Tricked

I am a firm believer of waiting for any Christmas celebrations until after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, with Christmas a close second.  So I don't want to mix the two.  I want to enjoy them each fully.  So I do not listen to Christmas music, buy gifts, or eat things that are Christmas things until Black Friday.

I found that I have been tricked into celebrating Christmas early here in Germany.  The first stands of Christmas candies first appeared mid-October.  I figured that they were not for Halloween, which they only kind of celebrate here, so I stayed away and ignored them.  But it turns out it is hard to stay away from things you don't know are related to any holiday.

Visiting Dresden in the German state of Saxony was where I made my first fall.  We were walking through an indoor market and looking at the sweets they were selling.  "Original Dresden Stollen" the one bakery claimed.  I am a sucker for original foods from a place.  I feel that they are important to try.  While there were many variations, I even bought the original kind (which just looks like bread).  At the other bakery they sold Baumkuchen. This literally translates to tree cake, so I was intrigued.  I asked in German (English is less common in Dresden than in Berlin) what Baumkuchen was.  She explained (and I was proud to understand) that it was vanilla cake and marmalade layers inside the chocolate outside.  I had not seen such a thing in Berlin, so I had to try it.  We were out sightseeing for the day, so I resisted buying them immediately and having them get squished as we wandered. When we stopped in at the end of the day, I bought them and I brought them both back to Berlin to eat.

Once in Berlin we opened them up to try them.  I sliced the Stollen and found that really it was a kind of fruit cake.  I was a little worried about this as some of the Stollen was sold in tins reminiscent of fruit cake.  However, this was more like fresh bread with actual fruit (not green and red jelly things).  It reminded me of Italian Panetonne in taste, but was looked a bit more like Irish Soda Bread.  I figured since I don't really eat fruit cake at all, eating it out of season wasn't too bad.

The Baumkuchen was like a giant donut, most like an Entenmann's Chocolate Frosted Donut.  The inside didn't really taste like jelly, it was just sweet.  It is layered very thinly, hence looking like the layers of a cut tree instead of a layered cake.  I found out later that it is a very long process to make Baumkuchen.  This was the winner of the two.  I was wondering if there were places in Berlin to get it.

I didn't have long to wonder.  A week or so later I was walking home and needed a snack.  I stopped at a bakery (which I am amazed I don't do more often) to get a cookie.  I noticed that they had Baumkuchen.  I knew I hadn't seen it there before.  I also noticed that the cookie options had changed some too.  I ordered what looked like a nice chocolatey one called Lebkuchen.  Once I bit into it while walking down the street, I realized why these things had suddenly appeared.  I was eating gingerbread!  It is fluffier and more like the texture of the frosted sugar cookies you get at the supermarkets in the US, but it was gingerbread.  It was strong enough that it even masked the wonderful chocolate coating that made me get this cookie.  This was when I realized I had been tricked into eating a Christmas cookie.  With Thanksgiving still a few weeks away.  And since Baumkuchen arrived to Berlin now too, it must also be a Christmas tradition.

Now that I know to be more careful, I have stayed away from anything I don't know.  Friends have started talking about their favorite holiday foods, but I will wait another two weeks to try it.   There is a Christmas Market that is already open, but I will wait.  Gluhwein (hot mulled wine, which I learned about in my German class when we talked about Christmas) was all over Prague and now is all over in Berlin too.  I am so excited for the Christmas Markets that will be all over Berlin, I am sure to be out surrounded by these things often in the upcoming weeks.

We will have to work on Thanksgiving here.  I plan to cook a nice turkey dinner on the Saturday after.  After that I will be ready for the Christmas Markets and food.  And I'm sure I won't run short on time to try any of it!

How to Make Berlin Look Expensive

Go to Prague!

Prague was one of the city's I felt like I missed while studying abroad in London.  I know you can only do so much in one semester, but it was one of the places I had hoped to get to, but didn't.  It was far and expensive to get there.

From Berlin, however, it is a different story.  It is four and a half hours away by car.  You can take a bus for 40 euros round trip.  On the bus you also get water, a snack, and wifi.  And you only need to be there 30 minutes before you leave.  You also get to see the country side between here and there, which looks a lot like Pennsylvania until you get into the Czech Republic.  So many benefits over flying.

When people talk about Prague they mention four things:  the beer, how pretty it is, how much they loved it, and that you must go.  Beyond that, I never had any idea what you would do there.  In other cities people talk about what things you do there, the Louvre, The Tower of London, the beach, the Kremlin.  It's always been odd that Prague doesn't have this, but only until you go.

Prague has many things to do.  The Prague Castle, which is still a working government building, but also has a number of museums that take about two days to go through.  The Charles Bridge with great views of the city.  The oldest working Astronomical Clock is there with a tower you can go up to view the city.  There are other museums, an opera house, marionette shows, and the largest night club in Eastern Europe.

But really it has this amazing sense of place that is hard to describe.  It really comes down to:  "It is beautiful, you must go!"  The city is one of the oldest in the area that has not had to be fully reconstructed due to war.  It is a place to wander aimlessly through the streets to see the architecture and the views of the city.

There are many wonderful cafes, restaurants, beer halls where you can sit and eat great food, great beer, and watch your surroundings.  Eating and drinking give you a sense of the Czech Republic : the hospitality and also something that represents no-nonsense.  Apparently many of the traditional Czech foods have been lost in time to communism, so much of the food is similar to most of Eastern Europe:  Goulash (which isn't really a stew, but more meat in gravy with dumplings to sop up the gravy), sausage, pork, and lots of potatoes.  If you stay away from the main touristy streets, you can also eat a full hot meal with meat and potatoes for about 5 euros.  The street food is fabulous as well!

Potatoes, Cabbage, and Pork

Fried Cheese with buttery potatoes with slab of butter.

Goulash

The Oldest

The Newest

And the beer is amazing.  Not only does it taste great, for the most part the beer costs about 1.50 euros.  Beer is usually the cheapest drink per volume you can get in Berlin, but it is still more than this!  Most places in Prague only sell two types:  light (not actually light but a pilsner) or dark.  The oldest beer hall in Prague, U Fleku only had one kind of beer.  What made this great was that when you sat down you were given a beer.  When your glass was empty they offered you another.  No need for language issues here, although really most people spoke English quite well.  We took a beer tour, which took us to the oldest microbrewery in Prague, the newest, and the most popular.  The tour was great because you had a half liter of beer at each place and you learned about the microbrewery and also about brewing beer.  We met some fun people on the tour as well.  A group of us went out after the tour to a bar called Propaganda.  It had a campy communist theme,which was hilarious to a group of American tourists.  (And one of the guys who worked there comes from the town we just moved from in the US!)

While in Prague, you must try Budweiser.  It is a traditional Czech beer that is not related to the American beer of the same name.  In fact they are in legal battles over the name.  It also comes in light or dark as seen below. 

 
Our last day in Prague was a rainy day.  We had seem most of the things we wanted and really only had half a day before we caught the bus.  We did some shopping as we had noticed that we could buy cheap shoes and I really needed some.  I bought two pairs of mary janes and one pair of winter boots for a total of 45 euros!

If you are looking to move to Europe but don't know where, think about Prague.  It is beautiful.  They speak English.  The food and beer is good.  Things are cheaper than in most of Europe.  And it is still an international city where there are many things going on.  I personally am not ready to move again, but it crossed my mind while we were there.  And if you aren't looking to move, at least go for a visit.  It is well worth the trip.