Czechs vs Santa Claus

Again, 24 December in Central Europe is Christmas.  In the USA, and the UK, the 24th is Christmas Eve and the 25th is Christmas Day.  In the UK, the 26th is Boxing Day which isn't a thing in the U.S.

In Czechland, and Germany, the 24th, the 25th and the 26th of December are public holidays.  Like all public holidays you hope that they don't fall on the weekend because then you lose the free day off.

In Germany, the 25th and 26th are Erster Weihnachtstag and Zweiter Weihnachtstag, respectively the First and Second Christmas Day.  The 26th is also Stephanstag (St. Stephen's Day).

In Czechland, the 24th is Štědrý den.  The 25th is první vánoční svátek and the 26th is druhý vánoční svátek, the First and Second Christmas Day with the 25th also called Boží hod vánoční (the Christmas Feast) and the 26th also being Svátek svatého Štěpána (St. Stephen's Day).

Today we started out with Oma's typical German breakfast.  This is coffee with fresh bread rolls, meats, cheeses, butter, home made jams, and hard-boiled eggs.

We went for a walk around town for a couple of hours and then just relaxed for the rest of the day.  There are always fairly tales on German TV and of course we had to watch Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel which is the German version of Popelka.  It's always on TV in what used to be East Germany.  It's not as popular in Western Germans.  Also for some reason, in the east, Cinderella is "Aschenbrödel" but in the west they say "Aschenputtel".

This afternoon Oma put out another Christmas feast.  

We had duck and goose, with potatoes and gravy, dumplings, red and green cabbage.  It was delicious!  

Dinner was way better with everyone here in Berlin than it was during last year's Covid Christmas where I joined them for dinner on Skype.

While we were celebrating Christmas last night with the Weihachtsmann it seems that the Czechs were fighting with Santa Claus.

On 24 December, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defence Command) tracks Santa Claus' trip around the globe.  They've been doing this since 1955.

Řízení letového provozu ČŘ, Air Traffic Control of the Czech Republic, is responsible for the airspace above Czech territory.  They put out a video on Twitter that Supersonic Ježíček submitted his flight plan and was doing Mach 9 (11.113 km/hr or 6905 mph) through Czech airspace.

©ŘLP ČŘ

Remember that Santa doesn't bring the presents.  Ježíček does.  In the following video I found out on YouTube, the Czech military shoots Santa out of the sky and then tanks surround him.  At the end of the video there is a disclaimer that neither Santa or any reindeer were injured in the making of this video.  You'e got to love the dark Czech sense of humour.

©tvarmycz

The Czech police went even darker.  They put out a public service video to illustrate the dangers of driving while SMSing (texting).  In the video, Santa gets distracted while driving and has an accident.  The Czech police come to the rescue by taking over his delivery route.

©Policie ČR

Christmas 2021

Veselé Vánoce!  Fröhliche Weihnachten!  Merry Christmas everyone!  

We went over to Oma and Opa's place for coffee and sweets.  In the early afternoon we usually go to church where the local kids put on a Christmas pageant.  Due to Covid restrictions in Germany the pageant was held outside.  

The rain was on and off, so with everyone's umbrellas no one could really see a whole lot most of the time unless they were in the very front.

Then it was back to the house for dinner.  Our typical Christmas dinner is sausages, Buletten, and potato salad.  I was happy with the Buletten I prepped yesterday.

Der Weihnachtsmann showed up later at the front door.

Tünde sang a few songs and she ended up with a sack full of presents.  We then opened presents.  

I must have been a pretty good boy this past year because I did pretty well.

Later we watched some Christmas movies.  I'm sure that tomorrow we'll be watching Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel which is the German version of the 1973 film Popelka.

Dark Matter

Dark Matter is a former factory in Berlin where they show light and interactive audiovisual exhibits in pitch-black rooms.  This year they have their first open sky light installation called Winterlights.

It's a 1000 m² (~10,800 ft²) area outside with 200 Christmas trees and 80.000 LEDs.  Lights, music, and smoke that repeats every 30 minutes.  It's pretty neat especially when there's a bit of icy rain in the mix.  

Although it is cold outside there's coffee and mulled wine to help keep you warm.

Here are a few videos I took.  

Getting Ready for Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas over here in Euroland.  Sometimes people forget that this isn't my first Christmas in Euroland.  Tomorrow will be my 13th.  Maybe people assume that I fly back to the U.S. every year or something but without fail, someone will always point out to me that Americans celebrate Christmas on the 25th.  Which is true but not always.  

In the U.S., it's Christmas Eve which is still basically Christmas because in the USA we usually celebrate both.  As a kid, I remember going to one part of the family for Christmas Eve, the 24th, for a big dinner, presents, and usually midnight mass.  Then on Christmas Morning, the 25th, it was presents with the immediate family, and then lunch and presents with the other part of the family.  Nowadays, with so many people getting divorced and re-married it's not that uncommon for some kids to have two sets of parents and four sets of grandparents.  

Let's not forget that not everyone celebrates Christmas.  I know many people who celebrate Hanukkah and some celebrate both which is Christmakkah or Hanumas.

There are a few more differences.  Americans put up the Christmas tree usually right after Thanksgiving and it stays up for over a month.  Some take it down around the 26th, or just after the New Year's.  Usually no later than the first weekend after New Year's.  Anything after that is tacky.  The same goes for outside Christmas decorations.  

Czechs, and Germans, normally decorate the Christmas tree during the day on the 24th.  Sometimes the day before.  Claudia's mom finished decorating the tree this morning.  The tree will say up until 6 January for the Feast of the Three Kings which ends the Christmas holidays.

In Czechland it's Jezíšek, and in Slovakia it's Ježiško, Little Baby Jesus, that brings the gifts.  It's the same in parts of Germany (and Austria) where it's the Christkindl who brings the gifts.  In other parts of Germany, we wait for the Weihnachtsmann, Father Christmas.  Tünde is excited about der Weihnachtsmann coming tomorrow.  She's planning on singing four or five songs for him.

Today Tünde read me a Christmas story called Das Geheimnis der Zuckerstrange.  It's the German version of The Candymaker's Gift which tells the story of how the candy cane was created.  I'd never heard it before but it's a cute story.

Somehow it was decided that I was making the Buletten for dinner tomorrow.  Buletten are traditional German meatballs made out of ground beef, ground pork, onion, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper.  They are panfried but can then be eaten either hot or cold with good mustard.  I think that they turned out fine but we won't know until tomorrow.  Hopefully they will be better than the frozen Ikea meatballs I had last year.

Later we went to check out Dark Matter.  Maybe this was my reward for the Buletten.

Johannes Oerding

Johannes Oerding is a German pop singer/songwriter that's pretty popular in Germany.  Well, he's at least popular enough that I've heard of him and I like his music.  He was born in 1981, in Münster, but now lives in Hamburg.

I believe that he was discovered in 1999 and in 2009 Columbia Records released Erste Wahl as his debut album.  It didn't do that great but it was re-released in 2010 and it hit number 39 on the German charts.  His second album was released in 2011 and debuted at number 11.  His third album came out in 2013, debuting at number 4 and going gold.  One of my favourite of his songs is Einfach nur Weg which was on this album.  Here's the music video that I found on YouTube.

©Johannes Oerding

In 2013, he came in second place in the Bundesvision Song Contest.  Budesvision was the all-Germany version of Eurovision, that ran from 2005 to 2015, and at least 50% of every song had to be in German.

Oerding's fourth album came out in 2015 and it too went Gold after debuting at number three on the chards.  

His 2017 album debuted at number two and went platinum while his 2019 album debuted at number one and went gold.

One of my favourite songs is An guten Tagen which translates to "On good days."  Every time we hear it on the radio, Tünde and I jump up and start dancing around.

What's funny is that in Berlin, where the local dialect is Berlinerisch, quite often the "g" sound becomes a "j".  So when Tünde started signing the song she said "An juten Tachen" which I heard as "An Juden Tagen" and I couldn't understand why she was singing about "On Jewish Days".

Here's the music video that keeps the Munchkin and I jumping up and dancing around like a couple of fools.

©Johannes Oerding

It looks like I'll be back in Berlin in February for a concert.  This evening I found out that Johannes Oerding will be at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on 9 February so I just bought tickets for Claudia, Tünde and I to go.  

Update:  Covid strikes again.  Due to the increasing numbers the concert is cancelled.  Fortunately, the concert was going to be a surprise so Tünde didn't even know about it so at least she wasn't disappointed.  But I am because I was really looking forward to it.

Update:  We finally got to attend the concert in April 2023.

Advent Sunday Lunch

No business class upgrade this time

I'm back in Berlin for Christmas.  On one hand it seems like it's been so long since my last visit.  On the other hand it seems like I was just here.  Which is true because it's only been eleven weeks.

I got here yesterday and today we went over to Oma and Opa's house for Advent Sunday lunch.  Today is the 4th Advent Sunday before Christmas on Friday.

As usual, Claudia's mom cooked up a feast.  Venison, wild boar, dumplings, potatoes, gravy, white cabbage, red cabbage, and green cabbage.  I know that it sounds like a lot of cabbage but they all taste so different and all are delicious.  I already know that I'm getting some jars of red and green cabbage sent back home with me.

Some of Claudia's family joined us for lunch which meant that Claudia, Tünde, and I got to sit at the kid's table.  It's been a while since I was at the kid's table.  

It's a good thing that I'm been losing weight because Oma has been baking.  Oh so many delicious sweets.  My favourites are the gingerbread and the glühweinkuchen which is mulled wine cake.  

After lunch, which was basically a late lunch/early dinner, we went out for a walk in the neighbourhood.

In Germany, some people do decorate the outside of the homes for Christmas but nothing super flashy.  You won't find a Griswold house over here.  

It's hard to believe that it's Christmas already.  It's so good to be back here for the holidays.  I know that it's going to be way better than last year's Covid-Christmas.

Tünde has already begun the to-do list.  There's always a list.  But who knows?  Maybe there's a chance of hitting Nikolaiviertel for a traditional Feuerzangenbowle.

Brno City Break in 2022

A couple of weeks ago, Time Out magazine published their list of "The 16 best city breaks in Europe for 2022."  Brno came in second place.  While it's great for Brno to get the recognition I kind of hope that it retains its status as a hidden gem.  They even mentioned my favourite cafe for breakfast.

Here's what the article said about Brno.

Although sandwiched between Prague and Vienna, self-confident Brno is no middle Child.  Once a powerhouse dubbed the "Moravian Manchester", the laidback Czech second city has repositioned itself as a post-industrial science and tech hub.  But you'll find plenty of clues to Brno's layered past at a clutch of offbeat underground attractions, including the mysterious brick cisterns at. Žlutý Kopec, communist-era nuclear bunker 10-Z, and the "Denis" bomb shelter under the cathedral.  The food and drink scene is reinventing itself to, from contemporary international at Element to Výčep na Stojáka, a modern take on a trad pub.

The perfect day:  After breakfast at Café Momenta, head up to Špilberk Castle and grab lunch at Cafe Placzek.  Explore the historical centre before dinner at Atelier Bar &Bistro and a nightcap at Rotor Bar.

Plan your trip:  The Industrial project celebrates Brno's manufacturing tradition, with several former industrial buildings opening to the public for the first time in 2022.  Káznice, a Habsburg-era prison, is also being redeveloped and will host events in the summer. --David Creighton

Here are the rankings.

1. Arles, France
2. Brno, Czech Republic
3. Kaunas, Lithuania
4. Odense, Denmark
5. Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Ljubljana, Slovenia
7. Turku, Finland
8. Inverness, Scotland
9. Valencia, Spain
10. Sheffield, England
11. Trikala, Greece
12. Oslo, Norway
13. Rotterdam, Netherlands
14. Liverpool, England
15. Milan, Italy
16. Freiburg, Germany

A few of these spots have already been on my list of places to visit.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to do a bit more travel in 2022.

Update: 2023 rankings.

Another Paternoster Lift

Yesterday I was in Prague for an appointment.   Christmas decorations are up but the Christmas markets are closed.

While in the city I came across another Paternoster lift (elevator).

Five years ago there were 68 still in use in Czechland but it seems that now there are only around 50.

Down 21 kg

Like most people I've been on one diet or another for longer than I can remember.  As I get older it gets harder to lose weight.  Oh the joys of getting older.

I'm currently down 21 kg (46.3 lbs) which is good.  It doesn't sound so impressive when I think that this is over the past six years.  That's only 3,5 kilos (7.7 lbs) per year.  Well, it does sound a little better in pounds but that's part of the joy of metric.

I still have way more to lose and it does get frustrating sometimes.  But I have to remember that I didn't put the weight on overnight so I can't expect to lose it overnight.  

I'm actually not on any particular diet.  I've just changed my eating habits.  I try to eat healthier, try not to eat after 6 pm, and drink more water.  Nothing too revolutionary.  I exercise 5-6 days a week but that's been the case for years.  But exercise and better eating...who knew?

Update:  Now down 24 kg.

Update:  I hit my goal weight.

Pre-Christmas Party 2021

On Saturday night there was a pre-Christmas party at the cottage where we celebrated Vašek's birthday party in October. 

There were probably around 30-40 people there throughout the course of  the evening.  It's really a nice group of people.  

My bad karaoke sining must have been good enough because not only was I invited to this party but I've been invited back for New Year's Eve too.

Here's a small sample of a few folks singing "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.

Of course, here's what it's supposed to sound like.

©Imagine Dragons