and jam and a hard boiled egg! A
strange combination to say the least, but
we obediently ate and found the whole
experience quite hilarious.
The street decorations change every
year and it is exciting to see the
endless artistic creativity that goes into
decorating each of the city squares with
millions of tiny Christmas lights, a lifesize carved wood nativity scene and an
ice-skating rink where quite impressively
most five year olds skate perfectly with
the assistance of a penguin! One market
square boasts an impressive backdrop
of a medieval building with each window
displaying the days of Christmas, in what
can be seen as a giant advent calendar!
All over Germany at Christmas you will
see what is known as the ‘christmas
pyramid’ - in German it is the
weihnachtspyramide – a decoration
that has its roots in the Ore Mountains
of Germany and is supposedly the
predecessor of the Christmas tree.
Rather strangely it is not pyramid
shaped but more like a carousel with
several levels, some with figures
depicting the nativity and others with
angels, shepherds and forest scenes.
The spinning motion of the carousel
is aided by candles whose rising heat
activates the spinning propellers above.
You will see giant weihnachspyramides
everywhere in Koblenz and the rest of
Germany during this period, all made of
wood and decorated with lots of lights.
As if all of this couldn’t be Christmassy
enough…you will often pass little groups
of brass bands in the street playing
traditional Christmas carols, and on
the hour the church bells of the Jesuit
Church, that dates back to around 1580
from when the Jesuits came to the city,
play a tune - really setting the scene for
the festive season.
So why do I think of this river city