Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Christmas Markets and Ice Rinks


The season for Christmas Markets and  sparkling street and window decorations has come. And as many of the new lights are energy efficient LEDs nowadays, we don't even need to have a bad conscience! 
Most Germans prefer a moderately modest stylesecretly admiring the daring concoctions in other countries  No blinking colourful lightchains like in the US, no red, blue and green  reindeers, no chimney-climbing and waving Santa Clauses could be found until a couple of years ago.  As everything what we seem to do, reasonably tasteful and certainly not ostentatious, strings of lights in the shape of trees and snow stars to brighten up the dark shopping hours at this time of year.  



Christmas decorations Unter den Linden, Berlin



Weihnachtsmarkt on Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin

and on Alexanderplatz

There is a Christmas Market aka "Winterwonderland" in Hyde Park, London,  which has grown out of bounds and turned into a fun fair. One can buy a real "curry wurst" in the "Alpenhütte"  - we gave it a try, nothing like the real thing and on top of that sold by Pakistani immigrants with not a German word, who would never eat that stuff themselves,  but it's the effort that counts ... as long as "der Rubel rollt". 



a yellow (rein)deer


Christmas market on the Thames, London


.... and on Frankfurt's "Fressgass" 






This year, Bad Homburg joined New York and London and for the first time installed a temporary ice rink in our Kurpark!  



... a tiny one in front of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spa ... 





Another  temporary Eisbahn : here on top of the "MyZeil" shopping centre in Frankfurt. 


The real things: 



                               
At the Natural History Museum - London 







At the Rockefeller Center - New York
Individuals in the pursuit of happiness

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