photo by WS-Art PHOTO / DRONE
The thing that really sets Katowice's Christmas market apart, pushing it from festive into farcical (and even nightmarish for some), is the insane number of moving displays (over 20!) featuring animatronic holidays scenes - polar bears on skis, snoring Santas, singing penguins, dancing raccoons, little drummer boys drumming, and psychotic cymbal monkeys cymbaling (why?!!). Granted, this is fun for kids, and they get to push a lot of buttons activating the movements and sounds; for adults, it ranges from amusing to silly to unbelievably creepy in some cases, but you simply can't tear your eyes away.
In addition to all that, there are also photo ops aplenty, with many cutouts you can insert your head into with embarrassing results, plus an ice rink, carousel, Christmas train fair ride, concert stage, something called the 'Magic Park of Lights,' one of those huge German Christmas pyramids (the wooden windmill thing with the mulled wine) and, of course, the enormous Ferris wheel standing by in front of the Silesian Theatre. Although it's crowded and kitsch as all get out, it certainly creates a festive holiday atmosphere on the Rynek. Gone are the grey days of yesteryear. Happy holidays!
