Proper Snow!

It's been a pretty crappy winter - characterised by rain, cold and grey grey grey. It has been pretty miserable. In German I guess you could say we have had several months of 'Graushleier' - which is a veil of grey over the city. Well that's certainly what it has felt like.

Until yesterday!

Snow bloody snow :) It's unbelievable how much of a mood changer snow can be, and how different the city can look. One day its DDR cold war spy shit and the next day its a fairytale winter wonderland. :)

We made a snowman and he was happy.

And this week is the only week you can buy fireworks...(sale restricted only between 28 - 31 December)

So we went out to get our fireworks and some essentials for the coming days.

The snow is not quite treacherous enough to stop riding, but you do have to be extra careful. Most roads are cleared and this is 100% safe, whereas some of the cycle paths are not so clear - but they do have grit thrown over them which helps. We got a flat tyre today, so I'm suspicious that the grit had something to do with that.

It's always funny to see that people actually use sleds, and have to park them!

Out our go-to supermarket we got our fireworks, our beers for Silvester (New Years Eve) and were super surprised to see how much Stollen (German Christmas bread) had been discounted. The normal ones we buy are usually just under 3 Euros, and these had now been discounted to between 32 and 70 cents. For some reason both of these that we bought cost  35 cents.

For some reason 2L Diet Coke was also discounted...to 10 cents? wha!

Renowned Stollen comes from Dresden and this is usually the pricey stuff. We got one today for 3 Euros that is usually 12 Euros....and it comes in a tin! If it comes in a tin it must be fancy.

Also this time of year is celebrated with 'pfannkuchen'  - German donuts, and the supermarket were selling these, fresh, for 40 cents each so natch we had to get a couple.

And of course we got our bag of fireworks...a 'family' assortment :)

Christmas, Snow, Snowmen, Stollen, Fireworks, Beers, Pfannkuchen, Silvester...this last week looks like it will make up for the dismal winter we have had so far :)

Rixdorfer Weihnachtsmarkt Berlin

It's Christmas Markets time again in Berlin.  This is our third time around in Berlin for this festive season and it brings mixed feelings. On one hand there's the excitement, It's Weihnachts Markt time!, and on the hand there's the cynical view that its the same old crap with over inflated prices.

This weekend we went to check out the Rixdorfer Weihnachtsmarkt. Rixdorf was in old old times a former town of its own, but with various reforms it became subsumed into the greater Berlin and swallowed up by the Neukölln disrtrict.

We have been down near this area before in previous trips (south of Rathaus Neukölln) and didn't find much of interest. We were surprised to find that in this Alt Rixdorf area a very different experience, a place with its own distinctive architecture (think stables and blacksmith shops).

And then on top of that, the Christmas Markets around Richardplatz :)

We were meeting some friends there and didn't realise that the markets were so large. We found one of them and then rallied around a meeting point...the Rixdorfer Getränke Markt (a Späti!).

Just on the edge of Richardplatz, and the Christmas Markets, this Späti offered super discounted Glühwein (hot wine, with or without a shot of spirits) and of course the normal beer offerings inside, without forgoing any of the Christmas Market atmosphere. 

Normally a Glühwein at a Market like this would cost 3 euros plus. Down at the Rixdorfer you only have to fork out 1 euro (or an extra 50 cents for your spirit shot). A bargain for the Berliner on a budget.

The markets themselves are much less gimmicky and tacky as the more central ones (Like the Alexanderplatz ones....errg). For some reason there was quite a bit of Korean food there, and also a whole section of religious stalls....what has religion got to do with Christmas?

We really enjoyed these markets, the aimless wondering around the Richardplatz, the lovely setting, the lack of tourists and of course the pfennig friendly Späti. Recommended :)

Unlike other well known markets that run for a month or more, this one is only on for one weekend.

Open:

05. Dezember - 07. Dezember 2014

Opening Times:

Friday 5 - 9pm

Saturday 2 - 9pm

Sunday 2 - 8pm

The Baseballs

Through the week we went to see The Baseballs in concert. The tickets were a birthday gift from friend L... (Thanks Tiger!)

The Baseballs are a band that were formed in Berlin in 2007 and are known for their Rockabilly reworkings of contemporary pop hits.

The concert was at the Astra Kulturhaus in Friedrichshain - a convenient 5 minute walk from home for us. It was lot of fun and the band were very interactive with the audience.

Fall of the Berlin Wall 25th Anniversary

Here's a little photo essay about the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin wall - the original event which happened, by mistake, on the evening of 9 November 1989.

One of the major things to mark the 25th was the art installation 'Lichtgrenze', which translated means 'Light Border'. For the event, 8,000 specially designed lights and balloons were installed along part of the old Berlin Wall border line. The balloons were filled with helium and were to be let free on the 9th November 2014 at around 7pm.

For our own personal commemoration of the event, we went to the Bornholmerstraße Bridge on Saturday afternoon to check it out in relative peace before the crowds of the official celebrations. Bornholmerstraße is significant because it was the first crossing point to be 'opened' when the wall fell.

In the evening I went to ride past the East Side Gallery, again so I could see the light installation in a relatively uncrowded atmosphere. It was much busier than I expected and I got waylaid light a moth to a flame as I followed the Lichtgrenze along the former wall line. This was quite an interesting experience, quite emotional for many reasons but also quite undefinable. I know my way around this part of Berlin pretty well, but I found myself going through streets (and a park) where I didn't realise the wall formerly was. I think this is like many Berlin residents...they know it was 'around here somewhere' but when you see the delineation for real it makes the whole thing so much more immediate.

On the 9th of November we went to the East Side Gallery and were part of a huge swarm of people heading there for 7pm celebrations and balloon release. It was incredible how many people were down there. We were going to take Barney, but just before we left we saw a reporter on TV say the area was 'Unglaublich Voll' (unbelievably busy) so we had to leave him at home.

We went through the crowd and watched a large screen that was simulcasting the Brandenburger Tor ceremony, with notable guests being Angela Merkel, Michael Gorbachev and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit.

Just after 7pm, starting from Brandenburger Tor, they started to let the balloons go. One by one, a second apart, they released each one in sequence. Our atrocious maths couldn't work out how long it would take the conga line to reach us, but we eventually worked out it should take about an hour.

Quicker than our poor maths predicted, the release of balloons made its way to the East Side Gallery. It was nice to see the symbolism of freedom however overall I understand that many people were disappointed that the balloons didn't stay lit as they floated away (it wasn't possible as the lights would be an environmental issue, whereas the balloons are biodegradable). I thought it was cool, but maybe they should have released them all at once for dramatic effect :)