wiesbaden Christmas market, take two

This past Tuesday, December 23rd, Rich came home from work and asked me if I wanted to walk back downtown for the last night of the Christmas Market.  

I said no.  I hate Christmas Markets.

If you believed that last sentence, please go splash your face with water!  

Of course I wanted to go!  It turns out that Gerald, our friend that's staying here in the lodge, hadn't been and wanted to check it out.  And it's a good thing he didn't wait another day because that night was the last chance until next year.  Phew!

We got bundled up again, of course I grabbed my camera, and we started the walk toward the festival of German goodness.  At this point, we still had a couple hours of daylight left and I was really excited about this since it meant more photo ops.

Rich wanted to show Gerald the side street we'd walked down two nights before. Remember the photos of the beautiful homes and fences from my last post?  He wanted to share our discovery and I wasn't complaining.  

All those intricate spires I talked about?  Here are some more:

The thing is, these houses don't look like they only belong to super wealthy aristocrats.  And these houses aren't just found in one area of town.  This is the norm as you get closer to downtown.  

Oh, and those amazing ironwork beauties that I also talked about in my last post?  Of course I found more, since they're everywhere:

This aged railing is in Warmer Damm Park.  It looks like it's been well-used over the years.

By this time, we'd made our way back into Warmer Damm Park.  Rich told someone the other day that if I ever go missing, he's going to look for me in this park first.  And it's probably where he'd find me!  You know how you just feel at home in certain places, even though it's completely foreign to you?  Thus far, this park is my happy place.  

Rich snapping some pics of Wilhelmstrasse.

View of Wilhelmstrasse across Warmer Damm and its ducks.

This puppy was so excited about the ducks!  He would bark at them, then run in a circle around his humans and come back to bark some more.

Villa Clementine in all its glory across the pond.

Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Warmer Damm Park.

One of the statues that adorn the top of the State Theatre in the distance.

I wanted to stay in the park a while longer, but I also couldn't wait to get back to the Christmas Market.  I snapped a few more photos as we made our way over to the Marktplatz.

The walking path that runs along Wilhelmstrasse is lined with these interesting trees.  I can't wait to see how they bloom in the Spring!

One of the Marktkirche's towers through a Wilhelmstrasse alleyway.

As we joined in with the other Christmas Market visitors, Rich and I both noticed that the crowd was noticeably thinner than two nights earlier when we'd gone for the first time.  I was enjoying this much more, as we weren't having to fight through the people or struggle to look at the vendor booths.

See all that bread on the back wall?  My taste buds were screaming but I resisted!

We did not, however, resist these German chocolates.  We purchased 100 grams of candy for around 3 euros.  They.  Were.  Delicious.

We didn't buy any of these dishes this year, but we agreed that we'd definitely look for this booth over the next couple years and stock up on a few pieces.

Lines of vendor booths with New City Hall in the distance.

The sun had now started to fade and more people were showing up to enjoy the last night of the Market.  The three of us were starting to get hungry, but Rich remembered that the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock was just around the corner.  Of course, we had to go check it out!

The clock was built in 1946 on the outer facade of a souvenir shop.  In the 1950s, it was officially named as the world's largest cuckoo clock.  It strikes every half hour from 8am to 8pm, and the face is a window of the still-existing souvenir shop.

When the clock struck 5:30, the red door at the top left opened and the wooden dolls inside danced as music played.  Pretty awesome!

We went inside the souvenir shop and realized that we'd found the jackpot of all German keepsakes.  Cuckoo clocks, beer steins, magnets, Christmas ornaments, nutcrackers, smokers, tea sets, and Christmas pyramids...they had everything.  And the best part?  They have everything year-round!  One of the employees was American, and she explained the differences between all of the cuckoo clocks.  A German gentleman, who may have been the owner, was very friendly with us and joked with Rich before we left.  We only bought a magnet this visit, but we'll definitely visit this shop again when we have more euros on us and don't have to walk so far in the cold.

Making one last pass through the Market, I took a few more photos of the Marktkirche and its surroundings:

The giant nativity-themed Christmas pyramid that topped a vendor booth.  Each level rotated.

Okay, now we were seriously hungry and ready to head toward the restaurant that had been recommended to us by one of Rich's co-workers.  It was conveniently located on our walk back to the Lodge.

The restaurant is called Die Hütte and was originally built over 150 years ago.  It originally served as a picnic area for residents as they traveled to Frankfurt.  However, World War II happened...the restaurant was bombed in 1945 and burned down to its foundation.  It was rebuilt and renovated several times over the years.  It reopened again in 2011 as Die Hütte, and is a very cozy and cool place to eat.  

Rich and I both had schweineschnitzel, a fried pork filet, with rosemary potatoes.  I had my schweineschnitzel topped with cream gravy and mushrooms, and Rich chose the cream gravy without mushrooms.  Ummmmmm, I can't even put into words how delicious our dinner was.  I was trying to keep quiet so as to not sound like an Herbal Essences commercial.  Yeah, it was that good.  

Rich also enjoyed his first German beer since we arrived in country, a Paulaner Hefeweizen from Hell.  It was really named this.  Of course I had to taste it, and I was an immediate fan.  I just wanted a Pepsi Cola Light (my first Pepsi product in Europe!), which brings me to something else I'd like to share.

Rich's Paulaner Hefeweizen from Hell.

My schweineschnitzel with mushroom cream gravy and rosemary potatoes.  Absolutely perfect.

After we arrived in Wiesbaden, the first fountain Diet Coke I had was at the PX Food Court.  It foamed a lot more than what I'm used to, and I found that odd.  It also tasted very different.  It didn't taste bad, just different.  I thought it must just be that particular fountain machine.  You know how you just don't like the taste of certain fountain drinks?  For example, I have never liked the taste of fountain drinks from Taco Bell back in the States.  But I digress.  The next fountain Diet Coke I had was at the movie theatre on base, and the same thing happened:  a lot of foam and a different taste.  That's when I realized that it's not Diet Coke at all.  It's Coca Cola Light, and it has a different formula than what I've been used to.  I'm not sure about the specifics yet, but I remember seeing this at the World of Coke in Atlanta a few years ago.  Either way, I'm proud to report that I've been drinking a lot more water since we've been here.  It helps that we can have as much water (without gas) as we wish downstairs in the Lodge's lobby.

Once we finished our wonderful dinner, we finished the walk up the hill to the Lodge.  We'd enjoyed another great night out in Wiesbaden.  And I'm still completely amazed that we live here.