Christmastime in Germany

                                                                                                                                        (Author: Rachel)

Germany has always been a special place to me. It is the first place I spent a significant amount of time in Europe (not counting the first European tour I did as a teenager.) The semester that I spent there in college was extremely life changing, and it was the first experience that made me begin to desire to actually live in Europe. For years afterwards, I intensely missed Germany, and tried to do everything in my power to get back there! I first visited again about four years later with my parents. Shortly after that visit, I finished my teaching credential program, and immediately began looking for jobs in Germany (which, strangely, is how I ended up in Spain!)

So flash forward to current day…

One of the first important decisions we had to make after getting married was what we were going to do about Christmas! Being with our families for Christmas has always been important to both of us, but having just flown home for the wedding in October, we didn’t feel like we could afford two more trans-Atlantic tickets just a couple of months later. We also had a crazy Fall of still being in different locations more than we would like, and were ready for some quality time together! We decided it made the most sense to do something unique for our first married Christmas.

Christmastime in Germany has been a long dream for both of us. Devin has heard me talk about Christmas in Germany ever since we first started dating (which was right after I returned), so he has had building desire to be there also.

Thankfully, we have close friends who currently live in Wiesbaden. When they invited us to spend Christmas with their families, and offered to let us use their home as our “base”, we knew we had to do it!

The first week, we spent in Western Germany. Of course, the first day there we went to Heidelberg. I always dreamed of being in Heidelberg with the person I loved…but did not imagine it would be a reality just a few years later! The most surreal part was that we got to stay in the same Pension where I lived for a semester. The pension is tucked away on a small side street in the old town, and it was just as I remembered. It was so much fun to share my experience there with Devin, get to show him my room, have him meet the owner of the Pension, and listen to the church bells outside the window together.

We leisurely wandered through the Christmas markets, walked along philosopher’s way, strolled up and down the Haupstrasse, had a few gluhweins to warm up, indulged in some zimtsterne (my favorite Christmas cookie!!), and spent sunrise in the Castle courtyard.  It was so fun to share memories with Devin and relive my experience there again.

Looking at the city from Philosophenweg.

From the top of the Heiligeistkirche

View from the Castle courtyard on a cloudy and windy morning!

The next day, we took a driving tour along the Rhine River to look at all the castles. I had no idea that the river is completely lined with beautiful castles – some restored, and others quite original. At first, we stopped to get out at each one, but when we realized how many there were, we decided to complete the tour as just sightseeing from the car.

Rhine River behind us 

The following days surrounding Christmas, we spent in Stuttgart, a city about two hours south. I had been there before to visit my friend, but it was fun to see it in a different light. We had Christmas dinner with combined families of our friends, and stayed cosy inside the German homes - napped by the fireplace, toured the Stuttgart castle on a rainy day, ate authentic German food (made by a German grandma!), and sang German carols by the Christmas tree. Thankfully, we were able to skype with my family on Christmas morning, so I could watch them open gifts, and we even had a spot at the breakfast table. It was really hard to not be there in person, but technology thankfully let us get as close as possible while still being across the ocean.

This is the famous style of German mug. I purchased one for my grandma years earlier,
and now Devin and I have matching custom ones. We love them!

Our amazing friends, Michel and Julia, who made our Christmas so special.

We struggled to tear ourselves away from this fireplace.

German food at it's finest.

A rainy day to tour the castle of Stuttgart

To wrap up our time in Western Germany, we took a day trip to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is a city just over the border of Germany, with an interesting mix between French and German architecture. It is a beautiful town, which thankfully still had their Christmas markets set up! We only had a few hours there, but spent them admiring the unique buildings, browsing the markets, and taking in the breathtaking cathedral.

Such beautiful (and delicious!) macaroons

The next day, we set off for Eastern Germany, which I’ll let Devin tell you about in our next post!