In Frankfurt, our hotel was only a few steps from the train station. We stayed at the Frankfurt Hostel. The building is old and creaky (formerly elegant), the rooms are somewhat shabby, the amenities (as in many hostels) are lacking, but it sufficed. Oh, and internet is only available in the reception area (unless you happen to have the room directly below reception... which we did). The one thing we really missed was a drinking glass in our room. Substitute one water bottle.
After checking in, we headed over to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt located in the pedestrian zone near Roemer Dom. We stopped in the Cafe Liebfrauenberg for dinner, where we were greeted and personally served by the owner Luigi. Dinner was divine and the hot Cocoa was to die for. The cafe has a long history, but was rebuilt after the war. The ambiance was like a lovely tea room.
For the most part, the market runs down the center of the pedestrian zone.
The Markt was winding down when we finished eating well after 8 pm. Some of the stalls were already closed, but enough were still open to give us a flavor of the market. Compared to Munich and Nuremberg, this market is small. I didn't notice anything in particular that sets it apart from other markets... other than seeing popcorn offered for the first time (either salted or sweetened... your choice).
That was our view on Monday evening. Tuesday morning we headed back over to the shopping district to replace a camera that disappeared on Sunday. What better place to spend money than the financial capital of Germany?
That morning we realized then that we'd actually bypassed and not seen a good portion of the market. So we wandered around a bit. It's still smaller than Munich and Nuremberg, but larger than I first thought. It's pretty typical as markets go.
One thing I did notice that was different was a variation of the fruit on a stick. The vendor made little pigs by fastening a marshmallow to an apple before dipping them in the chocolate, then making the legs, ears, and features by sticking on candies while the chocolate was still soft.
He also made fruit mice by a similar process using half a pear.
Although I don't have anything really bad to say about the Frankfurt market, I guess I was a little underwhelmed in comparison to the other markets we'd been to. It wasn't as conveniently located to our hotel or the main train station. If we were fitter we could, perhaps, have walked to it. But it was out of our walking range, so we had to take the Strassenbahn.
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