12.23.2011 Tajikistan Tearoom, Spandau Christmas Market

Christmas in two days! With the markets and the streets decorated with lights it always felt like Christmas was just waiting around the corner. And now that it really is almost here, I'm almost not ready. 

First, we need Christmas sweaters. Our morning was spent in a five floor vintage store looking for something red and knitted and over-the-top tacky. 

Walking around, we came across this building called Palais Am Festungsgraben, which means Palace on the moat, except there was no moat. Inside holds a theatre and an art gallery, and if you wander even deeper, you will find a Tajik tea room.

1. Palais am Festungsgraben,                                                                                2. History museum?

We were early so we crossed the street to the Weihnacht am Opernpalais for some more Christmas market snacks.

hot dogs

quarkkeulchen?

These tasted doughy but dry. I think they would be really good if they were hot and fresh..

musicbox

Next to the market was the shell of a church reused as a space for these marble sculptures. I can't remember any details about the church or the exhibition, but if I find something you'll know!

Once again, when we returned to the tearoom, all the good seats were gone. This room is such a stark contrast from the rest of the building. The first floor had a very clean, cold, white and grey marble feel to it, followed by a deep red carpeted Y-staircase that goes out to a worn down hardwood floor. This little room is a mix of Persian and Russian cultures. The floor is covered in thick Persian rugs and you can sit on the pillows and enjoy oriental tea from the low wooden tables, like in central Asia.

1. carved wooden pillars,                                                       2. tea time

Spandau Christmas market! This is the last market I need to visit to say that I've been to all the Christmas markets in Berlin! Unfortunately, we visited this market on the last hour of its last day of opening, so we didn't get to see much of it. 

Buying germknodel. We were going to get waffles until we saw someone get this, so we asked for whatever they were getting.

This was really weird. It was like eating a "man-to" bun with jam inside with warm vanilla milk sauce and poppyseeds...

fresh and sticky beer nuts

Christmas pig!

Fries with Joppiesaus. The sauce is something I learned about in Amsterdam. It's sort of like a flavour mix of curry and mayonnaise? Anyway, this is really good!!

We got a blow up Christmas tree on super sale today while roaming the streets. It even comes with snow on the inside!