Wiesbaden Twinkling Star Christmas Market
The Wiesbaden Christmas Market lives up to its’ charming name: Twinkling Star Market (Sternschnuppenmark). The warm lights, the musical sounds and scrumptious cuisine will leave you seeing twinkling holiday stars yourself. That, or you drank too much Glühwein...
Floating above the jolly crowd-goers are angelic, illuminated lilies which is the symbol of Wiesbaden and on the city coat of arms.
The Market is set up in the heart of Wiesbaden in the Schlossplatz between the Rathaus and the Stadtschloss.
Just like the shopping culture of Wiesbaden, the stalls at the market are all high quality. You can find items from hand-made wooden signs, beeswax creations, hand-blown glass and exquisite jewelry.
One of my favorite shopping stalls at the Christmas Markets are the star lanterns. You place a regular lightbulb inside of the lantern, which is available to purchase. They are so beautiful that I wish that I would hang a star in every window of my house during the holidays!
On the stage, there is a wide range of entertainment for the little ones. They have plays, music and puppet shows for children. They will also have a baking event on 12 December at 10am to 1pm.
Here is the event program for children: http://www.wiesbaden.de/microsite/weihnachten-en/010/content/programme-children.php
Other highlights at this Christmas Market for children is the huge Christmas tree with a wooden nativity scene underneath, a gorgeous train ride and the incredible merry-go-round!
There is no shortage of choice of drinks! There are mostly hot drinks, but you can still find soda to drink. Remember there is a deposit on each mug (normally 2 euro) and you get it back once you return it to the same stall. Unless you want to keep it for a souvenir!
There is also a great variety of food to eat and I even had a rice ball, which I first tried at the Wiesbaden Food Festival this summer.
If you are a chili head and you like having your mouth turn into a blazing inferno, then try the hot sausage! However you might end up looking like Santa in the sign.
The best parking garage for the Christmas Market is right below the fest in the ‘Markt’ parking garage. http://www.wiesbaden.de/leben-in-wiesbaden/verkehr/verkehrsinfos/parken.php
The Wiesbaden Twinkling Star Christmas Market is surely not one to miss! It runs from 24 Nov – 23 Dec 15!
About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.
6 Down and Dirty Tips on How to Book a Cheap Ryanair Flight
Being a thrifty traveler, I always price out different planes, trains and automobiles. So many of the times you just can’t beat the price of the Ryanair flight. If you are willing to give up a little comfort, then you will save! And to me, saving means more money for more trips!
What comforts are you losing?
You have to walk further to the terminal. But hey, this burns some of the calories that you are about to stuff yer face with on vacation.
You are not called into board the airplane in any order. Have you ever seen a Rugby Scrum?
The seats are harder than normal and they do not recline.
Don’t plan on sleeping unless you can sit through the attendants selling stuff the whole time. Scratch cards, food, duty free and little baggies of hard alcohol.
Nothing is for free. Here you will have to buy your peanuts and tomato juice.
You will walk up and down the attachable stairs to the plane. Also you will either have to walk on the tarmac to the plane or take the bus out to the plane. (Perhaps packed like sardines, but that is normal on those buses.)
The baggage crew throws you your bags from the belly of the plane and you have to scream, "Mine! Mine!" to catch the right one. (Okay that one was a joke people!)
Here are 6 tips how to book a cheap Ryanair flight:
1. Parking: To save money, come very early and park at the parking lot as far away as possible then use their shuttle bus to get to the terminal. The farther away the spot, the cheaper the parking costs.
2. Early Flights: Some flight are ungodly early and then when you add the 2 hours of being there before the flight it is now considered in the middle of the night to some. However these are normally really cheap! For example, out of the 3 flights that they have each day to London, the earliest one is the cheapest. Also to catch these flights and actually catch some zzz's before the flight you can stay right by the airport. Either stay at the airport directly at the terminal at B&B Hotel and roll out of bed into the check-in line. Know that the rooms are small, clean, very basic and the breakfast is expensive. Or you can stay right in town at a guest house and most let you leave your car there and they will drive you to the terminal in the morning. Bless their early waking hearts.
3. Fare Finder: The Fare Finder is a semi-new search option with Ryanair. A few years ago you had to manually check each variable of destinations and dates to find the cheapest flight. I am guessing due to the increasing amount of great flight searching websites like skyscanner, Ryanair had to step up their game. Here you can add your starting point and either chosen destination, or just check out whatever the cheapest flight is. When I had a free weekend, I use to just go to where the cheapest destination was. This is exciting because you really discover new places that you normally wouldn't have chosen.
4. Debit Card: Once you found your cheap flight and you click "book", there are still ways to save. First you receive a discount for selecting to use your debit card vs. your credit card. You save about 1 euro a person. It may not sound like a lot but it all will add up in the end, especially booking for a larger group.
5. Extras: These are options you do not need: Reserved Seats, Checked Baggage and SMS Flight Details. They may look interesting but you will be charged for it. You will be assigned a seat at the airport, so you do not need to reserve one. Pack all of your items into your 10 kilo carry-on and then print your information instead of receiving a SMS. Adding those extras would have made my 33,36 euro roundtrip flight to 95,85 euro. A 62,49 euro difference!
6. Follow the Rules: If you do not read the fine print you will be charged at the airport. Print out your boarding pass after you check-in from home! They will charge you for each page they print. Be there early! You cannot and will not be able to check into your flight any later than 40 mins before your flight is scheduled to take off. Even if it is delayed by an hour and you can see the people waiting on the other side.. you will not get on. Finally, you have to pack light. To save you from throwing away your stuff (seen it/done it) or missing your flight, please pack very light. Think of this Ryanair journey as the new way to 'backpack through Europe'!
To learn more about this airline that we love to hate and then still always fly with them, check out the book: Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe.
About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.
