1st of Advent: Bristol's German Christmas Market
Before I had really realised, Christmas was truly upon us and the first Sunday of Advent had arrived. I've experienced Advent in November several times but every time I'm still like "Wait, it's not even December yet!" and then proceed to get into the Christmas spirit anyway.
I'll aim to make four Christmas Advent posts on something I did that week. Let's start with this one; today, I went to Bristol with a few of my friends to experience the German Christmas Market, which claimed to have the biggest Christmas tree in the UK according to a brochure we found at the market. The tree wasn't a real tree though, so in my opinion it didn't count but we still had a great time and the decorations were so cute.
We took a stroll around the many stalls selling so many sweets! How none of us bought anything is actually incredible. I even stumbled across some luxury "flødeboller" as we'd call them, however the are named marshmallows here in England. I know our name doesn't make sense but c'mon that's clearly not a marshmallow either.
They also had the BIGGEST advent calendar I had ever seen! Every day at 4 PM, Santa Claus is to come and open a door and hand out presents to the city's children. If that isn't the cutest thing I've ever heard I don't know what is. We also saw a talking/singing moose! It is apparently very common for German Christmas markets. Some might have been deemed slightly creepy but I thought it was hilarious. Same goes for the big Santa, which definitely seemed a bit menacing.
We were quite hungry so after a quick stroll around, we went to the dining area and ordered either currywursts or bratwursts in baguettes. Then we sat down in a raised platfrom with three blocked off sides so we got some shelter from the harsh wind.
When we finished our sausages, we went for a round of hot drinks with some picking hot chocolate, myself included and others picking mulled wine. We sat at our table for less than an hour but from one minute to the next the sun seemed to go down and the sky was completely black. Just see the contrast from the photo above to that below.
When we were done with our drinks, we headed into a couple of shops just before closing. We went in to TIGER and somehow seeing all those products with their Danish names printed on them made me really happy. It seemed so long ago since I had seen anything with Æ, Ø and Å out and about. It felt like home and everyone really approved of the shop, so felt a bit of national pride too.
After we met up with one of the girls' friend who lived in Bristol we went back to the market for a second round of hot drinks. All the shops had closed at 5 PM, which was understandable considering that it was Sunday. While it was a bit wet and cold now, the German singer was still working. Although, according to my German sources he actually belong to their Oktoberfest tradition, not Christmas.
Tired, we headed back to the bus station and hopped on a bus heading home. It had been a very nice afternoon in Bristol. Now, I just need to explore Bath's Christmas market, which is much bigger and more exciting!
I'll aim to make four Christmas Advent posts on something I did that week. Let's start with this one; today, I went to Bristol with a few of my friends to experience the German Christmas Market, which claimed to have the biggest Christmas tree in the UK according to a brochure we found at the market. The tree wasn't a real tree though, so in my opinion it didn't count but we still had a great time and the decorations were so cute.
We took a walk around the market and although it was much smaller than I would have thought based on Bristol's size, it was still charming. However, having two native Germans with us we learned that they mixed a bit of different season traditions like the pole with the three rings in the photo above, apparently that it something they put out on the 1st of May, not at Christmas!
They also had the BIGGEST advent calendar I had ever seen! Every day at 4 PM, Santa Claus is to come and open a door and hand out presents to the city's children. If that isn't the cutest thing I've ever heard I don't know what is. We also saw a talking/singing moose! It is apparently very common for German Christmas markets. Some might have been deemed slightly creepy but I thought it was hilarious. Same goes for the big Santa, which definitely seemed a bit menacing.
We were quite hungry so after a quick stroll around, we went to the dining area and ordered either currywursts or bratwursts in baguettes. Then we sat down in a raised platfrom with three blocked off sides so we got some shelter from the harsh wind.
When we finished our sausages, we went for a round of hot drinks with some picking hot chocolate, myself included and others picking mulled wine. We sat at our table for less than an hour but from one minute to the next the sun seemed to go down and the sky was completely black. Just see the contrast from the photo above to that below.
When we were done with our drinks, we headed into a couple of shops just before closing. We went in to TIGER and somehow seeing all those products with their Danish names printed on them made me really happy. It seemed so long ago since I had seen anything with Æ, Ø and Å out and about. It felt like home and everyone really approved of the shop, so felt a bit of national pride too.
After we met up with one of the girls' friend who lived in Bristol we went back to the market for a second round of hot drinks. All the shops had closed at 5 PM, which was understandable considering that it was Sunday. While it was a bit wet and cold now, the German singer was still working. Although, according to my German sources he actually belong to their Oktoberfest tradition, not Christmas.
Tired, we headed back to the bus station and hopped on a bus heading home. It had been a very nice afternoon in Bristol. Now, I just need to explore Bath's Christmas market, which is much bigger and more exciting!
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