Our apartment is in an inside courtyard part of the building and somewhat shields us from the weather out in the real world. It was only once we were outside that we realised the snow was more than light sprinkles. The whole place had been dusted in snow!
We caught the S-Bahn to Spandau to see one of Germany's largest Christmas markets. Its quite a train ride of around 50 minutes, as we are in the East in Friedrichshain and Spandau is off in the prized West.
It is really quite a beautiful ride from our local station (Warschauer Station) through to Spandau as this is all above ground raised high above street level. This is particularly because we emerge from our rather industrial and pragmatic station to go through the centre of Berlin (Mitte) which at this time of year is hosting Christmas markets which are visible from our raised train line, zipping over the Spree River and through the modern Hauptbahnhof.
Shooting through Mitte we see daily modern Berlin life peppered with wonderful architecture. We are loving that zipping through like this is not a missed opportunity for us as tourists, but more a glimpse of our new life as residents of this city.
Once out of Mitte the densely packed city evaporated into country side and we wondered if we were heading to 'Germany's Biggest Christmas Market' or 'Germany's Biggest Dissapointment'.
Not to fear, as soon as we arrived in Spandau we could see the Christmas Markets in action. By the time we were out of the train it was starting to really come down quite heavily with snow. This only enhanced the Christmas Market experience, as if it wouldn't be right if it wasn't snowing.
The first stall we saw was 'Hallandische Pommes' (Dutch Chips) and of course we couldn't go past these. For 3.50 Euro we got a large Tute (cone). Billed as XXL size they didn't live up to size expectations, but they were exceptionally tasty :)
These markets were really quite big, with stalls lining most of the streets of the old town.
There was a sign from where we started saying the St Nikolai Church was 650 metres down the road, and these markets extended all that way, around the church and up and down a few other streets too.
We really enjoyed the markets which lived up to my self made hype. Most of the stalls are the same as all other Christmas Markets; Gluhwein, Lebkuchen, decorations, sausages etc but this has yet to grow old for us.
Other than the Christmas market, we also spent time shopping in Spandau old town for some stuff for Barney and also a small (real!) Christmas tree for the three of us.
Spandau old town was very pretty, especially covered in snow. It felt so old, so familiar and so removed from the big city graffiti vibe of central Berlin. This was a nice little 'escape' to a winter wonderland (Ugh, what a cliche!).
Before getting back on the U-Bahn we went shopping at the nearby Spandau Arcaden shopping centre which is just outside of the old town. This is a modern shopping centre and was very busy with Christmas Shoppers and people getting out of the weather. We picked up some decorations for our tree, some groceries and went home.
Back home our tree got a dusting of Christmas cheer,
and has taken its festive place on our window sill.
No comments:
Post a Comment