Around and in Seattle

In chronological order: 

Moar Pacific Northwest

Photos by David from our walk today!

Washington State

Staying with family out on the peninsula in Washington State. Scenery! 

Christmas pizza vol. 2

With David's family! This is one of our favorites!

And a bonus photo of David trying to dry off Riley.

First class!

A little late, but our dec 26 photo is from our first class leg (bought with miles) from Chicago to Seattle. Very comfortable!

Christmas pizza vol. 1

Homemade Chicago-style deep dish, thanks to David's skills!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here is a picture of the Christmas dog guarding the Christmas tree:

Happy birthday mom!

My mom's birthday is today. While there are downsides to a Christmas time birthday, one upside is I can always make it to town to sing happy birthday!

Cookies!

On one of my first days back home, I am assigned the task of making three kinds of cookies. This time, I had 3+ helpers to make the cookie making go more quickly and happily. Hooray!

Transatlantic

We spent the majority of our day in transit, so here are some plane pictures:

By the Schloss Charlottenburg

We rounded out our Christmas Market experience with the one at Schloss Charlottenburg (the Charlottenburg Palace). There was essentially a light show going on the palace walls, and of course plenty of food, glühwein and arts & crafts.

Berlin is pretty great around Christmas time! 

Another Market

Today we went out to yet another Weihnachtsmarkt. This one was kind of fancy and upscale  - more so than we'd like, but totally worth seeing. David took the picture today:

The U-bahn TV

I worked from home today, so David volunteered his photo: 

Those TV monitors are on the ceiling of every U-bahn train, and they alternate between news and advertisement. This particular new item is about star wars superfans who dressed up for the first showings of the movie - the middle picture features one of David's friends from work (in a stormtrooper outfit, of course). 

O Tannenbaum

This mini tree has come with me on every move. I don't think I've used it every year, but I have put it up in Riverside, New York, Seattle, Columbus, and now Berlin. Hooray!

Concert!

We had a small choir concert tonight with mostly holiday songs. Here's a picture David took at the end:

And we, of course, ended up at another Christmas Market at the end of the night:

More lights

Lights on deciduous trees can look silly, but in Berlin I've mostly seen it look lovely. I don't think the picture really captures how nice these looked.

Furniture rearranging

We did some furniture rearranging today, and this is the current state of what used to be our spare room. It feels nice and homelike. 

Frankfurter tor in the winter

Taken while waiting for a bus:

Weihnachtsmarkt Potsdam

Today I headed to a Weihnachtsmarkt in Potsdam with some AIP folks after work. There was a stage with medieval music:

Lángos (Hungarian fried bread) with knoblöl (garlic oil):

And kitschy mugs of glüwein clearly decorated for an entirely different occasion:

Weihnachtsmarkt

Tonight I wanted to ride the ferris wheel in the Christmas fair at Alexanderplatz. First, we walked by the more classic Weihnachtsmarkt:

Then, fortified with Gühwein, we headed to the ferris wheel:

With a quick stop by this creepy looking Santa robot: 

You can see that we weren't on the only ferris wheel in town:

And if you look closely, you can see the s-bahn that I often ride:

On our way back, we found just one light display for hanukah. Happy Hanukah!

Free chocolate

Apparently free seasonal chocolate from stores is a thing here (see this post) but the absurd part is that this one is in English:

Dome in the sunshine

It was sunny today, and I noticed how incredibly long the shadows were pretty much all day - the sun doesn't rise very high. Here is a picture in the morning sun: 

And the afternoon sun:

Pizza!

We went out for pizza after my German class, and this one looked particularly delicious.

Refugee Center

Today I went with some of my chorus to sing at a refugee center. This particular refugee center is located at a convention center - not necessarily bleak, but not really designed for its current use. We sang in one of those very high ceilinged rooms with a huge echo. Most of the people crowded around us to hear better. David came along and took this photo:

Of course, most of the refugees don't celebrate christmas and I wouldn't want them to change their faith. But I also feel that people should be welcomed (but not forced) into the portions of christmas that can be more secular - things like music, food, and togetherness. And I certainly hope we were at least an entertaining diversion in what may be a boring and uncertain existence.

Mail bike

I've been meaning to get a picture of this for a long time: many of the mail delivery people deliver by bike - this is what it looks like! 

Lights Everywhere

It's very dark by the time I leave work - that's the hazard of a 10-6 schedule this far north. At the beginning of this week, I was surprised to see lights on one of the trees at AIP as I was headed to the bus. The campus is clearly set up so that you can stargaze - note the absence of other sources of light. 

When the sun sets before 4:00 pm, holiday lights are extra nice. 

A Winter Walk in the Park

The late afternoon light was so pretty today that I was drawn out on a walk around the park across the street from the AIP campus: 

For the first time in a while, I tried to take pretty pictures rather than just document my day. So here's the best parts of my walk: