The Motherland

Today, we decided to be extra adventurous.  So we did a little research and then hopped on one of these guys and took a little day trip to Germany.

It seemed like the right thing to do, considering Jeremy has German ancestors on both sides.  And being in the Czech Republic, we realized we were only a two hour train ride away from Dresden.  And yesterday, when we learned from our Euro trip friends that Dresden has the most beautiful Christmas markets that was just about all of the convincing we needed to make this trip happen.  Thankfully, it was relatively easy.  A few Metro stops to the Train Station and then two hours to Dresden.  We learned that the trains are pretty fancy and the ride was incredibly smooth.  There was so much to see, but honestly, I slept through most of it though Jeremy caught some great countryside shots.

Our train took us right to the City Center of Dresden.  We walked through about three Christmas markets an each was pretty awesome and amazing. My favorite display of the morning was this one where Santa replaced his reindeer with flying pigs.  Pretty creative, right?

I was most enthralled with all of the beautiful Nutcrackers.  I have collected them since I was a child and getting to see so many beautiful ones was such a treat.

After walking around a bit, we stopped to get some Weisswurst because it just seemed like the German Christmas fair thing to do.  It was quite delicious.

We also took a bit of time to tour the beautiful buildings near the city center.  The architecture was breathtaking and the beauty of the buildings was not to be overlooked.

We also checked out this famous wall and stopped for a quick picture.

We even had enough time to go and tour the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (yes, I had to Google that) and saw the Sistine Madonna, by Raphael.  Jeremy and I are huge fans of Art museums and this one did not disappoint.

Afterwards, we walked out to see the Zwinger Palace Garden.  It wasn’t super garden-y for this time of year, but was still quite spectacular.

And then we headed back towards the City Center.  On our walk we passed this creepy carousel and I giggled seeing that for 2 Euro, you could get one Fahrt.  I should feel immature, but it actually still makes me giggle as I type this so I’m fine with it.

We came across a few more Christmas markets and I have to say, they just never get old for me.  I love that everyone so happily and joyously celebrates Christmas and it’s added so much to our trip this year.

We ended our tour of Dresden by finding the perfect Nutcracker.  It was this guy.  Because he was a little bit German and a lot of Christmas and he was my favorite.

We also got some of these amazing German potatoes.  They were incredible and we enjoyed every bite.

And then we hopped back on our train to take our two hour ride back home.  Amazingly, everything went really smoothly.  I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about traveling to another country, but all in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Jeremy got to see his Motherland and we both had a wonderful time visiting and touring Dresden.