Esslingen

One of the beautiful things about being here this time of year is the Christmas markets. The pedestrian markets in all the villages turn into craft fairs with stalls of toys, trinkets and food. The bigger ones, like Stuttgart have concerts, rides and busloads of tourists from all over Germany and neighboring countries. We opted for several smaller ones.

Esslingen am Neckar is an ancient town that sponsors a Medieval and Renaissance market. Very! different from Renaissance fair in the U.S. Such fairs that I am used to are populated by men in blousy, poet shirts and women in low-cut, push-up gowns. There is a lot of hair tossing and singing of Scarborough Fair.

No such thing here.

It was fun to see a medieval market in a medieval village for starters. The first mention of Esslingen on record is in 777. American soldiers occupied the town in 1945 so the city was spared much of the bombing.Great, funny shoes, lots of wooden clogs, amazing instruments (though the musicians looked pretty modern). Log-cutting contests, tug-of-war on wooden stumps. Many costumes but more authentic.

Great food, though we bypassed blood pudding and head cheese. The kids actually managed to find an ancient version of Mac and Cheese for lunch. Everything is served on 100 percent recyclable paper or wooden plates and utensils so everything can go straight into the compost. Gluewein and hot chocolate in real mugs that you can keep or return for a Euro.

Beautiful stuff that fell into two categories: made in China and cheap, or made in Germany and expensive. We do little shopping at the Christmas markets but a lot of looking.