German Holiday Market — Local services in Mountain View

I have always been a vendor, so this was my first time just enjoying the Weihnachtsmarkt. I didn't realize how big it was or how many beautiful shops there were. The market is run entirely by volunteers--not a professional organization. You'll get served by polite little kids who say, "Why, certainly" when you put in your order for Bratwurst or cake. You can get mulled wine and hot cider in ceramic mugs, and you'll be waited on by volunteer parents (practice your German with them!). I've been to the Christmas Markets all over Germany, the Netherlands, and even one in Rome and Edinburgh. They are beautiful and sometimes there is even a skating rink, but to be honest not even the best ones in Germany have the same number of unique, handmade products. In Europe, you'll find a lot of pretty, but mass-marketed items: Lebkuchen in pretty tins, little painted houses, Christmas pyramids, and very expensive German-made ornaments. The German International School of Silicon Valley sells all that, too. But the wondrous part is that you'll also find beautiful cards sold by the mother of an autistic young artist, Shane Tarkington, hand-painted bread boxes and pencil cases in Bauernmalerei style by Judy Pino, Catherine Reece's one-of-a-kind ceramics with adorable animal characters that tell stories, handmade alpaca accessories, clothes, and blankets sold by Cultural Threads, a cooperative of indigenous Peruvians who herd alpaca 14,000 feet up high, and table-top decorations made out of repurposed German ornaments. These are just a few of the special gifts you can find at the GISSV's Christmas Market. And, please, don't forget the petting zoo. These are some of the cutest little fellows I've ever seen. It's true that the layout of the booths in one section could be vastly improved to accommodate the flow of pedestrian traffic, but the market is the only one of its kind in Californiam and well worth the journey. I am so glad I got to enjoy the market this year for four hours...

Very cool German market. It was a lot larger than I thought. We came around 5:00pm, though, and pretty much all of the bakery and drinks at the coffee and cake booth were sold out. : ( So, if that's something you really want (like I did), I would go a lot earlier, like when they open.

There were more craft vendors than I thought and not a whole lot of regular food vendors (there were donner kebabs, pretzels, and sausages from what I saw). All of them had extremely long lines. The pretzels were super dry, sadly, so I wouldn't suggest those. I really enjoyed the kinderpunsch, though! I don't drink alcohol, so I got this and it was super delicious (and it was very comforting on a cold night). The booth with the German chocolate and cookies was really cool, too.

All in all, I really enjoyed it, but wish I came earlier for the bakery before they sold out. It's very crowded and there are very long lines for food and drinks, so just come...

Very disappointed overall. Long lines to get in, long lines to buy food, very limited choice for beer and average food. The only good thing was the warm wine. It tasted like warm sangria and it was perfect on a cold...