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Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly sequence by which NPR’s worldwide workforce shares moments from their lives and work world wide.
This was the 12 months I lastly made good on a five-year-old promise to my husband that we might go to Christmas markets in Europe. It was vital to us to expertise these markets as a result of we actually get pleasure from Christmas festivities, and the combo of tradition and historical past is difficult to seek out anyplace else.
We walked about 10 miles a day in a packed schedule by way of a pair dozen Christmas markets in Hungary, Germany and Austria. No two have been fairly alike.
The market at Vienna’s 18th century Schönbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Website, was among the many most particular. After I first noticed this large lit-up star archway with its message of welcome, I gasped. The market, within the palace’s grand courtyard, was filled with points of interest together with an ice rink, ice inventory video games (like curling), a Ferris wheel, carousel and tons of meals and craft cubicles.
We made a degree to attempt native specialties like Käsespätzle (a German macaroni and cheese) and Glühwein, or mulled wine. Most Christmas markets throughout Europe serve Glühwein in collectible mugs with the market’s brand or formed like Santa’s boot. You’ll be able to pay a deposit and return the mug or hold it as a memento.
What I cherished most was the sense of neighborhood at these markets. They’ll get crowded, however everybody’s there to benefit from the meals, wine and enjoyable. You typically find yourself chatting with strangers or listening to about one other stall to take a look at.
On the Altwiener Christkindl Market, additionally in Vienna, we talked with an artisan a few New 12 months’s custom, Schwein gehabt, which implies “had a pig” and symbolizes prosperity. In Germany and Austria, proudly owning a pig meant wealth. Round New 12 months’s, folks reward pig-shaped charms as tokens of excellent fortune. I picked up a number of!
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