Barb and Baden’s Excellent Christmas Adventure – Part 4

Good Eating

There were a number of great meals that we’ve had since arriving in Germany just over a week ago and for those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that we try and eat local whenever possible. While there were many, many great meals that we’ve had so far, two recent ones stand out. Last night we ate at a nice local place called the Elefant which was just a few blocks from our hotel. What made this place stand out, beyond the excellent food, was that there were several dogs sitting by the tables inside the restaurant. These dogs obviously belonged to the patrons who were at those tables and clearly bringing your dogs with you wasn’t a problem. One of the dogs, a huge St. Bernard, walked over to our table and with big eyes stayed at our tables obviously looking for a handout. We thought it was quite funny but the dog’s owner didn’t think much of it.

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving Berlin and moving on to our next stage of our trip – taking the train again back to Frankfurt. Barb and I will definitely miss Berlin as we had a lot of fun in this city over the past 4 days. For me this will have been my 4th visit to Berlin and as I’ve said many times before in my blog Berlin definitely ranks in the top 2 of my all time favourite cities.

Moving On

As I had mentioned earlier in this trip Barb and I really enjoy travelling by train. In Germany, and pretty much in most other countries in Europe, there’s an excellent train network and it’s fast and efficient.

We often tell Germans about how the Germain rail system has this reputation in Canada for always being on time and this statement never fails to get responses (from Germans) how untrue this is. I have to admit that so far I have to agree now as both our rail trips in and out of Berlin have been delayed by 20-30 minutes. Nonetheless I’m writing this section on the train heading back to Frankfurt and we have the feeling of comfort knowing that we’ll be at our next destination in a few hours.

As it’s December 22nd today lots of people are travelling this weekend the train is pretty full – much more so that the train ride in to Berlin 5 days ago. Also lots of people are carrying large suitcases (like we are) so getting around the train was much more difficult given the bags in the isles.

According to the weather forecast that we saw at the Berlin station before leaving it’s currently close to 9 degrees and raining in the Frankfurt area where we will be for the next 5 days. I’ve been reading about the snow that recently fell in Vancouver and can’t help but think that a little colder weather might be nice around now with Christmas coming up in a few days.

Christmas, Finally

Christmas in Germany is finally here.

After travelling down from Berlin we are now staying with friends in the town of Weisbaden which is about 40 Km west of Frankfurt. Given that we’ve arrived in Wiesbaden just a few days before Christmas, a lot of activity is taking place to prepare for the 24th, which has a much more significance in Germany than in Canada where our focus is on the 25th.

Putting up the Christmas tree (or Weinachtbaum as it is known in German) on the 24th is a highlight of the day. Purchased days before, our friend’s tree is installed into the living room but only after careful consideration of the correct location. I think that our input tips the balance and once the tree is in the right location it can start to be decorated.

Although celebrating Christmas in a different country, I’m always surprised how similar some traditions are and of course enjoy the differences as well. The ornaments that are placed on the tree seem to be a mix of new ones and special items handed down from parents or grandparents. This is pretty much identical to how it is in our house as well.

We went to church with our friends in the afternoon to their local church which is just a few kilometres away. We normally do something similar at home with friends in December and of course it’s always a unique experience going to a church in Germany. As it wasn’t very far, we all decided to walk back to our friend’s place after church, all the while the church bells of this and other churches nearby were ringing. Barb and I remember the church bells ringing the last time we were in Germany at Christmas 12 years ago and it brought back good memories.

As I mentioned earlier, December 24th plays a much more significant role in the German Christmas. The 24th, known as Heiligabend (Holy Evening) is often spent with family and gifts are exchanged instead of the 25th morning that we are used to. We had around 10 people including us for the dinner which included extended family and Barb and I felt really fortunate to be included in in our friend’s Christmas tradition. We got to know everyone a little bit throughout the evening and had lots of fun during the gift exchange, both giving and receiving gifts and just watching everyone having fun.

Leaving Germany

Today is December 26th and will be the last day that we spend in Wiesbaden before leaving for our next destination tomorrow morning. Barb and I are going to be sad to leave our friends here in Wiesbaden similar to how we felt when we left our friends in Frankfurt last week. We will be taking so many good memories of our stay in Wiesbaden including our visit to the play Hänsel und Gretel which we attended last night at the beautiful theatre in Wiesbaden.

And Now Austria

By this time tomorrow we will be in Austria where we will be spending the last part of our trip. It’s a bit unusual for us to visit more than one country at a time when we travel as we have more often focused on a single country at a time. In this case when we move down to Austria tomorrow it will be the first time in Austria for either of us and we hope to experience some unique things in the next week to come including new years. We have some special plans for new year’s eve and I’ll bring you this and all of the details in my next and final installation of our Christmas Adventure.

Baden