If your local pub is a bierkeller and you have a penchant for sausages this blog is probably not for you, however, for everyone else with a hankering for the culinary delights of Deutschland you might be privy to one of many local festivities in the UK celebrating German food and drink.
Donning my finest leather lederhosen and with a feather in my hat I made my way across the mighty Severn estuary to the welcoming embrace of the Bristol German Christmas Market - a cornucopia of bedecked chalets nestling among the posh shops and offering a wide range of produce and tastes of that country's finest ales and cuisines.
Spoilt For Choice?
Chocolates and cakes, hot wine and cider, hats and trinkets, fudge and pottery and of course beer and sausages. True.. not all made in Germany but you get the idea.
I tried a cheese & bacon frankfurter which set me back a fiver but was a meal in it's own right. You could also get Yorkshire pudding wraps with a variety of fillings.. As I said not necessarily German but you wouldn't put it past them to come up with it.
An Apres-Ski?
All of that cholesterol and sugar can be washed down with a bevy of drinks including hot caramel cider, mulled wine and a barrel load of beers. There's a mocked-up outdoor bierkeller guarded by two wooden revellers and comprising individual huts for those more intimate moments of the binge drinker.
Brief Encounter
For some odd reason I was approached and asked if I could take a picture of a couple of random wanderers - not that they seemed to want a copy but just so some stranger could have a record of their existence on his computer. (If this looks like you or your partner please let me know your email address!!)
Apprentice Candidate
A entreprenuerial nomad became my next photographic victim. He was plying Donald Trump toilet paper (don't ask) and was very vocal, advertising his wares and promoting his bottom line as it were.
And So To Bed..
An enjoyable evening all round and being a Thursday the market was hardly at it's busiest although there was brisk trade everywhere. Christmas Saturday will be a no-go area for those wanting a quiet night out.
Those of a raucous persuasion may end up with a splitting head..
Cheers!