Christmas Markets in Berlin ♥ Wir Lieben Sie! ♥

So far we’ve given you the inside scoop on Brussels,Bruges & Vienna Christmas Markets, this week is the turn of Berlin.

When we went to Berlin Sue’s two Gorgebags came with us. I hadn't been away with the lads in a while so really enjoyed their company. It wasn’t yet apparent why two teenage lads would want to be seen with their Mam & ageing Aunt. Not only that, but shopping no less!!

We found out on our first night there as when I ordered a beer with dinner. The younger Gorgebag asked his Mam could he also have a beer. Well while I can’t type the answer he got, suffice to say it was a, hell no. He then informed us that in Berlin you can legally drink beer from 16 years old. The waitress confirmed this for us so we all had a beer with our dinner!

I was having trouble finding the flight times we wanted with each airline so I ended up booking our outward journey with Ryanair so we could get an early but not stupid early flight. We paid €50pp including taxes & charges for this 10am flight. 

Our return leg I booked with Aer Lingus so we could get a 10pm flight, this would ensure we got a full day shopping under our belts. This cost us €58.50pp including taxes & charges. I even booked a check in bag for the return leg so we were free to shop with no restrictions.

The train station is just a 5 minute walk outside the airport terminal. Here you can get the train into Berlin City Centre in about 35 minutes for €3.20pp.

The hotel I chose was a just bit too far out of the City Centre for my liking. 

Thirty minutes & a couple of S-Bahn changes later we were at the Europa City hotel.  Having said that the hotel was perfect for what we paid, just €190 for a quad room for 2 nights B&B.

Europa City Hotel

There are over 60 Christmas Markets dotted around Berlin & most are within walking distance of each other. I used christmasmarkets.com to print out maps; this is also a great site for lots of information on each market. To be honest though, you’ll just happen upon most of the markets just by strolling around the city.

Mmmmm gingerbread!

A few of our favourite markets and really should not be missed are

Charlottenburg Palace: This market is the only one that is a bit out of the way from the rest, a bus or taxi is the best way to get there as the trains & trams have their closest stops about 20 minutes walk away.  

Trust me though, it’s worth the trip as not only can you visit the stunning Christmas market with the backdrop of the magnificent old palace you can also take a tour of the palace or walk in the gardens. Many of Berlin’s hotels & restaurants have market stalls in this market so you are sure to find something to whet your appetite!

Charlottenburg Palace

The Nostalgic Christmas Market at the Opernpalais: This market really was like walking onto a film set as the stalls aren’t your traditional wooden huts but rather they are full frontages of buildings. It’s like taking a stroll through a winter wonderland of a bygone era. This market also boasts a 100 year old ferris wheel to take in the amazing views of Berlin.

Nostalgic Christmas Market

This is also where we found our favourite bar!

Potsdamer Platz: This is in the bustling heart of Berlin; the train station is underneath so you will easily find it! There are lots of activities keep you entertained at this market such as ice skating, curling & Europe’s largest toboggan run with glorious views of the Brandenburg Gate.

Potsdamer Platz

The next two markets are right beside each other Alexanderplatz & Berliner Weinachtszeit. The sights, sounds & smells are sure to have you in that festive mood within minutes. Here they freshly bake bread medieval style in many of the huts, hot mead is served in tavern style mugs. Blacksmiths, glassblowers & potters all sell their wonderful hand crafts. With some even giving demonstrations throughout the day.

Alexanderplatz

This, like many markets also has an ice rink with skates on hire for €4pp. To keep the younger market goers entertained they have a petting zoo, pony rides & historic carousels. Although I have to admit to having a gluhwein or two and having a go on a carousel!

Berliner Weihnachtszeit

We couldn’t go to Berlin without taking in some of the cities culture & visiting some of their historic sites. Below are a few of the photos we took while on our weekend in Berlin.

Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin wall 

Holocaust Memorial

Brandenburg Gate

And back to whence we began! 

Have you been to the Berlin markets? Anything we've missed out? 

Also, in 19 days (but who's counting) we're taking to the skies again to see Cologne. It'll be our first time experiencing their markets and the city itself so any hints and/tips would be hugely appreciated! 

Modern Warfare 3 - Finally!

Where did you spend last night? Me? Firstly, don't be so nosy. Secondly, naturally, I spent it crammed, sardine like into a game shop in the shopping centre. Last night heralded the end of weeks and weeks of the youngest Gorgebag telling me every hour that 'It's coming.' '4 weeks now, Mam'. '3 weeks, 2 days now, Mam'. '6 days now, Mam'.

Nope, not Christmas, though he'd argue it's better. He's been paying off this game, Modern Warfare, in instalments from his wages for months now and I have to admit, I'm very proud. He has forgone spending & sweeties (The Ice Cream Man is desolate).

The queue at 12.30am AFTER scores had left game in hand

We arrived at 11.15pm to join the cordoned off queue halfway down the centre, the chap on staff told us the shop had been full since 10pm (for a midnight launch?!). They be some serious gamers. I do have to hand it to GameStop though. They supplied pizza to the queues and held prize draws for games and Blu Rays to say Thank You for the support. Well played, folks.

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a gamer, it was Monkey Island wot did it. That and 1 week solid spent on Fable II last Christmas or the 2 weeks on Fable III. I. Couldn't. Stop. But queuing for hours? Not for me, given the choice that is.

So that's it, I'm one Gorgebag down for the foreseeable future. (Apart from all the tea he's promised to make me that is)(likely).

Are you a gamer? Any Favourites?

Let's Talk about Sex, Baby...

I'm fairly sure this goes back as far as the times of Caveman Daddies bating Caveman Mammies upside the head out of sight of curious Caveman children but sex education is not easy. Anyone that claims it is should be looked at. Seriously.

Being a child of 80's Ireland in a Catholic school meant our 'education' was an annual night for 6th class ONLY & their mortified parents. Our educator? A lone Nun that, after prayers, would sit on a stool at the top of the hall and proceed to answer questions about sex, from a pile of anonymous scribbles, providing they weren't 'too dirty'. What did we do? We placed bets on who could think of the dirtiest questions, scribed them in our left hands and tried to guess who's question she was reading by the level of steam rising from her habit. It was the 80's, entertainment was thin on the ground.

The only help we got from this night was the instruction to ask our Mammies & Daddies to buy us a 'special book', I still have memories of a, not too distant, relation asking and asking and still gathering the courage to ask for his book, long after his goatee was needing a daily trim.

This is NOT my relation..

It's awkward, end of. Having been a teen Mam, obviously not grasping the finer points of sex education myself, I knew this was something I'd want to change when the lads started asking questions. And boy did they start early. I was fending off 'Yeah, but how?!' from a 5 year old until the best answer I could give was 'Well the man is like a plug and the woman is like a socket, K?' Neither eloquent nor all encompassing but serving to quell the questions, for a while.  I've tried to adopt the always Answer Honestly policy, well as honestly as I can without information overload and it seems to be working. 

 Random sex analogy 10 yrs ago? The web have a pic for that!

The lads are 14 & 15 now, I remember being 14 and/or 15 and it's not easy. We talk openly about feelings and thoughts so 'issues' are just common place chats. 'Pah' I hear you say, well I'm not completely naive. I know for every question there's 5 that go unasked because I'm a girl and they're boys, that's a fact. At those times I'm hugely grateful for a big bro that, although lives in another country, is never farther away than a text/call/email or FB message. According to the boys he's the definition of all things manly so if he says 'Don't go for the feel' the consensus is not to go for the feel (I hope). 

There's also the little invention of the interwebs, embarrassing questions are never quietened quicker than a 'Why do I' google search and seeing the automatic questions asked. As for visually graphic television shows such as The Sex Education show where, this week, I learned that its a myth that dwarves have enormously large penises (A myth, most likely, perpetrated by dwarves themselves). Or Embarrassing Bodies where 'John from Uttoxeter' need not bother his GP with growths anymore but has no problem dropping voluminous trou in front of a web cam for all to inspect his questionable undercarriage.

John, Please!

Try, as I have, to avoid information overload with the lads when it comes to sex, the information is out there, in abundance. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm not their only source of knowledge but I am a source. Only thing I can do is be here for them and try my very best not to be slightly jealous that their love lives are, without doubt, more promising than mine. Those gorgeous swines. 


G'wan tell us... How did you learn about those durrty birds & bees?