Glühwein (Spiced wine)

Berlin, December, 2016

The day we left for Berlin, a terrorist drove a truck into the Christmas Market in Breitscheidplatz, killing a dozen merrymakers.  This repugnant act of violence shook the city, and shook us, too, as the news spread via TV and the Internet.   

One of the main reasons we were going to Berlin was to visit the city's famous Christkindlmarkts (Christmas Markets).  Texts and emails and phone calls trickled in from family members as news of the attack reached them, and they were unanimous in their desire of us to stay away from Berlin, postpone our trip, or outright cancel it.

It wasn't an outrageous request.  After all, every market in Berlin was closed after the attack and, at that point, they weren't saying if they would re-open.  But, we were determined to go, so we got on our plane and headed to Berlin.

By the time we arrived in Germany's capital, everything seemed to have returned to normal.  After all, Germany is a huge city of about 3.5 million people and the attack took place in a tiny corner of it.  That night we went out and enjoyed the company of friendly Berliners enjoying the Christmas season and the next day the markets were open and they were packed!  Maybe some extra security, but the environment was festive, not apprehensive.

And this leads to Glühwein, a hot, spiced wine sold at all the Christmas Markets.  For a couple of Euros you get warmed and maybe a bit tipsy at the same time.  

While the Glühwein seemed like an exotic drink to us, we soon found every cheap tchotchke shop had a stainless steel canister of
Glühwein sitting on a card table next to styrofoam cups and a sign saying "2€."

We enjoyed many cups of Glühwein on our Berlin trip, including some at other Christkindlmarkts, like the one at Alexanderplatz, where I took these pictures of the skaters, but our favorite was the first cup at our first ever visit to a Christmas Market in Berlin.

Alexanderplatz Christmas Market, Berlin, December, 2016

Alexanderplatz Christmas Market, Berlin, December, 2016

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