I was in Germany for Christmas time a few years back with my now-German sister (I tease, but she's been living there for over 3 years, so it seems almost so) and I felt like a giddy (albeit semi-drunken) child walking through a living Christmas story. All I knew from her beforehand was to expect "Christmas markets! Gluhwein! Christmas markets!" It sounded wonderfully cheesy, and festive, and right up my alley.
Of course, I wasn't disappointed. Christmas markets and the delicious delicious gluhwein that comes with them were our main priority on that visit, and in three cities we hit countless numbers of them (and had countless mugs of gluhwein, which is probably why all these numbers are countless...)
The markets, I quickly, if coldly, found out, are made up of tons of wee portable stands that sell anything from Christmas ornaments, to scarves and gloves, to a million kinds of wurst and other large forms of German meat, to handmade holiday decorations, to, most importantly according to my giddy sister, gluhwein. Ahh, gluhwein: hot, spiced wine that, best yet, can come mit schuss--with a shot! I mean, this country knows what it's doing.
You get the gluhwein at any number of Christmas market (or Weihnachtsmarkt) stalls in a cute mug like this
(note: cute Alpine gnome sold separately)
that you pay a pfand (deposit) on--usually all of 1 or 2 euros--so at the end you can either keep the mug or get your deposit back. I'm not sure how frowned upon keeping the mugs are, but I like to think it's an acceptable practice. Let's just say that after 3 or 4 (or 7...or 8...) gluhwein, each with a shot of amaretto, the bitter cold of Berlin is no longer an issue and Christmas seems like the best holiday ever. (Also everything you buy seems like the best idea ever, which is not always the case later when you find 3 stollen--essentially German fruitcakes--and 85 wooden Christmas ornaments among your purchases.)
Of course we enjoyed more of the German holiday spirit than just the gluhwein. No, really. We enjoyed the childlike fun of it all, too, such as:
how they set up a makeshift snow mountain in Potsdamer Platz for you to ride down in an innertube and relive your tobogganing days;
how they turned a classical statue into the center of an ice skating rink and the TV Tower lawn into the site of a giant ferris wheel;
and how even the most historical of monuments...
...were somehow imbued with the holiday spirit.
I'm in New York City for the first time this holiday season, and I'm looking forward to it; but Germany, gluhwein--how I'll miss you...
