Christmas Update

We have had a lovely Christmas here in Germany. We have spent some time relaxing, but also been busy seeing various things and places. Even with all the time relaxing, I haven't managed to update the blog though. We've spent some more time in Frankfurt (shopping, at the Jewish museum, celebrating Christmas Eve...), to Darmstadt, Oberursel and finally today to Heidelberg. Since that would be a lot to write about, instead I am going to post a bunch of photos. I will try to update the post with labels for all the photos soon. For now, enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Eve: A German goose lunch at Wagner's in Sachsenhausen. Delicious meal and great atmosphere- complete with a guy playing an accordian wandering around and lots of other people joining in the singing. However, since much of it was in German we only could sing the occasional Christmas carol in English.

Mum and Dad enjoying their goose, with lots of Sauerkraut

Amazingly we finished most of the bowl of Sauerkraut. Behind them you can see all the other people in the part of the restaurant we were in (this place is huge and was packed). Some people were even rocking back and forth while singing along to the music.

Outside the restaurant. Ready to go explore Frankfurt while waiting to go hear the bells ring at 5.

We took the tram up to Bockenheim and then wandered along Leipziger Strasse a bit. Discovered a real dollar store, I was pretty excited! Then took the U-bahn back through the Westend. Got off to check out this synagogue (the Westend Synagogue) that Dad and I had been reading about in the Jewish museum. It was one of the only ones that survived the war.

Back to the Römerberg to hear the bells ring

 We did not expect the amount of people that were there. The place was packed and overflowing! It was very pretty listening to the bells and the scenery was too as the buildings were lit up in the dark.

Nikolaikirche all lit up. You can see all the heads of the people!

This is about the place were we first say the "meteor/star/thing" go through the sky. We, along with a lot of other people, thought it was part of the show. However from looking on the Internet it took us a long time to figure out what it was. You can see it here: http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=DE#/watch?feature=m-trends&v=QRY8hW2ya7E. There were a bunch of different theories. I found out today it was probably a stage coming down from a manned rocket sent up last. 

Wednesday: Keeping up the Christmas tradition of Gingerbread. This year we just made cookies and decorated them after dinner on Christmas day. I don't have many pictures of our Christmas. We got up and had our usual breakfast of eggs benedict with smoked salmon. Then after openings some presents we went for a walk around Steinbach. The weather has not been great so it was not the longest of walks. For dinner we did manage to make a turkey dinner, with a rather small turkey. And then after we ate more of our cookies! (Gingerbread and shortbread)

The next day I don't have any photos from. Walked from my place up to Oberursel. Very pretty old town in the centre. However because of it being 2nd Weihnachtstag (ie. boxing day) almost nothing was open. We did finally find a cafe open and had some hot drinks and cake before trekking back.

Darmstadt castle. I have to admit what we saw of the town was about as boring as the castle...

One nice area we found - the Mathildenhöhe. This area was set up as an artists area, with their houses still standing. This Russian Orthodox chapel was quite beautiful. We went inside the chapel but not the art gallery behind (with the random hand-like tower). We had a look, but were not that interested in the exhibits...

Looking up train times at Darmstadt Nord

We headed to Kranichstein on the edge of Darmstadt to check out the train museum there. Unfortunately that was a bust as it was all closed, except for a small model train exhibit. Instead we hopped on a tram and got a bit of a tour of Darmstadt before heading back home.

On Wednesday we spent the day shopping in Frankfurt. Mum bought some European towels to take home - she has to fill all the room in her suitcase from stuff she brought for me :) We had lunch in the Hauptwache cafe, right in the centre of the Hauptwache square. 

And on Thursday ... off to Heidelberg for the day!

Dad at the top of the church in the above photo, Heiliggeistkirche with a view of the Neckar River

Dad and I climbed up the tower to the view point. Lots of spiral stairs and low ceilings to get there.

Eating Schneeballen. Pastry balls with either filling or something sprinkled on the outside. Not as good as they look, and they left our hands rather cold!

Heidelberg castle was home to the elector of the Palatinate (ie. a very important prince) but was destroyed by the French in the 17th C. Some of it has been partially rebuilt since, but not much. We went on a guided tour and learned what various parts were. Apparently it was one castle that people kept adding new wings too, so was rather crowded. Above was the English palace (built for a prince's English wife). The tower on the end was the thick tower, and a key part of the defence of the castle. However they built a hall on top for parties! I guess they wanted the great view of the city and river. 

One of the fancy façades. It didn't really match some of the other parts of the castle. The whole place was definitely a mix and match of what different people built.

A wine barrel, the largest in the world, that would have held 220,000 L! However it was a bit leaky and bad quality wine. But it did have a dance floor on top :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. And Happy New Year too!