Christmas Markets

Let the Christmas season begin! Here, it's opening night at the bustling Christmas market in Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital.

Going to the Christmas market in Regensburg can be a noble experience, not because it's Pope Benedict XVI's home town, but because the market is set up in front of a palace: Schloss Sankt Emmeram. A converted monastery, the noble von Thurn und Taxis family has resided in the building since 1812. It is one of the largest inhabited palaces in Europe.

Over 120 stands set up each year in front of Bremen's town hall. If you listen carefully, maybe you can hear the Bremen Town Musicians playing a Christmas carol.

The Christmas market in Stuttgart has a long tradition -- as early as 1692, vendors set up their holiday wares. Here, a festive <i> Tannenbaum </i> is set up on the Schlossplatz in the middle of town.

Germany's first public Christmas tree, or <i>Tannenbaum</i>, was set up in Weimar in 1815. And apparently they've kept up the tradition in a big way.

Get ready to go back in time -- Siegburg offers an authentic medieval Christmas market every year. The staff is dressed accordingly and even speaks Old German. And of course there's plenty of warm <i>Met</i> (mead) to go around.

More than 200 stalls offer traditional handicrafts and sweets at the Erfurt Christmas market. The square is beautifully decorated with a huge, candle-lit Christmas tree and a large, hand-carved wooden creche. And for those who need a little fresh air, there's even a giant ferris wheel.

Each year, the bratwurt, waffles, mulled wine and handicrafts draw more than 1.5 million people to the Christmas market in Aachen, which is set against the city's historic City Hall.

The Knight from Magdeburg is a special guest at the annual Christmas market in his home town. Here he appears as a bronze copy of an original that dates back to the year 1240. Kept at Magdeburg's Cultural Historical Museum, the original is the oldest free-standing knight statue north of the Alps. It is thought to represent Emperor Otto I, but this theory hasn't been proven.

In the northern German town of Celle, houses with traditional <i>Fachwerk</i>, or latticed framing, surround the annual Christmas market, lending it a medieval atmosphere.

The Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt in downtown Berlin opens in late November and doesn't pack up until New Year's Eve. The <i>Konzerthaus</i> can be seen in the background.

Rostock's 266 stands span over three kilometers (nearly 2 miles), making it northern Germany's largest Christmas market. Vendors come from all 16 German states and abroad to sell their wares in the city on the Baltic coast.