Northern Germany Christmas Markets- Day 3 Lubeck

 The next day was actually a bit sunny.  I got up a bit late (still recovering from the time change) and headed back to the Altstadt.

Looking over to the Altstadt as I was crossing the bridge...

The architecture of this city is lovely.  There is something to see around every corner.

The first market I went to was an indoor one in a church.  It was all locally handmade items and I did buy a couple of things.  I got a beeswax Buddha candle, a glass star, and a Moravian star!  Finally, I'd been combing Christmas Markets for them for a couple of years.  You always see them as decorations, but never to buy. 

This time, I found a stall with Kasespetzele.  Pretty much, German mac and cheese.  There was so much here that I couldn't finish it. 

Once I had food in my belly.  Nope, not gluwein, but Finnish Holiday Punch.  I did leave off the raisins, but those are chopped nuts floating on top.  Makes it interesting to drink...but it was pretty good.

More scenery...

This is the old hospital, where there is a famous indoor Christmas market.  There were actually 3 indoor markets that I visited in Lubeck, all of them with handmade items.  This one was in the most interesting building.

Each of these doors led to a little room that were patient rooms in the hospital.

Some of them were used for market stalls, which was kinda cool.

When I exited the old hospital, I saw the moon was out.

This is the Maritime Christmas Market

I got a little lost, but saw this great sunset.

 

This wasn't really a market, but you could drink gluwein here and there was a stage.  No live music while I was there, but the gluwein was good.

Across the street from this was the final indoor market.  I bought some earrings there, and thought about a pair of hand knitted socks.  I also found a free bathroom and cheap gluwein.  

As I was a little tipsy at the moment, I decided to head back.  Looked back at Altstadt after crossing the river.  

Got back to my hotel without incident and went to bed.  

Lubeck was nice, but I was there on a weekend and it was extremely crowded.  I did make it back to the Niederegger store and got a bunch of marzipan and my advent calendar.  I didn't even bother with the cafe this time. 

I felt so overwhelmed for most of the markets that I didn't even take any pictures.  Maybe someday I'll go back on a weekday.  Weekends there are too much for me. 

Northern Germany Christmas Markets - Day 2 Lubeck

So, the next morning I had a brilliant idea.  I had packed most of my belongings into a carry-on, but checked a mostly empty larger bag to bring stuff home in.  Instead of dragging all of my luggage around, I decided to consolidate into my bigger bag and leave the carry-on at the hotel I'd be staying at next week in Hamburg.  

The actual consolidation was a feat in the teeny tiny cabin of my room.  Eventually, I got it all sorted.  Set off in the early morning on the 15 minute walk to that hotel.  Found it without much incident and had a bit of a struggle explaining myself to the person at the front desk.  Once she got that I was checking in the next week, she had to check with her manager.  Luckily, the manager was fine with this and my bag of dirty laundry and travel pillow are now safely stored in that hotel.

Got back to my room, gathered the rest of my stuff, checked out, and headed to the train station.  Found out my train had been cancelled. Welcome to Germany!  Luckily, the next one to Lubeck was departing in about a half hour. 

Lubeck train station was actually kind of pretty and direcly across from my hotel.  

I had gotten there too early for check in and dropped off my luggage.  I headed off to the Altstadt.

It wasn't a long walk. The Holstentor guarding the city was soon in view.

 

They take their claim as the Christmas Capitol of the North very seriously.  There are signs pointing to all of the markets.

Once I crossed the river around the Altstadt, I looked back at the old salt warehouses. There is a department store in there now, but it used to store a very valuable commodity...salt.

It is very pretty with lots of narrow walking streets.

Of course, there is the market. The city square contains the main market.  That square is kind of small and is packed solid with different stalls.

This is the famous Niederegger shop, museum and cafe.  It was a madhouse.  I really tried to get a table at the cafe.  I got really close, but this guy pushed in front of me while I was waiting for the ladies who got the table next to the one I found to settle in. At that point I decided that it wasn't worth the aggravation and I left. 

Instead, I went outside and got mushrooms with herbs.  I would later find that this is a pretty common snack found in the North.  However, this is the first time I'd seen it. 

I came across a little pipe and drum performance that was a lot of fun.

Then, I just wandered around the Altstadt until I was tired.  I had a whole day the next day to explore, so I wasn't really trying to accomplish anything.

 

When it was time to check in my hotel, I headed back and walked past a lamp shop with this funny/cute lamp.

Found another Aldi that night and bought dinner and breakfast.  Also got a Christmas mug with hedgehogs on it so that I could make coffee.

Tomorrow is the full day at the markets!

 

Northern Germany Christmas Markets- arrival Hamburg

 

Another year, another Weinachtsmarkt tour.  This time, we'll be doing a bit of Northern Germany (ok a bit of central too).  For this trip, flying into Hamburg, spending a night and heading to Lubeck (Christmas City of the North...ostensibly...) the next day.  

Since it was only a quick overnight stay, I found a "cabin" hotel.  Kind of a capsule hotel...but less claustrophobic.  Mostly.

This is the room.  It was convenently close to the train station and not too expensive.

The drawbacks were that you have to use shared bathrooms and shower rooms.  They were sparkling clean and not crowded, so that was good.  The showers were actually tiny rooms that were half shower stall, half changing room.  

My problem was that my "cabin" was on the ground floor and there was no way to go back and forth without passing by a large, exterior glass door.  So me and my bathrobe and jammies got to see the street in Hamburg.  

Anyway, found an Aldi, got some snacks and food...hunkered down in my cave and slept pretty well.