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Kaiserslautern will offer Christmas shopping of a special kind when it opens its Christmas market Monday.
The market will be set up until Dec. 23 around Stiftskirche and on Schillerplatz. After the Christmas holidays, the Christmas market will become a New Year’s market, which will take place from Dec. 27 to 30.
The market will feature a variety of shopping, food and Glühwein booths, musical entertainment, a children’s program, and various Christmas-related activities.
Kaiserslautern’s Lord Mayor Dr. Klaus Weichel and the “Christkind” will officially open the Christmas market at 6 p.m. Monday from the stage on Schillerplatz. The festive illuminations across the Christmas market, in the center of town and near Barbarossa Castle will be lit.
Vendors will sell typical Christmas items such as ornaments, candles, angels, nutcrackers and Advent wreaths. Shoppers will find ideas for Christmas presents such as wooden toys, leather items, glass products, jewelry and pottery.
Culinary specialties being offered include Thüringer bratwurst, pizza, roasted chestnuts, cinnamon waffles and the typical winter drink, “Glühwein,” which is a heated red wine spiced with cloves and cinnamon.
“We will present a daily entertaining program with festive Christmas music of all styles,” said Alexander Hess from the project office for city events. “Local renowned singers such as Stephan Flesch and Waymond Harding, gospel choirs and brass bands will perform.”
The full program can be found in flyers located in stores, restaurants, banks and the Tourist Information Office next to the Fruchthalle.
Like in recent years, the German-American Community Office will present American performers on the Schillerplatz stage from noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 2.
The atrium of the Stiftskirche will be integrated into events. There will be a bonfire, a nativity scene and artisans and stone sculptors presenting their works.
“For the first time, a bell founder will demonstrate his skills and show interested adults and children how to make their own little bell,” Mr. Hess said.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Kaiserslautern Zoo will set up a petting zoo with some of their animals and turn the nativity scene into a live scene.
“A 100-square-meter Christmas bakery invites children to learn how to bake Christmas cookies near the entrance to the Stiftskirche atrium,” Mr. Hess said. “Parents can wait in one of the three big tents, which houses a cafe.”
A medieval market will lure visitors to the ruins of former Barbarossa Castle near the city hall
Dec. 3 to 5. Visitors will be taken back into the
12th and 13th centuries by watching medieval handicraft demonstrations and tasting food
specialties and hot mead.
The Kaiserslautern Christmas market will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturdays, and 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays.
Visit www.kaiserslautern.de for more information on this year’s Christmas market.
