Weihnachtsmärkte 2024: Week 3

The black stuffie is Unae-san, an eel from Japan. She enjoys experiencing new cultures.

46. Caritativen Christkindlmarkt Freising (one weekend, city)

I went twice: at lunchtime on the way home from the farmers market, and in the late afternoon with Mr Radish. This annual event is in support of various local charities, and I always manage to drop a few euros at the animal shelter’s stand as well as any other small handcrafts that catch my eye.

For lunch, I had the once-a-year bratwurst. The last two years it was sold out; this year I was taking no chances.

As night fell it was ridonkulously crowded, but we managed to get a Glühwein before the performance of some fire dancers. I could have stayed longer and enjoyed some foods, but we had plans to meet a friend in a restaurant. Schade.

Schwabinger Weihnachtsmarkt auf der Münchner Freiheit (on-going, city?)

We went to Munich to see a movie, and stopped off in the fashionable neighborhood of Schwabing on the way. This one is an art market, organized by a group of local artists. All of the stands had handmade items, often presented by the artists–not many textiles, more glass, metal, and wood–and the decorations were very colorful. Lots of recycled materials and paint. “Not really ‘Christmas'”, says Mr Radish, but a pink Christmas tree is still a Christmas tree.

My fave thing about this one was the variety of people. Really all ages, from elderly to newborn–we drank our Glühwein near a group of babies sleeping in gigantic buggies while their maternity-leave mothers gossiped–and from different walks of life. Great fashion show.

For a snack, we had Reibedaschi, which I often see translated as “Bavarian hashbrowns” but they’re not comparable to hashbrowns from any US breakfast diner or fast-food joint I know. They’re fried shredded potato, yes, but compact, flat, and crispy all the way through. We had ours with ham and cheese; a variety of fillings both sweet and savory were available.

This one was fun, we hung out until it was time to go back underground to take the U-Bahn to the movie theater (check my monthly RadishFlix post for pictures of that).