As a postscript, Sasha and continued to do a little more "research" afterwards around Berlin and also slightly further afield - certainly we covered most, but not all, of the markets around Berlin and judging by the way we were getting a bit sick of the Glühwein after a while, I think we got our fill. Also - turns out I left my camera at the Lemke Brauhaus and didn't realise until the next morning, we went straight there but weren't able to find out until the Tuesday whether they had it - which they did, and I got it back. That's the 2nd time I've lost that same camera, and the 3rd time I've done it overall. Here's hoping there's not going to be a 4th!
For 2016, we had a very narrow window of opportunity to visit Christmas markets before we left for NZ & Aus for Christmas, but we managed to visit quite a number of the ones in Berlin, one in Wroclaw, Poland and also a day trip to Dresden for theirs. So naturally we were keen for the markets again, and we'd have more time to visit them - so we were particularly keen to visit as many of the Berlin ones as possible this time. We weren't the only ones keen - Denise and David were wanting to come and visit Berlin's Christmas markets and experience them also. So we'd arranged when they'd come and stay with us, and in the meantime Sasha and I conducted a bit of "research" working out which were good markets and which ones weren't, and which ones had good Glühwein etc... yeah, research. So thanks to the oddball times and days Easyjet flew between Edinburgh and Berlin, they arrived on a Thursday afternoon and departed on a Saturday night - I'd be working during the day and I had my Work Christmas Party the day they arrived but Sasha was able to meet them at the airport and bring them to the flat, and they went and had dinner with their friends Sam & Steven who live in Berlin now. They did their own thing Friday daytime, but Friday night it was all go - we arranged to meet at the market in Potsdamer Platz after work, and Steven was able to join as well as we wandered through the now-expanded market. Afterwards we went to the Historiche Weihnachtsmarkt in the RAW Gelande which is not far from where we live - this was a new one for 2017, but it was one of our favourites despite it having a (small) entrance fee as it did a very good job of being much like an old Medieval Fair, except it was a Christmas Medieval Fair and we knew also they did Glühbier here (heated Belgian Cherry Kriek beer). It might have been a bit cold out but the food was hearty, the market not crowded and we sat around a fire for quite a while before Steven had a go at throwing some ninja stars and throwing axes at a target bear! We visited a Brauhaus in the RAW Gelande, followed by visiting Hops & Barley, a craft beer bar which was over-busy but we found some space to stand near the counter. Saturday we started off by visiting the market in Gendarmenmarkt, one that also has an entrance fee but its one of the best we know of and certainly a lot better polished than many of the others with a huge range of things for sale, a lot of it quality stuff. Sam & Steven both met us there and we wandered around as we were lightly snowed on, although there were some nice indoor parts to escape into. Next up was Alexanderplatz, but not the usual one in Alexanderplatz - we'd discovered another one on the other side of the tower in front of the Rathaus, which was much bigger, much better and also had Glühbier available. So there was a few of those consumed, while wandering and watching the ice skating rink in the middle. We topped it off by making a trip to the supermarket so Sam could buy more socks as her feet were freezing, then we went to the nearby Lemke Brauhaus for drinks and food before eventually all going back to our flat with some "Wegbier's" (Beers for the Journey, or "Roadie's") and then Sasha and I went with Denise & David to Schoenefeld Airport with Sam & Steven heading home. Schoenefeld Airport seemed strangely deserted at that time, and they were able to go straight into security with no queue and back off to Edinburgh - it might have been a whirlwind trip to Berlin, but it was great to have them around and I hope they enjoyed it, as I sure know we did! And um, that they appreciated all the Christmas Market "research" that we did for them!
As a postscript, Sasha and continued to do a little more "research" afterwards around Berlin and also slightly further afield - certainly we covered most, but not all, of the markets around Berlin and judging by the way we were getting a bit sick of the Glühwein after a while, I think we got our fill. Also - turns out I left my camera at the Lemke Brauhaus and didn't realise until the next morning, we went straight there but weren't able to find out until the Tuesday whether they had it - which they did, and I got it back. That's the 2nd time I've lost that same camera, and the 3rd time I've done it overall. Here's hoping there's not going to be a 4th!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
About Me
A Kiwi out travelling in the UK and surrounding countries Archives
August 2019
|