Tourists reach out with their cellphones in the crisp and clear November air to capture the famous Glockenspiel atop the Bavarian capital’s ornate New Town Hall.
In normal times, as many as 3 million people would flock to the market in the buildup to Christmas, buying presents and warming their hands on delicious mulled wine.
Nor in other Bavarian cities including Nuremberg, which also boasts its own famed Christkindlmarkt, which normally draws visitors from as far away as Japan.
Saxony’s auhorities have banned all fairs amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the eastern state.
One major attraction is the Heidelberg Barrel, a gigantic wooden structure housing a sales booth and small viewing platform.
Starting on November 22, merrymakers can sample a variety of certified organic and fair trade products at Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market.
After a one-year break, the Stuttgart Christmas Market returns on November 24, albeit with strict safety rules in place.
Spielbudenplatz, at the heart of Hamburg’s pleasure district, has been transformed into a quirky Christmas market.
The 41st Trier Christmas Market was named “Germany’s Best Christmas Market 2021” by the tourism platform “European Best Destinations.” It opened on November 19 in compliance with the 2G rule, to people fully vaccinated or recovered.
Next to the historic Christmas market in the old town center, there’s an indoor fair in the former Holy Spirit Hospital buildung .
“We’ve come to the conclusion that there will simply be too much person-to-person contact no matter how you try to control it,” said Markus Söder, Bavaria’s state premier, following last week’s announcement of the closures.
“When the cancellation order came through, we were all standing there together at the market square, hoping and praying,” he said.
“It’s a very different feeling when you buy these things at a Christmas market,” he said, “where the stands are glittering and you can smell the mulled wine.” When the last Christmas market was also canceled Schöttl tried his luck on the internet.
“Because you also have to assume that there won’t be an Oktoberfest next year, either.
While Christmas markets are being canceled in some parts of Germany, there are other places where the holiday events will continue, albeit with entrance restrictions: There will be strict controls on who is allowed to enter the markets.
The western city of Aachen, for example, lies close to Germany’s borders with the Netherlands and Belgium, also attracting visitors from abroad.
The 2G restrictions apply in Aachen’s Christmas market, but, because the market is not held in one place with entrance gates, and because there are several exceptions , authorities can only carry out spot checks on a random basis.
“They will then get a white wristband that permits them to enter all of the market’s restaurant zones,” says one of the security staff.
The original signs were printed in German, English, French and Dutch to ensure clarity and compliance.
Is the raft of regulations going to work? “Most of the people who run the stands are worried that they’re not going to stay open until Christmas Eve,” says Rolf Gerrards, a restaurateur who runs Hütte 16, a large and very popular chalet-style eatery among the market stalls.
In normal years, Hütte 16 can cater to just over 170 people, with three times that many also trying to get to the stand itself, where the main attractions are marinated meat goulash and, of course, mulled wine.
Legend has it that the dance originated with festively dressed local coopers who danced in the streets to bring life back to the city after it was decimated by the plague in the 16th century.
Meanwhile, away from the now-redundant market stands, a long line has formed — several dozen people are trying to get into the vaccination center located within the Town Hall complex.
It was going to be another hour before her turn, she said.
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