Since my last post was about Light Night it only seems fitting that I should follow it up with a post about the Christmas market which it kicked off. Edinburgh's Christmas market is amazing. Set up in a green space next to Princes Street and Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station it offers food, rides, and many many vendors. The atmosphere, especially after dark (the sun sets before 4 pm these days) is festive and amazing. Music echos around as people bustle about, stopping at stands to look at nutcrackers or hats for sale. It is regrettable that quite a few of the stands sell the same goods obviously from the same supplier but there is still a vast diversity of wares offered. There is also a variety in food offered, bratwurst is the most ubiquitous dish and sold almost everywhere. Other German dishes accompany it but are not sold by quite as many stands.
There are also quite a few crepe stands despite the crepe being French and not German. After 8pm they start IDing all the entrants because alcohol is served within the premises of the market. My younger brother, who with my parents was visiting me for thanksgiving, and I were stopped on our way back in after buying bratwurst just outside the market but being over 18 I had no problems and once I explained we weren't planning on drinking the guard merely told me that my brother would have to stick with me (I'm not sure how that changes anything but I'm sure glad he could reenter.) Its still feels strange to be old enough to get into age limited bars and pubs even though I'm only 20. As someone who doesn't drink I don't need to enter one often but when I do I just hope that whomever is guarding the door will accept my Wisconsin drivers license for what it is.
I think that the atmosphere of the Christmas Market is far superior to the content of the market itself. Despite the cold temperatures (its hovering about freezing these days but the wind never stops) hundreds of people flock to the market to eat, shop, and have fun. The lights are beautiful in the dark November night. The heavenly smells waft around and bait you into buying the overpriced food (I'm not insulting the quality, it was one very good bratwurst, just saying it could definitely be cheaper.) Some of the goods are high quality, others not so much, almost everything is expensive. My mom found an "Edinburgh" glass candle holder that she liked until I realized that they all featured a typo and the word Edinburgh was missing its H.
Unfortunately other shops that sold the same wares also featured the same defect. I guess the moral of the story is you can never be too careful while shopping. Speaking of places to careful the free samples are also a risky bet. I managed to try some good cheese and ended up getting a small roll but when it came time to sample jams I saw people double dipping left and right and rapidly decided I'd pass. Comically, at least to me, one of the products with the largest number of people waiting to try it was fake snow. It looked pretty realistic but I didn't want anyone dumping water on my hands (the fake snow was a powder that reacted when water was added) when it was so cold out.
Overall though, even if you don't want to spend money, I would highly recommend checking out the Christmas market, at least for the sights and smells.