By admin My first visit to Germany was inspired by a couple very different events. First, late in 2019, I realized that I had a Delta global upgrade that was about to expire. It’s still a mystery as to why the global upgrade was sitting in my Skymiles account, as I had definitely been sure to use all four of my global upgrades earlier in the year, but I wasn’t going to question the curious surprise, nor was I going to ignore it. Second, my friends Johnny and Erica had moved to Frankfurt earlier in the year for Johnny’s banking job (thanks to Brexit, his company was moving its European HQ from London to Frankfurt, and he jumped at the opportunity to move abroad). They both traveled frequently, but welcomed me to visit for a long weekend in early December – during prime Christmas market season.
I had never visited any of the European Christmas markets, but the concept seemed irresistibly festive and spirited. Holiday decorations and music and mulled wine and buildings resembling gingerbread houses? Yes, please! Plus, I wanted to see Erica and Johnny in their new home. Finally, my friend Lauren decided to tag along, which would make the trip even more fun.
Stop #1: Frankfurt
Lauren and I landed in Frankfurt on Friday and rested at Erica and Johnny’s apartment while our friends worked. Then Lauren went out to explore, while I stayed fast asleep – the red eye to from NYC to Europe always knocks me out. Once Johnny got home from work, we headed to our first market: Frankfurt’s Römerburg, one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany. It was cold, dark, and drizzly, but that wasn’t going to stop us or any of the locals from enjoying a Friday drink at the market.
Each of the stands charged a deposit for the cute mug that it served its gluhwein in. We could then return the mugs and get our deposit back, or keep the mug as a souvenir. Johnny had warned us that everything at the markets would be cash only, so we were sure to bring plenty of euros with us. Erica and Johnny bemoaned the decline in their credit card points earning rates since moving to Germany, but on the plus side, they said things were significantly less expensive in Frankfurt than in New York.
After doing our best to stay warm and dry by downing several mugs of gluhwein and huddling by a heat lamp under an umbrella, Erica showed up and declared it too cold and wet to stay outside (thank you Erica!) We headed to Omonia, the Greek restaurant where Erica and Johnny had made a reservation, and hoped we’d be able to sit early.
It ended up being a relatively calm night because a) we were jet-lagged, and b) we had to get up early to pick up our rental car and begin our road trip to Rothenburg.
Stop #2: The Autobahn
Early the next morning, as the sky slowly started to lighten, we headed to Sixt to pick up our rental Volkswagen van for the weekend. In addition to the four of us, four of Johnny and Erica’s new friends would be joining along for the fun: Becca, Leyla, Sam and Matt (all American expats except for Leyla). Because Leyla was presumably the only one who could drive a manual (I didn’t speak up to correct anyone on this point, as I had no interest in driving a massive van full of people on the autobahn), she would be our designated driver as well as our translator.
While the plan was for all of us to meet at Sixt and head out together, Matt had slept in after a big night out, so we needed to make a detour to pick him up from his apartment. “Typical!” Johnny and Becca started recounting stories of Matt’s prior high moments in life, which I will not repeat here… but it is fair to say that the guy’s reputation preceded him.
Never heard of Helene Fischer? Yeah, me neither, until I went to Germany. She is an ultra-famous German pop star and her hit “Atemlos Durch die Nacht” (translates to “Breathless Through the Night”) is the most downloaded German pop song in history. Sadly, she remains a nobody in the U.S. We Americans have been missing out. It’s definitely worth checking out the music video on YouTube for an entertaining chuckle.
My naïve understanding of the autobahn was that speed limits simply do not exist. That is incorrect. Certain sections do not have a speed limit, some sections have a permanent speed limit, and some sections have a variable speed limit depending on the conditions at the time. It all seemed rather confusing, which Leyla confirmed from experience. Also, the fact that we hit 200 km/hour is apparently not that big deal of a deal in Germany, where the fastest cars can reach over 300 km/hour (190 mph). Regardless, I’ll assert that 200 km/hour did feel like a pretty intrepid experience in a packed VW van.
Stop #3: Würzburg
While we planned to spend the night in the picturesque town of Rothenburg, Johnny wanted to make sure we maximized our German Christmas market experience, so we made a stop in Würzburg en route. We were now officially in the state of Bavaria (Frankfurt is located in the neighboring state of Hesse). In Würzburg, we walked to a charming bridge (the Alte Mainbrücke, or Old Main Bridge) with views of a castle up on a hill. Just another town in Germany, a country that boasts over 20,000 castles.
Once we had our fill of the sights from the bridge (and finished our wine), we headed into town to hit the Christmas market.
Our stop in Würburg marked an important event in our Christmas market tour: we came to the conclusion that Feuerzangenbowle was preferable to the basic Gluhwein.
At this point, you’re probably wondering, WTF is Feuerzangenbowle?! The literal translation to English is “fire tongs punch.” Does that clear things up now? No? Okay, it’s essentially the same thing as mulled wine, or gluhwein, except a rum-soaked sugarloaf is set on fire, placed on tongs, then allowed to drip into the wine. Thus, it’s way better than gluhwein for three reasons: 1) It’s boozier, 2) If you can pronounce feuerzangenbowle correctly, you obviously know your way around the world, and 3) You get to enjoy the dramatic effect of holding an alcoholic beverage topped with flames (hence the name “fire tongs punch”).
Stop #4: Rothenburg
Our final destination for the day was Rothenburg, the fairy-tale-esque medieval Bavarian village beloved by tourists. Johnny had booked us a very affordable and comfortable multi-room suite at the charming Burg Hotel for the night; we parked our VW in one of the village’s parking lots and lugged our bags through the cobblestone streets to our accommodations. No motorized vehicles were allowed in the city center, which was fine by me.
After a stroll around the market, we all agreed that we were getting hungry (and cold), so we started looking for a place to eat dinner. With a party of eight, we really should have booked a table in advance, but we eventually found a place that would be able to take us after a long wait. This was when Leyla really came in handy, as not all of the restaurant employees spoke fluent English.
Finally, we were able to sit down for dinner, shed our heavy coats, and trade in sweet feuerzangenbowle for dry wine. One thing that surprised me about Germany: wine was much more prevalent there than I expected. I thought beer would be everywhere, but wine was actually more popular, at least in the areas where we were.
Since things closed down pretty early in Rothenburg, and there wasn’t much of a bar scene aside from the Christmas market, we decided to have an after party in the sitting area of our hotel suite.
We all woke up a little hungover the next day, but were determined to see Rothenburg by the light of day, so we managed to pull ourselves together and hit the town once again.
Like any proper medieval village, Rothenburg is lined by city walls that you can climb and walk around to enjoy views from above… if you can find the staircase to get up the walls, that is. After Johnny led us around in circles, Sam and Becca finally found the entrance.
Stop #5: Aschaffenburg
After getting our walk on in Rothenburg, we decided it was time to head back to Frankfurt. Johnny wasn’t ready to go home just yet, however. He decided we needed to make one more stop in the town of Aschaffenburg, about 35-40 minutes outside of Frankfurt.
We were all pretty tired and hungry, and Erica couldn’t help but express her annoyance when Johnny made us all get out of the van so he could try to fit it into a tight spot in a parking garage.
After a much-needed lunch stop at a Thai restaurant, it was time for one more Christmas market.
Finally, it was time to end our Christmas market tour. It was Sunday, Leyla and the expats needed to work the next day, and I had to wake up early to catch my flight back to NYC.
Back in Frankfurt, we closed out the evening with some Neapolitan pizza and Negronis at Erica and Johnny’s favorite haunt, Super Bro’s, then we binge-watched Helene Fischer videos on YouTube with wine back at their apartment. It was the perfect ending to a fun-filled trip with new and old friends.
As much as I had enjoyed the bright and cheery Christmas markets, I pledged to return to Germany next during the warmer, sunnier months. Next group trip to plan? Touring the summer wine festivals!
