Prenzlauer Berg Weihnachtsmarkt

By the time we made it to the final Weihnactsmarkt, light was fading, which means it was about 4pm (living so far north is strange). Here are some pictures Keith took there:

Alexanderplatz Weihnachtsmarkt

After living near Alex for a couple of months, we knew that this would probably be the tourist trap version, just like everything else there. It was packed with people. They had an ice skating rink set up. We only walked through because we had to change trains there anyway, but the five minutes spent there were more than enough. One cool thing they had was a giant version of the wooden things that spin when you light candles underneath it:

Sorry, I forget the word. As you can see, it was many stories high.

Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt Food

The food at the Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt was delcious. There was this bread with cheese, chives and bacony-stuff baked in a wood-burning oven that was amazing.

There was also some other melty cheese on bread thing, meat being smoked, and other fancier foods.

We're back!

Hopefully by the time you read this, we will be back in the states. I'll keep posting over Christmas about stuff in Germany and possibly some about our trip home. Happy Holidays!

Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt

Disclaimer: Some of these Christmas markets are officially described as "Adventsmarkt." It is possible that I have or will confused which is which.

Anyway, next we went to Gendarmenmarkt, which is beautfiul any time of year, although especially so now. It's a square with a French church on one side (the French protestants were invited to Berlin when the Catholics kicked them out of France at some point in history. The French also invented the Berliner Weisse, which makes so much more sense than a German coming up with such a sweet drink.), a marginally larger and taller but otherwise identical German church directly across from it and a concert house in the middle. The Weihnachtsmarkt was set up in this square. Here are some pictures:

Potsdamer Platz Weihnachtsmarkt

Throughout Advent, there are tons of Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte) throughout Berlin. The first Saturday, we went to the ones at Potsdamer Platz, Gendarmenmarkt, Alexanderplatz and one up in Prenzlauer Berg. The first Sunday we went to a crafts-oriented Weihnachtsmarkt at Mexikoplatz (seriously) that looked like it was straight out of New Hope.

Here's a picture of us at Potsdamer Platz:

Note the Glühwein (warm spiced wine) and the manmade sledding hill in the background.

This was a view along the main corridor:

And here's a guy playing with metal and fire:

More Animal Pictures

Loki Pictures

Because he's so adorable/crazy

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving we hosted a while back. Constans took these great pictures and was kind enough to share them with me.

Berlin Dom GIF

Keith made this gif to show the different designs on the Berliner Dom. This is a work of art designed specifically for the Festival of Lights.

Festival of Lights

A bit over a month ago Berlin hosted a Festival of Lights in which many famous building and monuments were lit up. I finally got the pictures from our Festival of Lights adventure from Keith, so here are some of my favorites:

Bread and Salt

At the Thanksgiving dinner we hosted, we received a loaf of bread and some salt as a present (as well as a beautiful poinsettia). These are traditional German housewarming gifts, so that you always have something to eat (bread) and you always have money (salt). This tradition dates back to the days when salt and other spices were rare. It was a really sweet gesture.