Christmas Market and visit to Hessen Park

A MERRY CHRISTMAS 

from our homes to your homes

sincerely yours,

Donna & Lucy

Donna.............

A few more days to go and it is finally christmas day. I do love the atmosphere and the feeling around this season but most especially I really love the traditions attached to the season. Like I already mentioned in my last post, I love christmas markets and out here in Germany there are quite alot of christmas markets which makes it difficult to choose where to go. :-) This year I decided to visit markets in different settings, starting from the small romantic market(check out last post), over to the market in a village setting and ending my tour in the big city with one of the most famous christmas markets in Germany.

Today I will share with you my visit to the "make-believe village" in the Hessen Park. The christmas market out there turned out to be quite smaller than I expected but also really crowed. We spent just a few minutes and we moved over into the park to do a tour of the "Hessen Park village".

arrival at the christmas market in Hessenpark

at the Main Square with original  buildings taken down from around Germany, and reassembled here.

The Hessenpark is an open air museum in Neu-Anspach(about 30 minutes drive from Frankfurt City) It was founded in 1974 by the Hessen State Government. The Hessenpark is a popular family destination. This park is a collection of buildings from various states in Germany that have been taken down and reassembled for the sake of preservation. Some of the houses date back 500 years.  

The Open-Air Museum: Hesse, the way it was
Since 1974, more than 100 endangered buildings have been re-erected in accordance with scientific standards at the Hessenpark Open-Air Museum. The buildings in the Museum have been divided into five groups, each group representing a Hessian type of settlement typical of its region of origin. Houses and farmsteads from different villages have been placed as to give a realistic impression of the social and economic situation in the respective region.
The houses are utilised in a variety of ways. In part they are home to permanent and special exhibitions, whilst others have been furnished with original furniture and household items. In addition, you can also visit  historical workshops in the buildings.(source : Open-Air Museum Hessenpark)

infront of the bakery at the main square

knock! knock! knock!.... anybody home???? :-)

yes someone´s home.....and she bakes deliciously, just like grandma would :-))))

going back in time.......the kitchen

It was great to walk through this quaint little park, which looks just like a farming villlage from centuries ago, and marvel at its recreation from buildings taken down and reassembled from all over Germany.  One gets to see a live farm with geese, pigs, chicken and donkey.  A quick visit to the blacksmith shop where he demonstrates how nails and other farm and home implements were made.  One can also take a tour of the soap factory, where you can also purchase soaps made from natural ingredients, via age old methods.  There is also a large community building where visitors can eat local specialties, or there is the bakery in the main square where breads and pastries are offered for sale.

In one of the homes we watched a lady back some very sweet smelling christmas cookies and got to see how difficult it is to keep the fire at a temperature where you can cook the food without burning it.
Then we checked out the stables. After seeing the stables, we went further down to the Jewish train. It is a wagon, to give you an idea of what they looked like inside. And when you exit you can get a lot of information about the Jewish community in Germany. Also there is a Jewish Bath house to see, very interesting too. In one of the houses they have an exhibition on the Hessians that migrated to the US and live in the Armish villages now. 

off to check out the live farm

the chicken farm reminded me of  africa.....lovely feeling hearing a cock crow early in the morning

a visit to the carpenter (cart wheelwright)

a visit to the blacksmith

checking out the stables

the beautiful and peaceful village square

The educational train

inside the train

women at a religious service

women in traditional attires

a post-war living room

a Hair salon just like in the 1950´s

almost got a 1950´s hair make-over...... :-)

I really enjoyed just walking around the park, since there are no cars, no noise and not too many people at this time of the year. It was a lovely day and it really felt like going back in time......

Hope you all did enjoy going back in time with me. Next we will be visiting my absolute favorite of all the christmas markets I visited this year. It will be off to the big city market.......stay cool until we meet again.


click here for more photos of our adventures

from "Deutschland" with luv,
Nakutana