Medieval Christmas Market in Bremen

The merry go-round

Its funny how life can turn out at times, just when you think, that you are very busy and cannot afford to waste time, you end up indulging in some activities which are not only time consuming but fun. This week marked our last lecture and the beginning of revision for exams scheduled for Friday on the 11^th of December, the first real exams. So despite the expectations of being busy bodies in preparation for the exams, a sample of the class (me included) decided to clear off our heads by visiting the Christmas market. December is a great month in the sense that as it ushers the Christmas celebration, however it also marks the beginning of real winter with temperatures plunging below 10 degrees, which may not be fun. Despite that, I was excited at the prospect of waking up to a snowy morning, but was disappointed to wake up to showers.

This was my first visit to the fair having missed on the previous fair held in early November. The running theme at the market was the medieval era, it was therefore fun to watch the stalls with owners dressed in the old traditional attires reminiscent of that age. There were several delicacies appealing to the eyes and the taste buds but pocket unfriendly, such as pommes, sweets, chocolates not forgetting the wurst. Several activities ranging from magical tricks to merry go-rounds were also part of the occasion. Perhaps the most common activity observed that we also participated in was the consumption of the frothy liquid glühwein to get rid of the biting cold. The only problem was that I had taken the wrong shoes with thin soles; hence the drink did not help much as my feet were growing numb and the only activity that could keep them warm was constant feet movement.

part of the class consuming gluhwein

One of the striking stalls that we visited was the one dealing in potions, there were whole range of potions but the most common one, which had lots of buyers, was the love potion, the question is do they really work? Well the answer to that question was to try out the potions, which I did not, so the question remains unanswered. The fun part of the whole exercise was to see the true personalities expressed, giving an indication of just how pressure can modify personality. We took some fun pictures that will forever remain etched in our minds as moments that really count. I cannot honestly trade the time we spent at the market with studying time for in those few hours we spent together my mind was truly relaxed and refreshed synonymous with the saying all work and no play. I cannot wait for Christmas to come and despite the biting cold I would really like to experience some real snowy weather, which would be my first encounter with snow.