WOYWW 186

Another week has gone by with no blogging.  Please can I be excused, it has been Christmas.  Here I am back with showing you what is on my work desk.  Why?  Because it has become quite the thing not to miss a Wednesday without showing what is on it - or, to be exact, WOYWW.

Because of the time of the year there are no makes going on (well to be truthful there has been a birthday card made for a friend of mine) but I want to show you something else - ready?

This is my workdesk, the remnants of making a card with my gift from Vicky Stampers - but what is that below?

Two lovely handmade books I received from card making friends. The one on the left is filled with lovely sheets of shades of handmade brown paper and the other with lovely sheets of handmade paper that has been coloured in various shades of teal and decorated very subtly. Thank you so much to Samski and Wendy for those delightful gifts. Now to decide what to fill them with, any ideas out there?

Well, all that is left is to wish you all a Very Happy New Year. Perhaps you will all join me in wishing  for More Peace in the World and a prayer for guidance to the legislate of America for cutting down gun crime especially in the wake of the two latest outrages that have occurred there.  God Bless the families of those affected.

WOYWW 185

I cannot believe I have not posted since last Wednesdays WOYWW. What have I been doing?  Where has the week gone?

And more to the point - why am I still making Christmas Cards?  Just look at my mess of a desk

and a push to the right

one to the left

pure messy!

And I just wanted to wish you all A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

just like two of my WOYW friends wished me

Tuire (sorry my scan is a bit wonky)

and Shaz

(another wonky scan)

So to all you WOYWW'ers out there, once again Merry Christmas and next week I will share some more handmade cards from my friends.

WOYWW 184

Well dear fellow WOYWW'ers at last I have begun preparation for Christmas.  A little late I know and I am cheating in that this is my desk a few days ago when I was in a hotel in Berlin.  Yes, so desperate was I that I took some diecuts with me, a tube of Stickles and some of Claudine's magic glue.  Also took some of my cards to add a bit of sparkle to as they look so dull and I need them for CHA.

Here they all are, set out on the dressing table/work table in the hotel - just wanted you to see I had been busy whilst away.

This is looking down the desk - 16 poinsettias (4 glittered dies to one poinsettia) and 100 business cards.

Nothing on my desk at home as I have only just arrived back so hope Ms Julia won't ban me for cheating - just a little.  If you don't know what the heck I am talking about pop along to The Stamping Ground sign up and look at all the desks on there.  Will take you a while so sit back with a flask and a mince pie or two and enjoy!

Just to prove this is it today

Read the last few posts if you want to see my exploits whilst away.

Hi Annie, nice to have you on board!  Thanks!

Back Home

As per usual with flights we were an hour late in setting off. Better than some though as our plane had lots of passengers on who should have flown out Sunday. Yes, that's right ... Sunday!

Apparently the passengers sat on the plane a long time and then had to get off as they could not find a crew for it and the other crew had reached their time limit. One elderly couple from Shipley in Yorkshire had returned the next day at 7.30 am to be told they could not fly that day either.

The lady who sat with us had gone to a hotel with the two little boys whilst her friend, a German girl, had stood in a queue for hours (two different people told us the queue stretched from one end of the airport to the other - all flights seemed to be cancelled) only to be given a note to say they had to find a hotel and it was then 11 pm when she joined the other lady at the hotel they had stayed in previously. Chaos! Was I glad we were not due back Sunday.

Well, as I discovered I had lots more photos to show but thought I would not bore you with all 149 of them, minus the ones already uploaded of course. However are a few I thought might interest you









We had one of these not knowing what on earth they were. Guesses at marzipan or apple fillings! Nope! They were stollen type fillings but not as a solid ball, it kind of fell apart. Anyone know what the real thing is?


And a close up of the lovely glass ornaments - love that open lily shape, the small ones were only €7 which I thought was reasonable but how to get it home safely?



And for those of you who tried to guess the price of the Ghluwein in Berlin's Lidyl ... ... €1.19. ... ... which poses the question, does it really cost so much more to ship it over here, pay the tax etc and who is the winner in all of this?

Nearly Home Time and More Snow

Woke up this morning to a fairly clear day, not much snow had fallen in the night and, in fact, it appeared to be thawing. Clean path running alongside the hotel making walking so much easier.

Today we wanted to go to the market at Jannowitz Bridge and Alexanderplatz. Off we set on our usual 100 bus with a change at Zoological Garten and on to the U bahn. What a surprise when we arrived at Alexanderplatz, the market was quite a big one


And it had started snowing again



Loved the carousel.




and look at this interesting time piece.

Lovely store too where we called to see if they had exciting decorations -sadly no. But I did buy my son something. Shhh! So it was back to the U bahn for the market we had spotted one day from the train which looked quite interesting.

Oops, when we got there we had a good hour to wait before it opened so we took ourselves into town and had something to eat returning to find the Big Wheel a-turning. I bet this is a real fun market in the evenings with teenagers having the time of their lives.


Anyone for hoop la?

Or a stomach churner?

Or maybe a fast car plus being tipped almost on your head?


and then there is always the chance you will get left at the top of this long arm.



and for the more sedate of us - a sweet castle


and a ghost ride to scare us wit-less


Ok we will leave the funfair there and go on to


Checkpoint Charlie.

By now the snow was coming down thick and fast so we beat a hasty retreat to Gendarmenmarkt which was to be our last market of this trip.


With entertainment - they were really good and the washboard was excellent.

Great cheese stalls

Paul, this one is for you - smelly runny cheeses.


Those white dots are actually snow ...




The young lady above got annoyed with me taking a photo, I think she was shooing me off here.


So, a bowl of the most delicious soup (goulash, pork, potato and herbs - with a dash of cream, a glass of the most delicious Ghluwein of the trip and it was time to head back to our hotel and begin packing.

Just as an aside: we love Lidl's Ghluewein at home and we pay around £4 a bottle - guess how much it was here in Lidl? Answer tomorrow with a quick download of a few more photos.

Oh Boy, Did It Snow Today

In blizzard conditions we braved the weather and headed up to Spandau Christmas Market. This involved quite a journey by bus U bahn but I love travelling in Germany and it saved me walking. To be honest we did not have snow when we first set out but when we arrived at Spandau it was coming down.

Not like the big flakes we are used to at home but small flakes which relentlessly wet us through.

It was such a shame as I am sure this would have been one of my favourite Berlin markets. It just seemed to have the right atmosphere.


and they were out continuously clearing the snow.

Not sure who this fella is but what a grumpy face



If you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see the falling snow on the backs of the people to the right of it.

This might give you some idea of the snow that fell during the morning. The car I am stood in front of has quite a covering. This is in Potsdamer Platz, our next port of call.



Chas wanted to see inside the Sony Building and here am I stood to the right. Don't laugh!



We went to the Christmas Market across the road but first we went into the "Arkade" for a warm. Was Chas glad I had dragged him in




What a wonderland of lights.




A sit down and something to eat was in order. We had nibbled our way around Spandau but not to our usual standard so food was first on Chas' list.




Spencer was a bit cold and hungry too.




Outside Santa look alike no 2 was busy roasting chestnuts as we made our way back to the station for our journey to Eberswalder Strasse for the St Lucia Christmas Market at Kultur brauerei. It was such a shame that I was, by this time, in considerable pain with my foot as I could not enjoy this market to the full. It was a real family affair with lots of parents pulling little ones around on sledges. Most were wooden and one had a beautiful fur back to the seat which made it look "a cut above the rest" you might say.

Wish I had taken some photos but it was very bad underfoot with snow bedded down on cobbles that had water dripping on it from the roofs of the stalls. It was so crowded too that I just had to hang on to Chas for dear life.













I was even too weary to have a photo with Santa so we headed back to our hotel.



Where we had some lovely complimentary snacks and more sparkling water left for us in our room. Cannot fault the hotel, will come back, we have really enjoyed being here (did I tell you you get lost in the enormous soft pillows?)

I'll leave you with Spencer enjoying what was left of the snacks.

Potsdam

Saturday saw us on a train for Potsdam which is a city in its own right on the south west edge of Berlin. I had read about its Christmas Markets and they sounded a bit special. Potsdam is a bit special too and somewhere I would like to visit in the summer time.

So, what was special about the Christmas Markets. Well this weekend it was the turn of the Dutch Christmas Market and Sinterklaas was due to arrive on his white horse, Americo, with his two stooges, the Black Petes. Here he is dismounting.



We were rather disappointed by the appearance of Sinterklaas (and Americo was not pure white) who was obviously a young slim man, especially when he was introduced later, on the stage, by a real looking Father Christmas. Maybe Sinterklaas is not meant to look anything like the traditional Father Christmas - but this guy filled the boots if you excuse the pun.



and the beard was real. (By the way, no idea who the sinister grey hooded person is on the right).

Anyway the Dutch community certainly went out of their way to entertain us as we watched two sessions of traditional dancing.



The women wore lovely lace bonnets with immaculate pleating at the back and they carried lovely little lidded baskets to do their shopping in.




We were also treated to some music from a blackened band but for fear of not being PC, and upsetting someone, I chose not to include them in my blog.

Here are some of the traditional crafts being demonstrated whilst the trades people sold their wares:









Well, I had to show you this vintage sewing machine didn't I?

The street where we were had lots of eateries and one was advertised a
little differently



Can you see who is driving? Obviously this little tot had as she did not want to come away.

This "hurdy gurdy" completes my pictures of the Dutch Market but where did we go then?


Another Market I had read about was the "Romantischer Weihnachtsmarkt auf dem Krongut bei Sanssouci" which roughly translated meant a romantic market In the beautiful Sanssouci Park.

A bus and a short walk led us to a market where you had to pay for admission. Now I know there is another one coming up that we have to pay to enter, but I don't mind as it looks a great place (we saw it on the bus trip) but I objected to paying €2 each for what mounted to about around twenty stalls and a couple of 'posh' shops. Plus we were in the middle of nowhere and I had to walk back for a bus with my whole body aching.

The only highlight was, whilst listening to this girl singing, watching the little one in red with a blue hat, getting totally absorbed in the music and treating us all to a wonderful display of dancing.



and the adorable Sheltie here


Plus, as we left the park we saw this gorgeous, lit up, windmill.