Friday night I went to a Weihnachtsmarkt (which in English is a Christmas Market) with my host family. My host sister Julia, her boyfriend Ammar, and his brother Bilal, all came in for the weekend. I really enjoy hanging out with Julia, Ammar, and Bilal. It's like having the whole family there. All my brothers and sisters. And it's nice to have a sister there. We get along really well. We like the same music, fashion, and tend to think pretty alike. The guys are pretty funny.
There are so many Weihnachtsmarkts in Berlin that I can't even count, but on Friday we went to one of the nicest ones. It cost a Euro to get in (in order to keep all the drunks and bad kids out). It's located in one of the nicest areas in Berlin as well. In between the German and French Domes and in front of the State Opera House.
The Market was filled with lights, trees, and people. There were scarves, jewelry, and wood carved decorations. Everything unique and beautiful. The tents with food were selling everything from Gluhwein (a warm, sweet wine) to chocolates to cakes to bratwarts. We ate freshly made individual pizzas that were no bigger than a sandwich. You could see them making the dough and the bread was so fresh.
Later that night we went home and drank some Gluhwein and just sat in the living room and talked. The room is filled with so many candles, they are the only light we need. We didn't stay up too late though because the next morning we were waking early to make a day trip to Dresden.
The next morning we woke up early, ate another amazing german breakfast together (filled with bread, all different cheeses, jams, meats, eggs, coffee, tea, and milk), and left for Dresden. On the way we took a detour to a little town called Meissen (which is famous for porcelain). We looked at its tiny Christmas market, some shops, found a giant gingerbread house as well as a church that was built in 1215, and grabbed something to eat in one of the towns oldest restaurants. If the town has a church that was built in 1215, I can only imagine how old the restaurant was. The food was delicious though.
After we were done with our little detour we got back on the road to Dresden.
Dresden was, to say the least, absolutely beautiful. We saw the weihnachtsmarkt, the shops, a few palaces, an opera house, and churches. My family couldn't tell me what most of the names of things were but I'll be looking that up once I go through my pictures again. I loved it though. The only problem is it gets dark so quickly at this time of year, the sky is so cloudy, and you are just freezing in your boots that it's hard to really love the entire experience. I will definitely go back later in the year when it's a bit warmer.
To end our day in Dresden though, we went to a little cafe called Cafe Kunst (which means Cafe Art). Everything inside the cafe is for sale. The walls are covered with paintings, the ceiling has all different lights and chandeliers hanging, and there are even different chair and table sets. All for sale. However, we were more interested in some hot cappuccinos and some traditional Christmas cake called Stolle. Stolle is a little bit like fruit cake except it only has raisins in it and it's coated in powdered sugar. It's good but a little heavy. The coffee was very nice, especially since we just came out of the below freezing weather.
And as a final good bye to Dresden we stopped by the oldest Weihnachtsmarkt in Dresden (or Germany?). It was beautiful and a little small. Lots of people were around through, buying all sorts of goodies and speaking all sorts of languages. This day in Dresden was very nice and I will for sure come back.
The next day we woke up a bit later. When I came downstairs I was pleasantly surprised to see a little stuffed bear sticking out of my boot. That Sunday was the second Advent and the tradition in Germany is that the night before the second advent St. Nicolas comes and fills the children's boots with toys and goodies as long as they have been good. Of course, I'm always a good girl so I had something wonderful in my boot. A little stuffed bear filled with chocolates. I named her Nicole.
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