You are currently reading posts about: Germany
Historic, fun, quirky, and sometimes a little bit odd. That’s Berlin. Since living in Germany I’ve visited Berlin 3 times and each time was very different than the last. Because we live in “small town Nuremberg”, going to Berlin was like a visit to “the BIG CITY”. So many more restaurant options, so many new cocktail bars to try, and oh-so-many interesting shops to see!
Here are a few of my personal favorite bits of Berlin
Andrew and I have been living in Germany for just about two years. And within those two years we have almost mastered the grocery shopping.
Can't find the cinnamon? Look for zimt. It's April and you're craving Kale? Be patient, it'll be back in 6 months. Need Patron Tequila? Pick it up the next time you're going through the airport dutyfree shop.
But there are just some things... that you'd rather buy from the comfort of a Target, stop & shop or Trader Joes. (or it is just 1/4 the price to buy it in the US).
Wanting to explore Christmas markets outside of our hometown & very popular Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, we drove 1 hour to Regensburg and their Romantischer Weihnachtsmarkt. The pine-roofed stalls with homemade gifts were wrapped around the palace as well as inside the courtyard. With all of the quaint Christmas charm & open fires to stay warm, this became our favorite Christmas market.
Only one year after packing up our lives in Boston, US to move to Nuremberg, Germany we have checked quite a bit off of our bucket list so far. Now if anyone knows us, they know that we LOVE trying new foods, new restaurants, new drinks, new food markets... can you see a trend here? So I thought the next best "Year in Review" post should be all about our favorite restaurants, bars and food markets.
As of February 16th 2016, we have hit our 1 year German-iversary! And with this big milestone, I am hoping to write a few blog posts reviewing some of our favorite moments. (favorite travel destinations, favorite restaurants, etc).
But for today, I'm going to start with some of our learning experiences.
The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt (or Christmas Market). What's not to love about walking around this charming German city with a warm gluwein in your hands while shopping and listening to Christmas music? Here is our favorite experiences from this amazing holiday tradition.
In October my amazing family (minus Jeffrey, Kristen, Ryan and Talia) came to visit us in Europe. As they've only visited Italy in the past, they decided to do an extensive European tour (in just two weeks!). My parents started in London, then onto Amsterdam, Brussels, Brugges, and then ended their guided tour in Paris where the rest of us "kids" came to join.
Our experiences with "camping" in Germany... and how it was not at all what we expected!
One of the wonderful things about living in Nuremberg, is that there always seems to be some sort of an event going on in the city. 80% of the time... its a beer festival, or a street festival with a lot of beer, or a music festival... with more beer than music. Which, the first few times.. is fun, but then you start to feel the effects of it and you look for events that still allow you to experience the culture AND be healthy!
The Klassik Open Air Nuremberg is a free outdoor classical concert where thousands of people come together and bring their own picnics to this massive park and listen to music under the stars. It takes place in Luitpoldhain Park... which this place has quite a history.
The weather has been unbelievably hot here in Germany this summer. (getting up to the high 90's). Now when we were back in the US I'd think "Ugh.. its so hot as i walk from my air conditioned house, to my air conditioned car, to drive to the air conditioned movie theater/mall/restaurant/etc". Wellllll... boy was I in for a surprise by moving here! Air conditioning?? That's what Germany calls a nice breeze. And your lucky if you get that
Andrew and I travelled to Berlin Easter weekend which also coincided with Andrew's Birthday! (April 2nd). The great thing about Germany is we get off the Friday before and the Monday after Easter, which makes for a perfect little birthday getaway. I also have to add in, we just happened to time it PERFECTLY and we bought and picked up our new VW Golf only days before this trip.
So it has officially been two months of us living in Germany. Quite a few things have happened in those two months! We have bought a new car (a speedy little VW Golf), and I've learned how to drive a manual (ehh... i'm still learning), found an apartment in Nuremberg, been to IKEA about 4 times (each at least 6 hour trips), put together countless amounts of IKEA furniture, received all of our belongings from the boat shipment, and officially moved into our apartment (separate blog post to follow about that experience!).
And you'd figure within those two months of "settling in", things would start to feel a bit more normal as Americans living in Germany, but there are still funny things that surprise us every day. So I wanted to do a follow up of "My first impressions of our first week in Germany", with some more interesting oddities that we've come across.
Finding an apartment in Germany of course, was not as simple as we expected. This past year we spent countless hours watching "International House Hunters" in hopes to prepare us for this experience. We promised ourselves we would not be "that" couple... you know the one who has a huge house in Texas and wants an apartment in the middle of Paris, and is appalled that their budget can only afford a studio apartment? We went into this apartment search with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect, but of course there were some interesting learnings.
After 6 years as an expat living in Germany - I wanted to list down some qualities that I love about German life that I hope to take home with us (and not forget once we’ve re-settled into American life).