German Pride

When I first arrived in Groningen, I'd tell all the German people I met that I was German.  They'd all look at me funny and say, "no you're not, you're American." I quickly learned that only Americans care so much about knowing where they come from.  Europeans don't study their family genealogy, and they certainly don't do the family history projects every elementary school American is assigned.  Regardless of what these Europeans tell me, I still have German pride.

Last weekend, my German pride was forever solidified when I went to Hamburg to experience my first Christmas Market.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew it would be great.  After 5 minutes at the market I realized Christmas markets aren't great, they are awesome.  Christmas markets have delicious food, fantastic glühwein, sweets galore, and wonderful crafts.  Best of all, Christmas markets are an explosion of Christmas cheer.  The decorations are abundant, music plays, and everyone is in a good mood.  At one point, Santa even flew over us in his sleigh.  I think it is impossible to dislike a Christmas market.  I tasted as many kinds of foods as my stomach (and wallet) would allow and loved every moment of it. 

Glühwein!

Hamburg is also a great place for night life.  The bars play diverse music, not the pop top 20 you hear everywhere in Groningen, so you can bar hop and get a different vibe at each place.  I didn't know before I arrived, but Hamburg has a red light district comparable to the one in Amsterdam.  Perhaps the city has so many bars to help get men nice and drunk so the sex workers can take full advantage of them.  It was really interesting to watch the girls lure men in, and even more interesting to hear about the experiences of my male travel partners.  They have a street that is for men only - the gate even has a sign forbidding women to enter - so one of our guys gave us a report.  Apparently the prostitutes in Hamburg are some of the most attractive girls you've ever seen, and the men on that street are some of the drunkest you've seen. 

Anyways, back to happy Christmas things.  We liked the Christmas market in Hamburg so much that we decided to stop at another market on our way back to Groningen.  We spent about three hours at the Bremen market and it was even better than the Hamburg market.  Bremen has some really beautiful buildings, creating a really great backdrop for the Christmas market.  Again, I made it my mission to eat every type of food they offered.  It's times like these that I'm very thankful for my metabolism.  Overall, Germany knows how to make delicious food and they reaaaaaaaaaaalllly know how to do Christmas.

German or not, I love Germany.

Bremen Christmas Market