der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 19

D R I V I N G A N X 1 I N G E R M A N Y - C H R I S T M A S S H O P P I N G AT T H E C H R I S T K I N D L M A R K T

his year, I had an opportunity to
be in Germany. So I thought that
visiting a number of the
Christmas markets would be ideal
for finding these types of items.
Using a bargain-hunting airtravel site, I found an excellent round
trip airfare to and from Luxembourg.
Luxembourg hosted one of the
markets on the "to-do" list, as did the
cities of Ulm, Stuttgart, and Munich.
After reviewing a map
(remember those?), it was clear that
relying on both air and train travel for
this trip would be both expensive and
impractical; renting a car was the best
option. Having a chance to drive a
BMW on the legendary German
roads, as well as (hopefully) visiting
the BMW Welt, would provide lasting,
joyful memories. Remembering our
previous trip to Berlin, where we
noticed that the SIXT rental car
agency had an inventory of clean
BMWs and Mercedes, we reserved a
3 Series for the week.
The history of the German
Christmas market dates back to the
1300s. They are based on the
"December markets" which were held
in the late Middle Ages (1294), and
they took place over a few days.
German winters are known to be gray,
wet, and cold. To avoid cabin fever,
these markets were a chance for
people to come together, buy food
and handicrafts, and especially, stock
up for the long cold winter. Even
though those markets weren't
specifically "Christmas Markets",
people would purchase wood
carvings, toys, special seasonal
baked goods, and meats.
Around 1310, Munich changed
the name of their winter market to
"Christkindlmarkt (Christ child
market), stretching the market to
cover the four weeks of Advent. Other
cities and towns followed suit. It is
interesting to note that as you
move North, the name of the
Christmas market changes from
Christkindlmarket to Weihnachtsmarkt. Unlike the Christmas markets
we previously visited in Brussels,
Paris, and London, we were assured

July I August

(Above) A storefront as a giant Advent calendar. (Below) The view from a
Luxembourg castle.
that the German markets would sell
goods, arts, and crafts which were
made in Germany or some other part
of Europe.
Landing in Luxembourg, the
SIXT rental car agent surprised us
with an upgrade - a BMW X1 sDrive.
While hoping for a 2020 BMW 3
Series, it turns out that because of
the road conditions, the types of
roads we traveled, and the number of
items we purchased, the X1 was the
perfect vehicle for this trip.
It's no secret that we're fans of
the X1. The X1, as well as the X2,
are why BMW now sells more SAVs
than cars. Both vehicles are one of
the reasons why BMW should NOT
bring the 1 Series five-door car to
the US.
This X1 was a delight was
because it was equipped with
manually adjustable seats. There are

a fair number of the BMW faithful
who remember the wonderful
manually adjustable seats in the
E36 3 Series. Cloth upholstered and
heated, these seats were very
comfortable and supportive. Don't
discount the importance of these two
attributes when one is driving in gray,
rainy weather at Autobahn speeds,
especially the sections where there is
no speed limit. Perhaps BMW NA
would consider developing special
"65th US anniversary" editions of the
X1, X2, 2 Series, and 3 Series,
featuring this type of seating (2021 is
the 65th anniversary of BMW selling
vehicles in the US).
Another factor that delighted us
was that the X1 was equipped with a
navigation system. Now, it should be
no surprise that in Germany, the
default language used with the
navigation systems as well as the rest

of the iDrive functions is, well,
German. It took a bit to remember
how to use the latest version of iDrive
to get to "settings" function,
switching the language to English.
Incidentally, the driving dynamics of the sDrive were similar to that
of the xDrive. Frankly, had we
not been informed that our X1 was
front-wheel drive, we would not have
known the difference.
Since our Luxemburg hotel
room was not ready, we decided to
visit one of their best-known tourist
attractions, the Vianden Castle.
A short drive from the airport, the
drive through Vianden gave us an
idea of the types of roads and
villages that we would encounter
during this trip.
While referred to as a "castle",
the Vianden residents prefer to call
it a "palace". Initially built by the
Romans in the 11th century, this
castle has undergone a number of
major renovations. The most recent
renovation started in 1977, when the
family who owned the property
transferred its ownership to the state
of Luxembourg. Now a museum and
an arts/cultural center, one can take a
self-guided tour to see the many
nooks and crannies, enjoy the artwork
and the historic artifacts, and view the
sweeping vistas of the village below.

der Bayerische July/August 2020

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