Number 6: Hagen

In the search for more Christmas market magic, a new one was added this year to the visiting list: Hagen. Primarily Hagen was added because it was on the way to Dortmund and we had to switch trains there so we made a stop for their CM. It was an unknown since there wasn't much from them online about their market.

First, I took the bus from the tiny town of B. where I live to the local train station. I had written down the ticket that I want, but the bus driver could not figure out how to make it happen from his machine so he told me to buy my ticket from wherever I was going to next.

After some minutes of clicking buttons on the machine at the Deutschebahn station, I was able to find it. Why didn't I go to the train office and buy from a person? They closed the info office at the station and turned it into a coffe shop. So to get a ticket from a person requires a 5 min walk over to the local public tranport office next to the main bus station which closed three minutes before I got there. Now, since I have a day ticket, let's get on the train.

Here is the view from inside the Hagen station. The station is from 1848. It is at the bottom of a region in Germany that was/is known for being industrial.









After walking 10 minutes from the station in the direction of the centrum, we found it. It is in the Volkspark.










Here is a monument that is at the entrance to the park on Karl Marx street.

















Here is part of the afternoon performance line-up, a Gospel choir. They were very peppy and enthusiastic. The interesting part is that all of their songs were in English.









This is the first CM I have seen with live horses.












Here is the audience enjoying the gospel group.












A tree decked out in its very finest.

The usual stalls of ornaments were present, along with others such as multiple fruit selling stalls, and the clothing stalls, including one that specialized in stretch pants. Oh the spirit.

Yet another gluehwein stall that I skipped.












Ye Olde Ferris Wheel. I took the opportunity to see Hagen at dusk.

















Not such a bad view, although it seemed mighty small from up there.











No, I did not notice the McDonald's at the time. They also had a Subway too.











Here it is after dark. The market started to get crowded then, so I took break for a baked potato.










Since there was still Dortmund to see, another monument shot before we go, this one in front of the train station. Next blog, the rest of the adventure in Dortmund.