Signs

It's been a while. Although winter has been cold I didn't find the time to write in my blog. Today I want to share with you some of my pictures of SIGNS I took on various trips  I always like to take pictures of the different signs hanging above shops etc. Sometimes they are very beautiful or original, often with a lot of details.

These ones were taken in France, Savonne:

This one is from Strasbourg:

These ones are from a small cute village along the wine route:

And these ones from Germany, Speyer:

Fichtelgebirge:

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...

Hello Autumn!

Last week it seemed that spring was back in Germany although the color of autumn had already arrived. Today the sun was there only in the morning and it has been slightly cooler. Now the sky is grey and it might rain. Again the "proper" autumn seems back in Berlin.

The leaves are changing colors which is very beautiful and many people used the Sunday for a walk. I don't know but somehow I like autumn. I find the season very pretty even with rainy days and cloudy and grey times. A walk in the park smelling autumn and seeing the richness of mother nature makes me feel good. And then to come home and drink a nice cup of chai. That's a perfect autumn day.

Here my impressions of our Sunday autumn walk.:

Hamburg is always worth a journey

Hamburg is  beautiful city and always worthwhile. It's a great place and we love to visit the city. We didn't expect sunshine, so the grey sky was no surprise but luckily it was still quite warm.



We walked from the Bahnhof to Jungfernstieg. It is not far and you can also go by public transport, e.g. one U-Bahn station. But we had a look at some shops.

Here is the Hamburg station:

Here the Hamburg Rathhaus:

 

 After passing the shopping malls and stores we chilled out at Jungfernstieg and enjoyed a cup of coffee, and hot chocolate for the boys.

 Later we went to Landungsbruecken to take a "Hafenrundfahrt" though Hamburg harbor. Really enjoyed it. It was quite interesting We saw many ships, container ships, Speicherstadt, Marine Museum, Hafen City, Elbphilharmonie still in progress.
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