I decided a while back that I wanted to see the Nuremberg Christmas Market this year.  The Nuremberg market is one of the most famous, and it’s a big attraction for tourists.   It sees about two million visitors a year.   This is what it looked like at around 5pm on a very rainy Saturday night.

It was pretty difficult to move up and down the aisles because of the volume of people visiting.  This was more crowded than my visit to Oktoberfest, although that was a weekday rather than a Saturday.

It’s held in the Hauptmarkt, a large courtyard between a big church and a big pointy fountain in the Nürnberg Altstadt.  This is the fountain:

There are booths and decorations on all the connecting streets as well.  This little fellow was in front of a store.

The market has the usual things you find in any Christmas market – hot nuts, Lebkuchen, Bratwurst, handmade goods, and Glühwein.

Nuremberg also sports the world’s largest flaming punch bowl.  I took some pictures of the flaming punch bowl, but they really didn’t come out very well so they won’t be included here.

While I was there, a German chorus was singing English Christmas music in front of the Church.

When I stopped for a closer look, the director (in the red cowboy shaped hat) asked the audience if there were any Americans in the audience.  He seemed disappointed with the lack of response-  apparently the Americans are usually noisier.

Perhaps it’s because all the Americans were enjoying the Glühwein-  Nuremberg had the white variety seen here.  It’s not quite as sweet as the usual red wine flavors of Glühwein, but it was very delicious.  A hot steaming mug of this was enough to make me forget it was raining the entire time I was at the market.

What is the most crowded event or festival you have visited?