Believing in Nikolaus

Today Finland is celebrating Independence Day, but here in Germany the day is all about Nikolaus.

I wrote about Nikolaus two years ago in my blog post Odd German Way No. 4, but I have now learned something new. Even though Nikolaus looks like Santa Claus, he is not the 'Weichnachtsmann' after all. You can check the details *here*

I had thought about doing this Nikolaus tradition with Fräulein, as I knew they would be talking about him in the kindergarten. But we were very busy yesterday evening so the girls were already in bed when I remembered that we were supposed to clean our shoes!

At that point, I thought that we could skip the tradition this year. But in the morning I changed my mind and sneaked out to the staircase to fill Fräulein's boots with little gifts (our boots are usually so muddy that we store them outside the apartment).

But to my surprise, Nikolaus had already been there! And he had not cared that we had skipped cleaning our shoes!

*****
Suomessa juhlitaan itsenäisyyspäivää, mutta täällä Saksassa nautitaan Nikolauksen tuomista lahjoista. Aloin itsekin uskoa kyseiseen ukkoon, sillä myös minun likaisista saappaistani löytyi aamulla herkkuja!
  

And the Child Was Born

This little one decided to be born in time
to spend her first Christmas at home.

Merry Christmas to you all!

It's That Time Of Year Again

They have started to build the Christmas Market. The Sternschnuppenmarkt here in Wiesbaden will open on November 27th and you can enjoy the Glühwein until December 23rd.

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Wiesbadenin joulumarkkinoita on jo alettu rakentaa. Markkinat ovat avoinna 27.11.-23.12.

Christmas In a Nutshell

Christmas can usually be summarized in only one word: Food! This year wasn't an exception...

The first round...

What made this Christmas different to the earlier years, was our daughter. Although she couldn't yet undertand everything, she certainly enjoyed being surrounded by relatives and opening her presents!

There is also something else we will remember this Christmas by: the Boxing Day storm!

In the early hours of Monday, strong winds hit Southern Finland. At my grand-parents house, electricity was gone for six hours. But some, like my uncle's family, might need to wait until next year to get their electricity back...

Big branches came down from the pines outside my grand-parents house.



These trees fell down just on the other side of the road.

Merry Christmas!

Finally Here!

First snow,

and then our luggage!

Now we are ready for Christmas!

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town!

Silent Sunday

The Best Part of Blogging

The combination of being a Hausfrau and an Expat is not the best possible, if you are trying to create a new social network. Even though I have made some good friends here, it is always nice to meet new people.

So, the best part of blogging...

...is getting to meet other bloggers!

There are quite many expat bloggers in Germany and even here in Wiesbaden. Last week I was lucky to meet one of them, Frau Dietz. What a great person! I can warmly recommend her blog, especially her post about the beer calendar. Wonderful idea! :D

Frau Dietz invited me to the Christmas Market Meetup with other bloggers from this area. The meetup was yesterday and I was sure to participate, even though the weather wasn't the best for drinking Glühwein outside...

The meeting got a bit smaller than planned, but besides us two Fraus, also German Gems and Shoegirl were there. How nice to meet these new people! Even though I have been blogging only for a month and a half, they really made me feel welcome.

Unfortunately, Herr Welle was traveling on business (what a surprise...), so I had to take my daughter with me to the meetup. It was getting close to her bedtime, so she was a bit restless. And as she is now able to walk (now steady enough in outdoor clothing, too), it is not possible to keep her sitting in her push-chair, if it is not moving.

Luckily, German Gems brought also her husband along. He instantly connected with my daughter. And while I was enjoying the Glühwein with the other bloggers, these two walked around the Christmas market. The little girl hurrying around with a big grin on her face, the tall man following with a stoop while holding the girl from her hood. Back a forth, back and forth. What a great sight!

When we got home, my daughter was so hungry because of the exercise that she ate more evening porridge than she ever has! After her bath she was very tired, but was not able to fall asleep, probably because of all the excitement (and all that porridge). But then she slept like a baby until morning!

I'm starting to think that blogging is the Hausfrau's New Favorite Hobby!

Odd German Way No. 4 - the Early Arrival of the Weihnachtsmann

I have found out, how Santa Claus has the time to visit children all over the world on Christmas! I had thought it has something to do with the time zones, but there is another thing helping him: he visits German children already on December 6th!

The previous night, Dec 5th, German children clean their shoes (usually boots) and place them outside the door. During the night, Weihnachtsmann (German name for Santa Claus) brings small gifts, like sweets, apples, nuts and coins, to the shoes. 

Well, this is what my German teacher told me. I guess Santa Claus visits only part of Germany, as for some children it is Nikolaus (dressed like Santa Claus but a different person), who visits on December 6th.

So, is this all the German kids get during Christmas time, some sweets and nuts? No, they will have another visitor as well: Chirstkind!  I thought Christ-child would be a boy, but my German teacher told me I should call the child 'she' (in German das Christkind is neuter). On December 24th, she brings German children their gifts. In many families, she also decorates the Christmas tree while the children are not home.

But you cannot fool these Christmas characters. They must know that we are going to spend Christmas in Finland and Santa Claus will visit us then, so he didn't bring us any treats last night. Or maybe our shoes were not polished enough...

The Christmas Spirit of Rüdesheim

Now that our daughter finally has the new car seat (she has grown out of the old one a while ago...) we decided to go for a test drive. We ended up at the Christmas Market in Rüdesheim. Rüdesheim am Rhein is a small city about 30km southwest from Wiesbaden. And like the name indicates, it is located right by the Rhein.

We had heard some nice comments about the city and as they have a Christmas Market of their own, this seemed like a great time to visit. And we weren't dissappointed. The city has really put an effort in the market, like you can see on the web site www.w-d-n.de of the market (also in English).

What made this Christmas Market special and different from the markets in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, was that it was located on narrow streets in stead of a market place or a square. We need to get back to Rüdesheim on summertime to see how the city looks like in without all the Christmas Market decorations.

Although it was already dark outside, the Christmas lights lit up the market area nicely

The Rabbit Town

The Sunday dinner for two

Little Finland in Rüdesheim

The narrow streets enhance the atmosphere

In Frankfurt I was not able to get close enough to the carousel to take a picture,
here I could not get far enough!

 

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 4 - the Sternschnuppenmarkt

As I have reported in my previous posts, the Christmas Market has been open here in Wiesbaden for a week and a half now. We usually visit the city centre daily with my daughter, but for some reason I was able to check the Christmas Market only yesterday.

Yes, the Christmas spirit was there, but somehow the market felt a lot smaller than last year. Maybe it was just less crowded, as it was Thursday afternoon, or maybe it was a mistake to visit the market in Frankfurt first. I couldn't help but compare our local, cosy market to that of a bigger city.

But I'll show you a couple of photos, so that you can see for yourselves.

For some reason the spirit isn't there before it gets dark...

The Christmas Market takes place around the Marktkirche

The Christmas tree is certainly more beautiful here in Wiesbaden

The carousel in Wiesbaden is smaller than in Frankfurt, but at least here you are able to get close enough to take a picture...

These 'light flowers' you can find all over the city centre

The lights create the atmosphere when the sun is setting

The highlight: Sternschnuppen Rad at Mauritiusplatz

Finding the Christmas Spirit

I must warn you: this is embarrassing. But I'll tell you anyway.

The Christmas Markets have been open for many days, but I haven't visited them until today.

And it gets worse: I didn't visit the local market here in Wiesbaden, but the one in Frankfurt.

I promise, I'll visit the Wiesbaden market as soon as possible and tell you all about it. But in the mean time, here are some photos from Frankfurt.

Attractions in Wiesbaden No. 3 - Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche

The Christmas Market started today here in Wiesbaden. It was announced that to celebrate the opening, there would be fireworks at 6 pm. I assumed it would be very crowded downtown, so we drove to the Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche, where there is a great view over the city, to watch the fireworks.

We were there a bit early, so I took some photos of the church in the night-time lighting. A couple of minutes before six we took seats by the view. But nothing happened. Not a single firework. At 6.15, I gave up and we drove back home. Just when I had undressed my daughter - yes, you guessed it - the sounds of the fireworks started. We have a great view from our balcony, but it is not directly to the city, so all we saw was some lights reflecting from the clouds.

But I don't want all that trouble be for nothing, so I'll take this opportunity to introduce you the Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche or Griechische Kapelle as it is also known. It is one of those attractions, which you can find in Wiesbaden postcards. The church is located up on Neroberg, so it can be seen from far. It has golden onion-shaped domes, which shine beautifully when sun (or at night-time the artificial light) hits them.

in February

today

I won't get into the history in detail, because all my knowledge is based on Wikipedia, which you can study yourself. Let's just say that there was a 19-year-old Russian princess, death in childbirth and a grieving Duke.

Like with the Cuckoo Clock, it is also worth looking around the main attraction. There is a beautiful cemetery, which is the largest Russian Orthodox cemetery outside Russia. And the view over the city is quite amazing.

the view in October

Christmas Is Coming

Yes, the Christmas decorations have been in stores for some time now, but it still surprised me that they were building the Christmas lights at the Wiesbaden Schlossplatz today! Just to give you a preview of what it will look like, here is a picture taken during the Christmas Market last year. Maybe not as great as in some bigger cities, like Frankfurt, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

This year the Wiesbaden Sternschnuppenmarkt (Twinkling Star Christmas Market) is open from 22nd November to 23rd December. Can´t wait for a hot cup of Glühwein!