The J Boz Family: Christmas Vacation

I told you I was behind on our blog. ☺........Since we decided not to go back to the USA for Christmas, we decided to spend some of the break on a trip. I had heard about the German Christmas markets and wanted to see them. We picked Berlin since we had been to all the other major cities in Germany. And because Prague was a few hours away by train, we added it to our itinerary as well!

And we're off! We pulled the kids out of school midday Thursday before their Christmas Break (Friday was a 1/2 day so they weren't really going to be missing anything ☺)

We got into Berlin that evening and decided to check out a Christmas market not far from our hotel and find somewhere to eat dinner. The streets were lined with trees covered in lights. Our pictures don't do it justice!

We usually can find some way to entertain ourselves!

a public toilet.......

As we were walking to the Christmas market we passed the Hard Rock Cafe. Poor Jimmy was wanting to get a bratwurst for dinner but he finally caved in to the persistent begging to eat dinner here! (Well me and the kids ate dinner here, Jimmy ended up grabbing a bratwurst at the market and ate it on the way to the HRC.)

Lord are we in trouble!

We decided to splurge and get dessert. This brownie sundae came with a maraschino cherry on top. We asked for 3 and the kids were in heaven! "These are just like the ones we used to get at Sonic!" Ah, our little American fast food junkies ☺

We passed this restaurant on the way back to our hotel ☺

Friday morning we took a tour of Berlin on the Hop On Hop Off Bus.

Our first sighting of the Berlin Wall.

We got off the tour bus at Checkpoint Charlie. We took some pictures and then toured the museum.

There was a lot to read in the museum so the kids lasted maybe 30 minutes...maybe....so we left Jimmy there and we went across the street to a gift shop and had an ice cream treat at McDonald's.

Next we got back on the bus and headed to the stop where we could take a different route on the tour bus. But before we did that, we checked out another Christmas market and grabbed something to eat.

In a few window shops along the Christmas market there were some mechanically animated animals that kids really got a kick out of watching.

Our tour bus took us through parts of East Berlin. And along part of the route was a big section of the Berlin Wall. We saw the famous painting of Leonid Brezhnev (General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union) and Erich Honecker (basically the General Secretary of East Germany) kissing in 1979. The words at the bottom are translated as "My God, help me to survive this deadly love!"

The tour bus took us back to where we had started after lunch. So we walked back through this Christmas market trying out some of the different foods.

a street performer - I guess he really didn't want his girlfriend to know it was him!

Walking to different Christmas markets we came upon some fun graffiti.

At one of the Christmas markets there was an ice skating rink. Although we didn't try it out, the kids did enjoy watching the skaters.

so many cookies.....so many choices......(and they ended up not being impressed with them!)

Our last stop for the evening was to the Gendarmenmarkt, located between the French Cathedral and the German Cathedral. By this point we had noticed that all of the Christmas markets were pretty much all the same vendors. But this gigantic Christmas tree was pretty impressive to see!

And at all of the markets they did have a large nativity set up as well.

We wore Jack out!

Sunday morning I discovered that the new jeans I had bought Jack did not have an adjustable waist band in them. So we headed to a nearby H&M in hopes of finding him a belt (which we did!). All up and down the street our hotel was on there were large Christmas figures that would be lit up at night.

Across the street from the H&M was this store. We had shopped in her store (it's all Christmas!) when we were in Rothenberg back in April. I had regretted not getting something really nice from there, this time I didn't go home empty-handed ☺

To make up for loss time we took the subway to the nearest station where our bus tour had ended the night before.

And while we were waiting those German pretzels just kept calling out to the kids!

All around Berlin there are bears decorated with various themes. Luke found this one in the subway.

That giant round thing is a world clock.

This is part of the market we hit twice the day before.

For our 2nd day of the bus tour we went through West Berlin.

We got off at the Brandenburg Gates. I expected there to be nothing around it, but there are buildings built right up to it on either side. At the end of one block is the USA Embassy.

The Brandenburg Gate

It was cold!!! In fact by the end of our trip, I think our long johns could walk by themselves....

The Reichstag (Germany's capital building)

Luckily for us there was a small restaurant across the street. Pork schnitzel & fried potatoes was what we enjoyed for lunch. And Jimmy had to try out a German beer!

back on the warm bus after lunch

I'm not sure these two paid attention to anything outside. They were too busy listening to the different languages on their headphones!

The Palais Schaumberg - where the German Chancellor lives

We finished up our bus tour mid afternoon. So we decided to head back to the hotel for a nap before we headed out for the evening.

That evening we took a Christmas Lights tour. I thought it was going to take us around Berlin neighborhoods known for their light displays.....nope, it was the shorter of the two tour bus routes (and the one we had taken earlier that day) to show us everything lit up. I will admit Jimmy you were right, it was a waste of time.....We did see a few really neat light displays but it was too much like Groundhog Day for us......

So when we reached the Charlottenburg Castle Christmas Market, we bailed!

This isn't a very exciting picture but this is where we ate dinner, inside a small tent crammed with people. But it was warm and that's all we cared about!

These Moravian stars were hung everywhere in Berlin, all different sizes and colors. I couldn't get enough of them! I know what I'll be decorating with next year ☺

Sunday we were heading to Prague that afternoon so we decided to go to the Berlin Wall Memorial since we didn't get off the tour bus as we drove by it a few days prior.

There were Dunkin' Donuts everywhere in Berlin! And we Americans couldn't resist the temptation any longer! Oh...they were soooo goood!!!

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - this church was only about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. This is the where we came to a Christmas market on our first night in Berlin. We walked back by it on our way back to the hotel from the Berlin Wall Memorial to take some pictures of it. This church was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943.