A Weihnachts Outing

Weather wise, we probably could have picked a better day to make the 150 km trip to Dresden to go to the Christmas market. …or what should have been a trip of 150 km and just a couple of hours in ideal conditions.

Sunshine, Suz and I got started a little bit after 10 yesterday morning. It was not snowing at all in Prague, but the border between Czechia and Germany is all mountains and it was snowing up there. We drove through Teplice and were heading for the Cínovec/Altenberg crossing when we were diverted because of the snow. The cop told us we could go west and try the crossing at Moldava. When we got to the top of the mountain there, we drove right into a white-out and had to turn round and go back. The car got stuck and Suz and I had to push. While I was having visions of us losing our footing and the car rolling back over us, two lads suddenly appeared to help. We drove back down the snowy curvy mountain road and discussed our options. We figured the sensible thing would be to leave the mountains behind and stay inside the Czech Republic so of course we headed further west and back into the mountains to the next border crossing. Another near white-out and Sunshine being determined and fearless and loving his new very effective winter tires, and navigating by the poles marking the road…and finally we got to the crossing at Mníšek and made it into Deutschland. Things were even worse on that side but we did make it to Dresden by about 3 p.m.

We parked the car and walked towards the Altmarkt where the main Christmas market takes place. The Dresdner Striezelmarkt was established in the year 1434 and is the oldest Christmas market in Germany. Sunshine and I wanted to drink our way round it. We started with glühwein mit amaretto. The warmth and the alcohol were just what we needed. It was still snowing.

We walked further into the Altstadt, threw snowballs and looked at the Frauenkirche in the snow – absolutely breathtaking. Sunshine and I were thirsty again. We went to get some beer and lunch and it was wonderful to be inside and to eat something hot. Sunshine and I chose sauerbraten with cabbage and dumplings; Suz is a vegetarian so had to take what she could get.

We returned to the market fortified and Sunshine and I got back to drinking. We had blueberry glühwein, which was a bit strange, and then Hausgemachter Eierpunsch (homemade eggnog, TM – it was really good), and then things got weird. Sunshine went to the next drinks stall and came back with Feuerzangenbowle – I have got no idea what it was, but it was warm and I drank the cup that was given to me. Before I had even finished that, we spotted the seller that had received the market’s best glühwein award and so Sunshine pushed another cup into my hand. Suz, by the way, was being uncharacteristically sensible and not drinking much at all. She just kept buying more and more things to wear (e.g. socks, gloves) as she was trying to stay warm.

We made a second foray into the culture centre to use the toilets. We walked upstairs but the door to the first floor, where the toilets were, was locked. We walked back down to the ground floor and Sunshine decided we should try the lift. I thought there was no way they could be that stupid, to lock the door but not the lift, but I was wrong. We got off on the 1^st floor. I went straight for the disabled toilet. When I came out, I got a talking to but spoke no German so the man would leave me alone. Suz was waiting back in the lift and filled me in. The doors to the other toilets had been locked and she and Sunshine had been apprehended. Suz had been trying to hide so she could use the disabled toilet after me, but that hadn’t worked. Sunshine had then gone to use the toilets by the restaurant on the 2^nd floor. We went up there, Sunshine was just coming out of the men’s, and the queue for the women’s was just stupid. Sunshine took Suz into the men’s toilets; several other women followed.

We went back out to the market, and I think our next drink was Jagertee – again, no idea what it was, but it was warm and felt lovely in my veins. Eventually Sunshine said that it was time to go and see if the roads had got any better. We were worried about not being able to get to the border on that side. We would have happily stayed the night in Dresden, except that Sunshine had to work today. But the roads were fine, there was no traffic and we were able to cross at Altenberg/Cínovec and get back to Prague in about 2 hours.