Silvester in Berlin

Today we are flying back to Berlin from Paris - our glamorous Christmas gift to each other (glamorous in name only - we flew for less than 200 euro, stayed in a tiny studio, and subsisted on croissant). Glorious nonetheless.

It may seem odd that we flew in after Christmas and are retuning before New Years, but we just couldn't tear ourselves away from Berlin. Christmas in Germany is magic. When we went to London in December 2007 we expected their Christmas markets to be English. Nope - just crummy imitation German.

Instead, we prefer to spend Christmas in Germany. Midnight mass in the Berliner Dom, friends, & Weihnachtsmarkt held us hostage.  We've heard that neighboring European countries offer trips for people to visit Germany & the markets. Everyone should be lucky enough to experience the markets once.

Videos of 2010 markets & events:

And New Years Eve, better known as Silvester in Germany, is a sight to behold. Here are short posts about the celebration in 2008 and last year's celebration. It's gonna be good.

A video from last year in front of the Reichstag:

Yep, good times. Summing  up this past year is a pleasant surprise. We've done a lot.

• Moved 6 times
• 2nd trip to the UK & visited Wales
• Picked up Greg (FiL) in Copenhagen & road a train onto a ferry
• Traveled through Italy: Bergamo, Venice, Bologna, & Venice
• Got Ripped Off
• Received our visas!
• New family member: bunny extraordinaire, Herr Schmidt
• Driving Beer Tour of Southern Belgium (not at the same time)
• Saw our German foreign exchange student, Thomas, in Berlin, in Köln, and off to Mexico
• Saw the town Greg stayed in during the 70's - Herrieden
• Visited a now favorite Germany town, Bamburg
• Stayed in Colmar, France - a mix of German & French
• Bellatrix Badou, beloved cat, joined us in Berlin
•  Day trip to Stettin, Poland
• Received a beautiful handmade quilt from my mum
• Took my parents on a mini Central Europe tour: Budapest, Hungarian Open Air Museum, Bratislava, Vienna
• A last minute Christmas trip to Paris (post coming soon)

One of the things we always seek to do, TRAVEL, was done admirably. (pat on the back) Some things weren't great (moving all the time, scam). BUT I am happy with this year.

To our loved ones and the few, dear readers, 

Guten Rutsch!