I’m back from two weeks in Germany, traveling around and enjoying the Christmas festivities with my boyfriend’s family. We flew out of Dulles to Leipzig on December 14 and returned on the 28th ($560 each on United). Sadly, save for a few handy phrases, I speak no German.

We spent the first 9 days traveling around the country: Dresden, Erfurt, Heidelberg, Berlin, and two day trips to Colmar and Strasbourg in France. DB’s sister lives in Karlsruhe, so we took the train down there and stopped along the way in Erfurt (way in) and Heidelberg (way out). During Christmas we were based in Halle-Saale.

Weather was as cold as the DC area where we live, and as variable. We had snowflakes, days of 48 degrees and a couple of excruciatingly cold windy days. I was prepared with Wintersilks and Terramar silk underwear and a set of hand warmers and toe warmers per day. I was able to enjoy walking around for 6+ hours every day without the cold putting a damp on my spirits. Rieker boots were a blessing too, 9 days of non-stop walking and my feet did not hurt one bit. I came back determined to buy another pair.

Dresden was our first stop. Since it was so cold, we spent the majority of the day inside at the Semper museum, the Semper Opera tour (fascinating even in German), and the Green Vault. We also visited the medieval Christmas market, which was quite large and very charming, not to mention crowded.

Of all the cities visited, Erfurt was my favorite. Erfurt’s old town is quite large, and its shops and residences blend beautifully into the old town architecture. But the sight that took my breath away was the cathedral and church on top of the hill overlooking the Christmas market. The view from the Christmas market towards the lit-up churches was magnificent, the view from the churches towards the Christmas market was heartwarming. I didn’t know where to look! I was sad to leave such a beautiful place, and amazed to discover that all the following beautiful cities we visited did not capture my heart as Erfurt did.

Colmar and Strasbourg were both beautiful, Strasbourg much more thanks to the cathedral. Here we sampled some Alsace food and I was quite glad to find vin chaud, the equivalent to Germany’s gluhwein, which I had become quite fond of.

We did not do justice to Heidelberg since we only had five hours to see it. We did go across the bridge and up the Philosopher’s walk for a view of the city (which the blinding midday sun obliterated) and ran up the 300+ steps to the castle for a close look. I was out of breath but happy to have stopped there for the quick visit.

DB is from the former East Germany and he was in Berlin during the celebrations after the wall came down, so the city was a must-see for me, even if we only had two days to see the highlights. We were lucky to have DB’s best friend, a 10-year resident of Berlin, as driver/tour guide, which saved time and added insight. Lucky for us, after only a 15 min wait at 3:30 PM on a clear Tuesday afternoon, we went up the Reichstag dome for a view of the sun setting over the city. We visited the East Side Gallery of the Wall and Branderburg Tor, and followed the line that marks where the wall once stood. The second day we spent one scant hour at the Pergamonmuseum (15 minutes of which were spent staring at the immense roman market gate) and two hours at the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which was barely enough for a hurried read of most of the exhibits (the fact that no pictures are allowed kept us moving more quickly). A quick visit to Potsdamer Platz finished up the day. I found Berlin to be vibrant, eclectic, intriguing, and worthy of a much more lengthy visit, hopefully in warmer weather.

The city of Halle (our home base) is surprisingly handsome, especially the old town market square. Stores are located all around the square, where traffic is not allowed, so one can stroll on cobblestone streets for hours shopping for any imaginable item. The Christmas market there was small but well stocked, and there was even a medieval one. There are many GDR buildings in the town, which made it even more interesting. We also attended the opera The Magic Flute at the Leipzig opera house, which according to DB, looks exactly the way it did back in the GDR days. Halle is not very tourist-oriented, so most of the time I was the only one with camera in hand, taking in the sights, and I stood out like a sore thumb.

In all, the trip was wonderful. It was a bit exhausting with all the traveling and a bit muddled with my lack of German but the small taste of the beauty of these cities made me long to go back to get more acquainted with them, hopefully with a better knowledge of their language.

Thank you for your report. I enjoyed it very much.

I am glad that you had a wonderful Christmas trip with DB and family. I hope you get that followup visit in the near future and give us another trip report.

regalada,
Thank you so much for your detailed report! I did not make it on my much-planned trip to Germany at Christmastime this year, but your descriptions inspire me to keep planning.

Would be interesting to hear how you actually celebrated Christmas in Germany. I'm always fascinated how the holiday is observed in other countries and now you can give us a first-hand account!

What a wonderful opportunity!!
But I am acronym challenged... what is GDR?

ggnga and dovima, thanks for your kind words. Dovima, I hope you get to go next year.

rickmav, here's an account of Christmas at my DB's mother's place. On the 23rd we baked several batches of cookies and brownies, and gluhwein was prepared every evening after that to go with the cookies. The Christmas tree, although bought weeks in advance, was not set up until the morning of the 24th. The pyramids, wooden angels and other Christmas market characters appeared all over the house that morning, with tons of candles to go with them. Christmas' eve dinner consisted of thin hot dogs (not sausages)and tons of potato salad. The hot dogs were ordered from a special store, not bought at the market. Gifts are usually opened on the evening of the 24th before dinner, thankfully this was modified at my DB's given the additional gifts due to my presence, so we ate first and then opened the gifts. In all, the 24th was quite a chaotic day with all these activities, including gift-wrapping in this case, lumped into one day. On the evening of Christmas Day we had a special dinner of fried then baked rabbit (very tasty), potato dumplings and red cabagge. Christmas day was pretty uneventful other than the dinner, it's a day to relax and enjoy the company (for me it was a day to ponder how we would pack all the gifts to bring back home!).

SuzieC, GDR is the acronym for the German Democratic Republic, the Communist Party-led state that was East Germany.

Thanks regalada. Did you notice as much commercialism there as there is in North America? And were the gifts the same kind as we might receive in Canada or the U.S. or different?

regalada

Very interested in your report.

Did you attend church services during this time? If so I'd like to hear about that.

Noted your comment about the Christmas tree - does everyone follow this custom and all buy a live tree?

Sandy

rickmav, the gifts were similar to what one would receive here in the States, the only differences, at least in my experience, were the abundance of chocolates and other candies and the wonderful things acquired at the Christmas markets. Commercialism seemed the same to me also, with stores holding Christmas and after-Christmas sales and people flocking to these as much as they do here. I ventured out on the 27th to do some last minute shopping before my return and was amazed to see so many shoppers walking about the old market square, and the stores so full.

Sandy, I did not attend church services while there since boyfriend's family is not religious.

According to my boyfriend, the tradition is to get a live Christmas tree and set it up on the 24th and most families still follow that custom. They do keep the tree for a while after Christmas.

Regalada, did you have the opportunity to have some Dresden Stollen? My mother used to make the most delicious Stollen which I cannot to this date, duplicate.

The marzipan is also the best treat at Christmastime. I really enjoyed reading your report!

Hi seetheworld, I did have some Dresden Stollen from the Dresden Christmas market and it was very good. It was the breakfast staple for the entire Christmas week. My boyfriend was trying to eat as much as possible since it's one of those things he misses the most.

They also had a lot of marzipan in all forms and shapes, but somehow I have not acquired the taste for it in spite of having it all around our house year round and watching my boyfriend eat like there's no tomorrow.

...sounds wonderful! Those treats become even more special when they are not readily available. My FIL returns next week from his trip to Germany and the UK. We are really looking forward to the wine and treats he brings back for us. Happy New Year!