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  • Writer's pictureKathryn van den Berg

Cologne, Germany

3 December 2022



The detail and effort that people put into the Christmas markets here are absolutely inspiring. The markets in Cologne were wonderful.


The German Christmas markets in general are incredibly impressive. Christmas markets that I've been to actually have all been incredible. It is totally mindblowing for someone who has never seen a Christmas market to witness the effort that people go through to put up little villages for a month, but beyond that, the villages are themed, decorated and totally enchanting.


One particular market today that really stood out for me was gnome themed, but all our gnome themed. They'd built a spinning contracting with gnomes swinging from each end next to the entrance of the market. The fairy lights added the finishing touches and it was perfect. These details really leave me in awe and make me feel like I've been missing out on what Christmas can really be my whole life. I totally get the snowy, cold and Christmas-light festive season now, having experienced it first-hand.



Another first for me is this cold. Wow, 1 degree is not a joke for a South African and you know it's bad when your European friends complain as well. Today I was wearing my polar neck, a jersey and my snow jersey with a scarf, gloves and a beanie. And fluffy socks and boots. And my eyes still burnt from the cold.


So it's safe to say that I experienced the Christmas markets at cologne the proper way. The only thing I wish was different was the crowds- I can deal with the cold but not the pushing and shoving people jolting me around as I try to walk through the market. It got so bad towards the afternoon that we stopped talking through the markets altogether because we couldn't actually see the stalls and just ended up pushing our way through the crowd.


I guess that is our fault for going on a Saturday afternoon the first weekend of December. Oh well. It was a festive experience nonetheless.



On top of visiting the Christmas markets, we also did other touristy things today. We went to the cathedral (where there happened to be the main Christmas market and where I had a very average meal) and to the Cologne Chocolate Museum. The museum had a factory as part of the tour where we got to push different buttons and watch chocolate come to us. It was really fun and warm and smelled like Lindt.



Now we're driving back to Maastricht and it's 16:15 and is currently 3 degrees. We decided to call it quits after we couldn't get through the last market and also because it's getting really cold now. We're listening to Christmas music and I'm sitting in the back typing my blog post.


P.S

Last night I went with a few people from my class to the Aachen Christmas market. Talk about freezing- it began to snow and I was delighted. It was so nice seeing the markets built because the last time I went to Aachen they were in the process of putting the market up.



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