Popular things to do at New Year or Silvester

Here I collected some ideas how to celebrate the New Year's Eve.
This is mainly if you celebrate at home. Otherwise of course you can find many parties in Berlin. 
Some links to help you around (although in German):

http://www.berliner-silvester.de/feiern/992578-990341-silvesterambrandenburgertor.html
http://www.berliner-silvester.de/feiern/party/
http://www.silvester-party-berlin.de/


OK now for home party:
Hopefully you have a Raclette set at home and done some shopping.
This is what we will do this Silvester. It's such a pleasant thing to do together on the last day of the year. Same goes for Fondue. Creative ideas could be:

Cheese Fondue with
Marinated (Marinated with grated Orange skin and chilly) meat for Fondue

Raclette with:
 Ginger scampi skewer, Sausages filled with cheese, Figs, Olives, potatoes, nuts, bacon. Otherwise any vegetable and meat works well. Of course you'll need Raclette Cheese.

Home made fortune cookies
Bake them yourself.
Recipe: what you need is:
* 40 g wheat powder
* 10 g corn starch
* 50 g icing sugar
* 1 egg white
* 1 tablespoon oil
* 1 pinch salt

Mix all ingredients and 2 table spoons of cold water. Let it sit for an hour. Prepare a circle out of cardboard paper (diameter 9cm). Then put approx 1 tablespoon of dough in the circle. (sorry don't know how to say it better).
Preheat the oven 160 degree Umluft, or 140 degree gas oven on 2. Bake them cookies for 6 to 8 minutes till the sides are golden. Take a cookie immediately. Then put your paper of self made saying in the middle of the cookie and close the dough like a tortellini. Put it to cool into a small glass in order to keep the shape.

Dinner for One
In Germany a MUST. It seems all Germans sit in front of the TV in the evening and watch this. It's the program broadcasted the most. Some people might take a drink each time James does.

"Bleigiessen"
Lead is melted over a candle and forms into shapes which are supposed to tell your fortune for the coming year. You can use an old spoon to place the lead on. I think this is also a very German thing to do.


Anyway whatever you do on this night, HAVE FUN and "Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr". This too is a very German expression, literally saying good slide into the new year.

Finally MIDNIGHT is here and the firecrackers, kisses and Champagne. Oh and then they Germans say "Frohes Neues Jahr"

Also in Germany don't miss to eat a "Pfannkuchen" a filled doughnut. It's absolutely part of New Year.

Wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

When the snow falls wunderbar - A wonderful German-English Weihnachtssong

When the snow falls wunderbar

(Unbekannter Autor)

When the snow falls wunderbar
And the children happy are,
When the Glatteis on the street,
And we all a Glühwein need,
Then you know, es ist soweit:
She is here, the Weihnachtszeit

Every Parkhaus ist besetzt,
Weil die people fahren jetzt

All to Kaufhof, Mediamarkt,
Kriegen nearly Herzinfarkt.
Shopping hirnverbrannte things
And the Christmasglocke rings.

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Hear the music, see the lights,
Frohe Weihnacht, Frohe Weihnacht,
Merry Christmas allerseits...

Mother in the kitchen bakes
Schoko-, Nuss- and Mandelkeks
Daddy in the Nebenraum
Schmücks a Riesen-Weihnachtsbaum
He is hanging auf the balls,
Then he from the Leiter falls...

Finally the Kinderlein
To the Zimmer kommen rein

And es sings the family
Schauerlich: "Oh, Chistmastree!"
And the jeder in the house
Is packing die Geschenke aus.

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Hear the music, see the lights,
Frohe Weihnacht, Frohe Weihnacht,
Merry Christmas allerseits...

Mama finds unter the Tanne
Eine brandnew Teflon-Pfanne,
Papa gets a Schlips and Socken,
Everybody does frohlocken.
President speaks in TV,
All around is Harmonie,

Bis mother in the kitchen runs:
Im Ofen burns the Weihnachtsgans.
And so comes die Feuerwehr

With Tatü, tata daher,
And they bring a long, long Schlauch
An a long, long Leiter auch.
And they schrei - "Wasser marsch!",
Christmas is - now im - Eimer...

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Hear the music, see the lights,
Frohe Weihnacht, Frohe Weihnacht,
Merry Christmas allerseits...

Christmas Market in Dresden

On our way back from Prague we passed by in Dresden and visited the Christmas Market (Dresdener Striezelmarkt). If you come by car, the easiest way is to follow the sings and park in the Parkhaus Altmarkt.

We've been there during the week. I can imagine that weekends are very crowded like in most places.
The Christmas market is very beautiful! Very cute and one of the prettiest we've seen. Each stall has many details and pretty decoration. The stalls offer some common christmas market items and some special ones. You can see how the famous Dresdner Stollen is made.Also food items all looked yummy and of course Gluehwein shouldn't be missing. I actually drank a Feuerzangenbowle which is slightly different. You might know it from the famous German movie.

Fairy tale figures are around and telling stories...

More about Prague

Ok like promised here some more of the stuff we did in Prague.

First of all, a specialty called TRDELNIK. It's a sweet pastry and being sold on the markets and some stalls on the road. The dough is wrapped around a mold and then fried on open fire. Brushed with sugar and spices. Then outside it gets crispy and soft inside. It's quite yummy though very sweet.

Walking through Prague it's one of the things you have to eat. Ok. Here finally I am enjoying it....Hmmmmmmm!!!!! Yummy!!!!!











Another major tourist attraction is the  Prague Castle. It's a large medieval (unique architectural) complex with courtyards, palaces, cathedral, convent and the popular Golden Lane. For sure you have a beautiful view once you're up there.

We headed towards the famous Golden Lane. Be prepared the entrance fee is hefty. It's not possible to only buy a ticket for the Golden Lane but you have to buy one for the small tour and then it's Krona 250. (around 10 Euro). In No 22 Franz Kafka lived for about a year and wrote "A country doctor".
The Golden Lane is a sort of museum and souvenirs are sold.

Then we went down and towards Karlov Bridge. You can't miss it. Everybody is walking in that direction. From the bridge you have a beautiful view over the Moldau. It seems especially the sunset is magnificent although on that day it was cloudy. On the bridge between many tourists, you find painters, caricaturists, musicians.

Trip to Prague - Christmas Market opens

I am sorry for my long silence.... somehow life is busy and the days go by without me having the peace of mind to write in my blog. Anyhow, today I have a good occasion as my husband and me just came back from a short trip to Prague -Czech Republic, I would like to show you some pictures. It was the first advent weekend and there have been many tourist in Prague.  Especially we also wanted to see the traditional opening of the market when the Christmas tree is lighted and the market officially opened. This is at the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměst). 

But OMG there were so many people, I never expected it to be so crowded. However we still managed to get in. They had closed it off but we went around like others and got in at the third entrance. Then it was just pushing and being stuck. At exactly 5 pm the tree was lighted. There was music and a light show. But I din't see too much. Just before a very tall person came right in front of me. We then quickly started to push our way out again. We just had enough of so many people. We rather went back the next day to the market when it was a bit quieter and more pleasant.

Then at the Old Town Square you'll find the Astronomical Clock. It was first installed in 1410 and the oldest one still working. Therefore it is a big  tourist attraction and before a full hour many people collect in front of it because at each hour you can see some figures in motion. The two small blue doors above open and out they come. We followed the advice of my German travel book and went into the Grand Cafe Praha opposite. It seemed that this information is only in the German book because we met only Germans in the cafe. Unfortunately the cake was not too great but the view good. However it's not really that spectacular.

Grand Cafe Praha, Cafe Mozart

Basically you could start at Wenceslas Square and walk down towards the Old Town Square and then further to Karlov Bridge and then the Castle.

More about it in my next post. :-)