Back home - cheering on the German Soccer Team

Back home cheering on the German team in the World Cup!

Dresden - Last of the markets for this year

More fun at the Markets:
The Stollen booth, we were watching them make Stollen from outstide and the Guy looking at us opened the window and gave us all samples.

Inside; the coveted Stollen ingredients:

The Frauenkirche at night:

Melissa and Noah after too much Gluhwien and Kinderpunsch:

Striezelmarkt lit up at night:

Another view:

Noah at the Max Planck getting ready for some experiments:

Noah in the lab (he took these shots for a science project at school):

Dresden - Neustadt christmas markets

Snow covered golden King Augustus the Strong (in Neustadt):
Another glockenspiel:

Santa's getting a send off from the Christmas Angel (at least that is what it looks like to me, if there is such a thing as a Christmas Angel, perhaps she grabbed the wrong costume):

Heading back over to Altstadt:

Iconic picture of Altstadt Dresden:

Hofkirche at sunset:

Residence Schloss:

Dresden's Elbe Castles covered with a blanket of snow

My walk on the Elbe, had to see the Castles again.

Right near the Max Planck on the Elbe, Schloss Albrechtsberg:

Snow covered vineyards, don't know what this means for next years wine harvest (Schloss Lingner):

Caught the sun at just the right time, another intersting building in the area:

Schloss Eckberg:

This is actually a hotel and from looking at there web pages the prices are very reasonable:

http://www.schloss-eckberg.de/english/index.php

Dresden - More Christmas markets

As i had mentioned in a previous posting Germany was hit with big snow storm while we were visiting which caused us to cancel our trip to Nuremberg. Instead we got to spend more time around Dresden which was just fine with us.

More of the Striezelmarkt with a fresh blanket of snow:

A stand in the market selling traditional German crafts:
From the Striezelmarkt you can see the Residence Schloss:

Over to the Frauenkirche also freshly snowcovered. The trams were a bit of a mess as the track switches had lots of problems with the snow and ICE, we ended up having to walk most of the way back to the Max Planck because our #12 tram never showed up.

Eating the local food from the Chirstmas market makes for a great lunch and if you are brave you might find a new favorite food.

More food stands, each with Gluhwien of course:

Here is a recipe that for Gluhwien that i have tried at home and it does indeed taste exactly like the Gluhwien at the markets and is very simple to make:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art25534.asp

If you do end up making it, let me know what you think.

Christmas market season in Germany - Day trip to Berlin

Frohe Weihnachten:

I just love this picture of a Christmas tree and the Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg gate, which was built as a sign of piece buy Frederick Willian II of Prussia in 1788, is one of Europe's most famous landmarks.

The Reichstag with no people out front.

Usually it has a lot of people on the yard and the stairways however due to the terrorist threats it was blocked off. We were really disappointed as we were going to tour it and walk up the dome, we scheduled it first stop of our day to make sure. Dang it was closed, we have been to Berlin like 6+ times and i have yet to make it to the top

:-( Soviet War Memorial (tiergarten), built by the Soviet's after WWII to commemorate it's 80,000 soldiers who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May of 1945 (the battle in which Berlin and Germany was liberated from the Nazi's) :

Soviet tanks, part of the monument:

David and Noah in front of the Brandenburg Gate:


We also visited the DDR Museum, which is a great hands on exhibition of all things DDR. We all just loved it. Here is Noah test driving a Tribi, which is the iconic car of the DDR:

Of course there was always a lot of spying on the people; Noah is trying out some of the vintage spy equiptment of the day:

St. Peters Kirche with the Alexansderplatz TV tower:
A Weihnachtsmarkt in Berlin:

The Reichstag at Night:
Another image of the Brandenburg Gate at Christmas time:

Dresden - Christmas markets Nov 2010

Noah and i visiting the Christmas markets, Noah enjoying a Kinder Punsch:

Saving a table while i get some brats:

An oversized Pflaumentoffel:

The normal sized ones are tree decorations made of prunes, and they can be eaten
after Christmas. Pflaumentoffel means plum devil; (also called Feuerrüpel or
Fiery Santa), although they are not meant to be devils or Santas, but chimney
sweeps, all dressed in black (the prunes)
with a top hat and a brush. Until
the 20th century, Pflaumentoffel were sold at the Striezelmarkt on trays carried
by children trying to earn some Christmas money. In 1910, however, sale by
children was banned at the Striezelmarkt.

The Striezalmarkt from the bell tower on top of the Frauenkirche.

Noah on the bell tower of the Frauenkirche:

The Striezalmarkt from a viewing platform:

The viewing platform/main entrance:

Video of the Striezalmarkt: