Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving for everyone in the U.S., but sadly it was just a normal day here.  We had leftover mushroom lasagna.  The one exciting thing was the opening of the Weihnachtsmärkte (Weihnacht(en) = Christmas, märkte = markets, Germans just throw nouns together to make a new noun) around Zürich.  Christmas markets are a tradition of the Christmas season in Europe.  They are equivalent to typical arts and crafts fairs in the U.S., but with a Christmas theme.  In addition to selling handicrafts, vendors also traditionally sell raclette (melted cheese served over boiled potatoes) and glühwein (warm, spiced wine).  I think fondue is superior to raclette, so we didn't have any while we were there.  The opening of the markets begins with the Bahnhofstrasse lighting.  The lights were pretty, but not as awesome as I had hoped.  Below are some pictures and a video of the lights on Bahnhofstrasse.

There are five different Christmas markets throughout Zürich, but the largest one is inside Hauptbahnhof (central train station).  Sorry, travel guides are in the air shipment, so I don't have any background info on Hauptbahnhof.  I'll write about it some other time.

Sorry, this is blurry

The picture below shows the inside of the main terminal in Hauptbahnhof, where the Christmas market was.  There were several rows of little house-shaped stands for each vendor to sell his or her goods.  You can see way at the end there is a very sparkly Christmas tree.

That is the Swarovski Christmas tree covered with their dazzling Christmas ornaments.  I don't think there were actual lights on the tree, but it just looked bright because of the light reflecting off of the crystals from spotlights above.  It was pretty awesome and probably my favorite part of the Christmas market.

Wish I could have these on my tree!

In terms of the vendor stalls, some were interesting and cute like this one below where they were selling apple products.  But most were not selling "cute" Swiss handicrafts, which were the kinds of goods I was looking for.  It was mostly things like Pashmina scarves, beaded jewelry, etc.  So I didn't find anything that was worth buying and sending home.  But I won't give up and intend to go back and try again.

Outside of the Hauptbahnhof, on one of the little streets off of the Bahnhofstrasse, was a singing Christmas tree!  Each night until Christmas, different choirs will perform in the tree-shaped stage.  I don't remember the name of this group, but they were cool.  You can watch a clip of their performance below.   Yes, they are attempting to sing in English.

We had a good time, but it was definitely chilly.  It snows about every day now so the temperatures are hovering around freezing.  I still love snow!  The weather is perfect here where it is cold enough to snow, but it warms up a bit (36 or 38 degrees) every few days such that most of it melts away.  This means that big ugly piles of dirty snow don't accumulate for several months and it all gets plowed onto the sidewalk where I'm supposed to be walking (I'm talking to you, Boston).  It may get this way later, we'll just have to see.  Until then, I will jump for joy every time it snows!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!