{"id":5502,"date":"2017-12-10T19:11:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T17:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?p=5502"},"modified":"2017-12-10T19:11:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T17:11:22","slug":"christmas-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?p=5502","title":{"rendered":"Christmas season in Southern Germany!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">With Christmas fast approaching let&#8217;s dive right into the joys of advent and Christmas season! Last year, I went to N\u00fcrnberg to the famous <a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/2016\/12\/25\/nuremberg-an-analysis-on-pretzel\/\">Christkindl Christmas Market<\/a>, this year it is time to visit <strong>Esslingen<\/strong> in the Southwest of Germany. They have a medieval themed Christmas market, fitting the architecture of the old town.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">A <strong>castle<\/strong> sits on a hill overlooking town, the reward for climbing the stairs is a brass ensemble blasting Christmas songs and of course, the view of Esslingen with its snowcapped colorful houses.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5504\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5504\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5504\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5504\" class=\"wp-image-5504\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_01.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5504\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">part of the castle in Esslingen<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5505\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5505\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5505\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5505\" class=\"wp-image-5505\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_02.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5505\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">first snow this season<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5506\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5506\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5506\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5506\" class=\"wp-image-5506\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_03.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5506\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">view from the castle<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5507\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5507\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5507\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5507\" class=\"wp-image-5507\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_04.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5507\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">medieval architecture<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5508\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5508\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5508\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5508\" class=\"wp-image-5508\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_05.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">town hall in beautiful lighting<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">There is no missing the Christmas market spread all across old town. There is a more general section at the town square and themed sections with people dressed up in medieval gear selling &#8220;medieval&#8221; produce. They even have a mechanical big wheel and hand-operated swing carousel for the kids.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5509\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5509\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5509\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5509\" class=\"wp-image-5509\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_06.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">performer at the Christmas market<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5510\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5510\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5510\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5510\" class=\"wp-image-5510\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_07.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5510\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">hot chocolate break inside<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><em>Mulled wine<\/em> or some non-alcoholic punch is obviously the best way to combat the cold, as is the great food offered at the market.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5511\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5511\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5511\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5511\" class=\"wp-image-5511\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_08.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">oven roasted bread topped with jogurt and tomatoes<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">A <em>Christmas pyramid<\/em> is quite traditional on a family&#8217;s Christmas table. The hot air from the candles hit the wooden fan on top of the pyramid and send the figures inside the pyramid spinning. This giant one is electrical, of course.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5512\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5512\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5512\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5512\" class=\"wp-image-5512\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_09.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5512\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">giant Christmas pyramid<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5513\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/?attachment_id=5513\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5513\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5513\" class=\"wp-image-5513\" src=\"https:\/\/maponmyplate.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/1712_esslingen_10.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5513\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">it gets dark so early! &#8211; Christmas market in Stuttgart<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right;\">December 1st &#8211; 2nd 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[98,235,326,348,486,498,776,819,932,1158,1244,1318],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maponmyplate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}