Berliner Weihnachtszeit

Grace and I appreciate Lily's decisive shopping style that she has developed, as it is so much more efficient than how we tend to go about choosing and purchasing a new item.  Lily's not a huge shopper, but if she does have an item in mind she knows almost instantly, even at a distant, when she spots what she wants to buy.  Case in point:  the purchasing of those Corfu purses about which Barry wrote.

Grace had been humming and hawing over which purse to buy at the first store for quite some time before I was able to encourage her to move on to have a look at the next purse shop.  The whole time, Lily had just been quietly hanging out with us, but as we approached the second store with its hundreds of purses hung up outside and inside, Lily looked up and within seconds pointed one out and said, "I'd like that one."  Her big sister was not only impressed with the speed of her decision but with the decision itself, as she ended buying the same purse Lily chose only in a different colour.

In much the same manner, Lily judges a city as one of her favourites pretty quickly.  For instance, as a five-year-old, she told me within a day of arriving in London that she was going to live there when she grew up (of course, it was the first country she had been to in months where she could communicate with people in English!).  And, it happened again in Palm Springs when she was seven. Before we even left the airport upon landing, she offered to rent me a room in her house she would have there one day, for one cent.  A super deal, I thought.

As a newly turned eleven-year-old, Lily was about to fall for her city number three.

I had been told that Berlin was a city, much like London, where you could find some great international eateries.  Our first meal out certainly backed this up, as it was at a delicious Vietnamese restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.  While waiting for our food, Lily was staring out the window when she quietly said to me, "I could really see myself living here one day."

Lily's view outside the Madami Vietnamese Restaurant.  We observed several tour groups go by examining the art on the walls.

This tasted really, really good.

As much as I wanted to see some of the historical sights of this city, we were only in Berlin for a short stay and the Berlin Christmas markets were a priority on our to-do list.  We walked the short distance to one of the reportedly biggest and best: the Berliner Weihnachtszeit at Roten Rathaus.

On our way to the market, the girls found these trampolines in the sidewalk amusing.

The girls are good at trying new things, but sometimes a familiar taste from home is just what you need.

The girls were so interested to see this Berliner use spray paints to create some art.

Arriving at the edge of the Berliner Weihnachtszeit Christmas market.

Some serious Christmas spirit here.

Soaking up the atmosphere in front of the skating rink while Mom and Dad warmed their hands at a small fire.

Grace and Lily making some tough choices at the Schokokuss (Chocolate Kiss) booth.  So many flavours to choose from!

Just about to try their first taste of these soft egg-white meringue domes covered in chocolate.

From chocolate covered meringue to garlic "kartoffelchips"....mmmmmm!

We all loved our first visit to a German Christmas market.  In fact, we had to drag Grace away she was so enjoying herself.  It was on this Christmas market high that we were so shocked to learn of the tragic news that had just unfolded at another of Berlin's most popular Christmas market that evening. We were so very sad to learn that others that had been, like us, soaking up the holiday smells, sights, tastes and sounds of Christmas in Berlin had been victims of such a senseless attack.

So much goes through the mind.  What I will write here is that we have special family memories from this day and there is an eleven-year-old Canadian girl that is still dreaming about returning and having an apartment in the city one day.  Thank-you, Berlin.