A Christmas Evening Walk to the Brandenburg Gate

Yesterday late afternoon we took one of our many walks right from home, and this time I did not forget my camera.  First by the Xmas Market on Gendarmenmarkt and the French Dome (in the back of which - same building - is another church where Senta and Stefan got married), by the Holocaust Memorial and the American Embassy to the Brandenburg Gate.

The Brandenburg Gate:

And then walked back on "Unter den Linden", the main thoroughfare and these days another big construction site to connect the U5, one of the Metro lines that runs solely in East Berlin and ends at Alexander-Platz, to the Brandenburg Gate and the Haupt-Bahnhof (the main train station which lies in West Berlin).  One side of the street is closed to traffic so the street was eerily empty, but nice for biking. The stores are touristy and sell the kind of stuff nobody needs. However, someone surely would like a bear - the symbol of Berlin - especially the one dressed for rain that we found along the way.... We crossed over the Spree (a miniature of D.C.s Potomac), by the construction near the Dome (the equivalent of the National Cathedral), by yet another Xmas market and stopped at one of the typical Berlin Gasthauses for dinner.  Yumm!

Christmas Markets

It's that time of year again when the Berliners visit their local Christmas markets.  We had fun looking at several of them and took photos at Alexander-Platz, in Charlottenburg, and on Sunday morning in Potsdam, a small city just west of Berlin.  Prussian-style food, such as kale with sausages kept us going.  Gluehwein, a hot sweetened red wine brew, is a good anti-dote to cold weather, but beware of drinking more than one mug, especially if you intend to get home by bike!  And then there are many stands with lots of goodies for sale, like cookies, ginger-bread hearts, bees wax candles, jewelry, chocolates, knitted hats and scarves, books, and my favorites --- old-fashioned wooden Xmas ornaments made in Thuringia, one of the locations where they originated and where back then poor woodworkers made them by hand.
 
The Xmas Market at Alexander-Platz is a bit like a commercial fair, with ice-skating, a ferris wheel, and lots of music.

Oh, and one more thing.  It's afternoon.... and all the sudden it's dark...  4:30pm.... earlier if it's overcast...  Not that the early dark seems to bother the Berliners.  Even Bill and I are gradually getting used to it.  As a matter of fact, it can be a nice surprise to discover that it's still afternoon with so many hours still ahead...

The Xmas market in front of Charlottenburg castle is smaller, less commercialized, and not as crowded, at least earlier on an afternoon.

I liked the looks of these lit-up "snow cone" tents, but found that their heated spaces offer more expensive stuff, such as leather clothing, real jewelry, wool sweaters, picture frames and the like.    

So back to the open stands where the sales people are glad when the weather is not too cold...

Look at these yummy tools made from chocolate:

Sunday morning in Potsdam: We happened to walk through this market on our way to Sanssouci Castle and Park. 

Thanksgiving, Berlin-style



This year Thanksgiving was a bit different.  First of all, we had to order the turkey well in advance. The assistant at the local butcher kept telling us that no, we could not order a small turkey until the other assistant said:  oh, you mean a bibi-turkey.  I said I did not know what that meant, and they explained "a small turkey that does not weigh more than 3 kilograms."      "Yes, that's exactly what we want!"       "Yes, like we said: a bibi-turkey."       It finally dawned on us that the assistants meant a "baby turkey".  So that's what we got.... weighing almost 6 kilograms!

Next we had to wait till Saturday because Thursday was a workday in Germany.         We had invited 12 people; and to make up for what we thought would be a small "baby turkey", we decided to order a platter of Turkish vegetarian food for good measure.  When Bill wanted to pick up the food, Mehmet, the owner of Merhaba, the local Turkish restaurant, insisted that he drive Bill and the platters home.  He just had to see the turkey with his own eyes which got very big at the sight of our large baked bird.  Then when I saw him unpack six platters (instead of one) my eyes got even bigger.

Fortunately, Senta and Hanni brought cups, plates, glasses, even a chair - they knew that serving a meal for twelve would not quite work in an apartment that's set up for only two (even when only eight could show up in the end).

The Thanksgiving meal was delicious, last not least because of Mehmet's goodies.  Needless to say that the feast was a great success.  And so were the doggie bags to take home.

See the happy faces at the end of the feast!  Too bad I forgot to take a pic of all the food before we started.