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...

Without a Care in the World in Potsdam

Today we took the train out of Berlin and went to Potsdam to see my former hosts Karin and Rolf, some of the warmest, nicest people ever. Rolf met us at the train station and then drove us all around the city. We first went to the Neues Palais, part of the larger Park Sanssouci grounds (Sanssouci is French for "without worry"). Sanssouci was the summer palace of Frederick the Great, who was much more into Voltaire and French culture than Prussian militarism. The park is huge and filled with amazing palaces, gardens, fountains, statues (now covered for winter). Those Prussian kings...adding "little" castles and trinket architecture: fake romantic ruins, a Chinese "dragon house" teahouse, Roman baths, a mini pyramid, a Dutch windmill...Like Rolf said, "whatever he wanted, he got."

Sanssouci, built 1744, summer residence of Prussian Frederick der Große.

Rococo Belvedere below:

Then we drove to Cecilienhof, "where world history was made," as our amazing tour guide Rolf narrated. It was the last palace commissioned by the Hohenzollern family (1913-1917). Elisabeth pointed out this was roughly the same time Glensheen mansion was being built by rich Duluthian Chester Congdon (you can maybe even see some similarities in the Elizabethan architecture).  But it's famous for what happened in 1945: this Schloss became the site of the Potsdam conference, where the "Big Three" (Churchill, Truman, Stalin) met to decide the fate of Germany, and the division of Europe.

 

Our last stop was the Christmas Market in the Holländisches Viertel (Dutch quarter) of Potsdam. Here there are over a hundred Durch-style red brick houses put up by Dutch immigrants who came to work in Potsdam in the 18th century. Rolf said the quarter was neglected during DDR-times and fell into ruin a bit, but has since been renovated, and the Dutch have also sponsored monies to help restore the area. Now there are lots of nice shops and boutiques and cafes and restaurants, and arts and crafts being sold. The market was also therefore a bit nicer than your average Christmas market.

Rolf treated us to a Knacker mit Grünkohl, a wurst with kale, traditional for the Christmas time. The Germans swear kale doesn't taste good until after the frost. lecker!
The main city Christmas Market with the Peter-Pauls Kirche in the background.

It was a wonderful, exhausting, jam-packed day. We experienced some amazing German hospitality, got a tour of Potsdam from a local, and a home-cooked meal at the end of it. (My favorite: starts with Kaffee und Kuchen--which was here Christmas cookies and Stollen--and then after a break the real dinner begins--which was a great traditional German Sauerbraten.)

Sanssouci, indeed.

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. :)

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.