a slightly different agenda - his aim was to eat more Pretzels this week-end than the last time he visited - I think the number he was chasing was eleven. We also went up the white tower which is in the middle of Darmstadt - but which we had never seen open before. The views and the bell tower were interesting.

Ring my Bell
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Darmstadt
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Saturday morning Katy got up early to meet her school friends Sylvia and Simone for breakfast.

Mainz
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When she got back we all got the train to Mainz - Christmas Market Number Two Mainz is always a busy market on Saturday morning, but was now even busier. As well as the usual market activities we also spent some time in the Cathedral - surprisingly, we had never visited before. I took a lot of photos of stained glass windows. There is a panel for every Archbishop of Mainz since 800! That's a lot of pictures; a lot of Archbishops and even the odd Cardinal.

Mainz
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Senan worked on his Pretzel count and we had some - yes you guessed it Gluhwein and Bratwurst! We were out to dinner with Kay and Karl-Heinz that evening so we had to head back around 5 pm - not really enough time to do justice to Mainz - but we will be back. Dinner in the Spindlers was very nice. The boys have grown and Senan hit it off with them both.

Stork
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Sunday morning Mags and Ingrid and I went for a walk around Auf Esch - we were Stork hunting! We were successful. The storks were intermittent visitor when we lived in Germany but now are well established. Eckhardt was cooking dinner - we had a wonderful traditional Sunday lunch with roast beef and Knudel.

Rhine Gorge
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Rudesheim
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Vineyards
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Bingen
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After lunch we headed for Christmas Market Number Three in Rudesheim. There are two Rudesheims as we discovered - GPS is not always helpful - but we found the right one - and approached it from Bingen on the other side of the Rhine. We crossed in a ferry and got a great view up the Rhine gorge just as evening was setting in. Rudesheim is a wine town with the vines growing up the side of the hills that form then southern end of the Rhine Gorge. It is very popular with tourists in the summer. The town is build on the side of a hill and the market wound up the narrow streets as well as along the quayside. It was busy being Sunday - and as well as the usual Christmas market activity there were pony rides and train rides.

Pony Rides
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Who's that with St Nick
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Rudesheim
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Back to Back
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We even met St Nickolaus himself - a giant of a man giving out goodies to the kids of all ages. After Bratwurst Gluhwein and Pretzels it was time to go back to base.

Bratwurst?
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Pretzelled out!
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We spent a hilarious evening playing Popstar on the Playstation. Our flight left at 10.15, Monday morning, so we had an early start but made it in plenty of time. By midday I was back in the office - but the Christmas Season had truly started.