Erfurt at Chistmas

We spend two days in Erfurt this year to visit the Christmas Market and the town. Although we have such markets in each and every town in Germany, the one in Erfurt is special and attracts visitors from all over the world. The town is worth visiting each time of the year. 

We did not like the market as much as we hoped. Most of the stands offer food or "Glühwein", i.e., warmed up wine with lots of spices and often added fruits. Handcraft is rare, but the shops were open. Erfurt offers a lot of small shops, many with a special assortment of deco and art.

Due to the inrush, hotel prices were on high levels. We had one for over 200€, including the usual buffet at breakfast, but not the 17€ parking, for a room which is barely larger than the queen-size bed, albeit very functional and clean. The Chinese investors sure know how to make money. We also had to reserve a table for dinner on both days, hardly succeeding in getting one. Erfurt is really overcrowded at this time of the year.

Photography-wise I had only the Z5 II and the 35mm f/1.8 S lens, because that is a reasonably light setup for walk-around. I like the results of the 35mm focal length a lot. The 50mm is often too tight, and the 28mm or the 14-30 too wide. The lens is reasonably sharp too. The main advantage is the lack of chromatic issues and chroma of the S line of lenses, especially at night with lots of sparkling points.

Sometimes, you have to be careful with too long shutter times. The camera thinks that it can use longer ones on wider lenses. But that works only if you avoid camera shake and have no movement in your scene. To get high above the crowd and to other interesting angles, I tend to use the display instead of the viewfinder, now almost all the time. That does not help for steady shots. For more precision, I shot many pictures in manual mode, selecting aperture, shutter speed and ISO to my liking.

There is also an old Synagogue abandoned after the pogrom in 1349. It was used as a dance hall and a store since then and almost broken down at the end of the DDR. Now, it is restored in part featuring an exhibition, supported by the UNESCO world heritage. 

So much about our visit to Bamberg. Would I recommend the town? Yes, but at a different time of year.

On our way back, we stopped in Kulmbach. I add a picture of the Christmas market there, again with the 35mm. For your information, all pictures on this page are edited, some heavily with adjusted colors and contrast, and cropping. I do not support the idea of out-of-camera photography. That feels just a bad combination of laziness and stubbornness to me.