Christmas Markets and the Homeless: Germany in December

I was surprised when my boss told me on Friday to be careful because of terrorists… I don’t know how my caution would help if someone blew themselves up near me, but it’s a real concern. In Leverkusen and Hanover, suspects were arrested for planning attacks on local Christmas markets, and in Göppingen, the market was evacuated due to a threat of attack. Prices have gone up, though I can’t specify by how much because at Christmas markets (similarly at weekly markets), I don’t really eat much as a vegan; maybe just fries if I wanted to. If I wanted to live just eating fries, I’d move to Belgium…

However, even aside from the terrorists, weekends at the Christmas markets in Hamburg overwhelm me. I highly recommend visiting the markets during the week. On Saturdays, there are queues for almost everything, and it’s a struggle to move through the crowds.

I want to go to a vegan Christmas market during the week, which (I think) is near the Bismarck monument, close to the closed Twelve Monkeys vegan shop this year. I’d also like to see the monument again. The epitome of German imperialism and militarism. But truly Prussian. A bit of an occupant’s monument in a…