Skip to main content

Begging Your Indulgence. . .

The yearly Christmas Market in Luebeck, Germany, adjacent to the Marienkirche and the old Rathaus.  While I've never been to the city in December, I've spent lots of time goofing off in this very square during visits in 1986, 1990, and 2009.

Today is the first of December and time again for various and sundry seasonal images that catch my eye.  While I promise there will be more photos of my own soldiers-in-progress and tabletop battles in the coming days and weeks as the academic calendar for the year mercifully winds down, I nevertheless wanted to kick off the Advent and Christmas season with a few photographs of the annual Luebecker Weinachtsmarkt . . .  The Christmas Market as it exists in Luebeck, Germany.  I've never been fortunate enough to spend Christmas in this delightfully sleepy old capital of the Hanseatic League, but I hope to one day.  Keep your fingers crossed.  In the meantime. . .


Another part of the Christmas market in the old part of the city center, this time along An der Obertrave.  The Grand Duchess and I purchased some delicious marzipan in one of the shops here during our June 2009 visit to Luebeck.


Another Christmas market in another part of the old town, this time in front of the old Hospital of the Holy Ghost along Der Grosse Burgstrasse.


Here's a shot of the main Christmas Market near the Marienkirche.  Doesn't it look pretty?  The German word gemuetlichkeit comes readily to mind when I look at scenes like this. 


  Here's a dark, snowy street scene during one recent December in Luebeck.  It looked just like this the first time I visited in Febrary 1986.  Snow and coalsmoke everywhere.  I even saw a tall blond guy with a mustache dressed in old-fashioned black chimney sweep clothes, complete with tophat and large wire brush attached to a long, coiled cable over his shoulder.


And finally, an advertisement for one recent Christmas Market in the city.  Why is it that we always want to be somewhere else where we are not?

Comments

Rob Young said…
Like Christmas markets. Went to Lille yesterday - small but quite nice. Lincoln next weekend - well worth the visit to anyone in the UK. Birmingham is pretty good as well, but I wasn't impressed by the London ones last year - expensive. Wife and son have been to Cologne, which actually has several markets dotted about, and liked that, I've never been there though.
11:47 AM
Der Alte Fritz said…
Less Holiday stuff, more toy soldiers or Hives stories please.
1:03 PM
Old School ACW said…
Wouldn't it be great to be about 6 and at the Christmas Market?
1:07 PM
Anonymous said…
They have started to have Christmas market where I live in Cirencester. No snow though. : ( The dark winter street scene reminded me of my last visit to Prague back in February 2007. It snowed the second day and the view from the castle across the city was timeless. Red tiled roofs covered in snow and smoke rising from the chimneys.
11:29 PM
Unknown said…
Well, you do know that there is a German Christmas Market in Chicago at Daley Plaza each year. I may walk over there tomorrow and have a knockwurst for lunch.
11:51 PM
CelticCurmudgeon said…
My Dear Heinz-Ulrich,

These wonderful pictures remind me so sentimentally of the Christmas markets of my youth. May you and the royal family have the most wonderful of holiday seasons.

Gerardus Magnus
Archbishop Emeritus
10:34 AM
warpaintjj said…
Seasons greeting old chap.
I rather agree with Der Alte Fritz but wouldn't dream of saying so! Have a splendid Christmas.
Jeremu

PS the market in nearby Georgian Bath was so commercialized it actually hurts.
5:42 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Here's an RSM Painting Update

Here's a picture illustrating my (S-L-O-W) progress with the second company of Stollen's Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers. You can see I'm doing things a bit differently this time, altering the painting process to keep it interesting basically. This evening, I'll do the white gaiters and, if that goes reasonably quickly, and time allows, the red breeches. Still lots to do, but I like the way these fine fellows are shaping up along side the completed 1st company that's standing in formation just off camera, to the left here. Until tonight then!
3 comments
Read more

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!
14 comments
Read more

Having a "No Day". . .

  F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day."  A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day.  I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  These have stood waiting  untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday...
3 comments
Read more