thie Christmas-ing keeps on going...

My friend Jessica arrived this evening, and we first headed downtown in search of the last of the Christmas markets. Most of them end tonight (Second Christmas Day), but some stay open through New Year's. We got to enjoy some of the Christmas lights of Mitte and Friedrichstraße, as well as the beautiful interior of the Hotel Adlon with its giant gingerbread house. At the Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt we had a Glühwein (my last of the season, I must admit...) and enjoyed the choir in front of the Konzerthaus. It was really warm this evening, and pleasant to walk around. Lots of people downtown at the market. 

 

Below: the choir at Gendarmenmarkt

glad to be back in the land of the Brezeln!

Dresdens Striezelmarkt, or: Magic Fairytale Christmasland

 

We spent the last two days in the magical Christmas-land of Dresden. The German Train (Deutsche Bahn) has a special group ticket where you can have up to five people travel together for a special price--as long as you take regional (not high-speed) trains. So the trip took 3.5 hrs from Berlin, but was pretty cheap (about 50 EUR each way). We played Bohnanza (Elisabeth's favorite game...she brought it with her) the whole way and the time flew by. 

It gets dark here so early (around 4:00 pm), so our first experience of Dresden was at night, with all the buildings illuminated and the Christmas market (here called Striezelmarkt) gorgeously decorated and lit up.  (We all agreed it is much prettier at night.) And it magically stopped raining while we were at the market! Poured the whole time we were on the train, and all night after we got back in for the night. Keinen Schnee. :(

 We wandered around the market, had some Apfelglühwein (apple cider), rode the little ferris wheel and got a view over the market (first picture at top), and bought lots of Christmas gifts. Dresden is near the Erzgebirge region, which has all these traditional little German artisan woodcrafts (the little angels, Christmas trees, Räuchermännchen). And of course Dresden is best known for Stollen! Had to get some of that...I may actually be sugared out by Christmas. Seriously. I know: even for me it's extreme.

Gendarmenmarkt: the fancy Christmas market

What's that you say? "Another Christmas market?" Oh yes!
The fancy one, where you pay 1 EUR entrance. Keeps out the riffraff, and lowers the kitsch factor a bit. Okay: a lot. Vegan Lebkuchen, artisan crafts, tree ornaments...
We had a lot of fun until it started pouring rain. Thanks, Berlin. My sister comes and you hardly give us half a nice day. Good thing we are staying jolly. :)

Schiller!!

ho ho the mistletoe...

Ku'damm, KaDeWe, Hotel

Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn Station

After a rather lazy morning at the apartment, fresh banana bread, a nice run through the Hasenheide Park, and a delicious lunch, we finally got a move on and out into the city. I need to intensify Elisabeth's schedule if she is going to see everything we want her to see. (She is afraid of what "intensify" might mean and has told me to slow down the pace...at least the walking pace: "If we miss this U-Bahn, doesn't another one come in 4 minutes? See? No hurry!")
Today's Goal: a bit of Christmas shopping on Kurfürstendamm, the big shopping avenue of West Berlin. We got off at Wittenbergplatz and first hit up the KaDeWe. Needed coffee already.

The KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) is the second-biggest department store in Europe (after Harrods in London). We walked past the big Christmas tree and went straight to floor 7: the gourmet food paradise. The area of two football fields of food and drink. We went to the Dallmayr coffee bar, got a coffee and split a Berliner, the famous pastry, called Pfannkuchen in Berlin and Berliner everywhere else. And this one was actually good. (Usually they are really cheap jelly doughnuts...this one was filled with Eierlikör. Yum!)

They had gorgeous Christmas window displays with fairy-tale themes...and great decorations.

From the KaDeWe we walked down Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm), and continued our (largely unsucessful but fun) Christmas shopping. It was starting to rain a bit, too, so we hurried between stores. Poor Elisabeth, I think the sun yesterday in Potsdam has been the only nice weather. But she doesn't complain! If she sees Christmas lights and gets a Glühwein in her, she's jolly. :)

Back in Kreuzberg, we joined up with friends at a Korean restaurant for dinner (called Madang, excellent), and then walked to a bar near the canal afterwards, called the Hotel Bar. The whole place was lit with candlelight, there were huge bouquets of fresh lilies all over, and there was live piano music. It was small and cozy, and although we didn't get a table right away, it was worth the wait. We made Elisabeth practice her German ordering more beers, and a candle ("Die Kerze ist kaputt...").  Another great day in the life!

Schloß Charlottenburg

  Tonight we went to a fancy Weihnachtsmarkt, outside of Schloss Charlottenburg. It was a bit chilly, but we warmed up with a few mugs of Glühwein, a sausage, a nutella crepe...and another mug of Glühwein. :)

making Christmas...

I may have already mentioned that my sister has more Christmas spirit than Santa's elves...She got busy today "making Christmas" in the apartment. We strung Christmas lights, bought pine boughs, made cranberry ginger scones...perfect for a rainy Berlin day. And for dinner we made a big pot of borscht. Enough to feed a peasant village. Today was both a recovery from yesterday, and a warm-up for tomorrow's Christmas intensity: a four-hour baking class with Stollen, Lebkuchen, and Plätzchen on the program. Yes!

der erste Glühwein...und vieles mehr!

The last few days we have spent mostly in our neighborhood, Kreuzberg, so today I wanted to take Elisabeth into Mitte to see some of the sights. And hit up a few Christmas markets along the way. It's fun to have visitors because you get to do the touristy things you never do when you live in a place.  :)

First we went to Alexanderplatz, the main hub of East Berlin. We saw the Fernsehturm (the TV tower: you can't miss it...), the Rotes Rathaus (city hall), Weltzeituhr (world-time-clock). Then we walked through the Christmas market on Alex. Berlin has quite a few markets, and although they are all a bit carnivalesque, they are varying degrees of full-on fair. This one had an ice rink and a ferris wheel, and some kind of little train ride for children. They sell Wurst, crepes, sugared almonds, Belgian waffles, roasted chesnuts...and you can buy mulled wine, cider, eggnog...Also Christmas decorations, warm hats/socks/scarves.

From here we walked down past Marx and Engels (below left), past the Berliner Dom (below center), to the Nostalgischer Weihnachtsmarkt on Unter den Linden, Opernpalais.

Here we had our first Glühwein of the season! A little sweet, but warm and cozy. (Helped that they had heat lamps...) Elisabeth is so much fun to hang out with during the Christmas season, because she loves it. Decorations? Tree? Stars? She eats that up. Loves it. Can't get enough. Not even the cold gets to her--she loves this season. :)

From there we walked down to Gendarmenmarkt, which has a super classy Weihnachtsmarkt, that even charges admission. We are saving that one for another day. We just peeked inside and saw the pretty tree. From there we walked down Friedrichsstrasse to Unter den Linden, to Brandenburger Tor.

So here is proof we are in Berlin:

Then we walked by Potsdamer Platz, took the train to Wittenbergplatz, walked past the KaDeWe down to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, through yet another Christmas market...where we had Wurst for dinner: a Berliner Currywurst, and a Knacker with Grünkohl. The night ended with us trying to see Swan Lake but it was sold out. But maybe that's for the best...

And now we're tired.
And really, it's only Day 3. It's like the 12 days of Christmas, except it's before Christmas, and it started with our birthday, and it's 17 days long. So it's actually better. But sorry dad, no partridges.