If you have been reading my blog and following along, you know that we are now on what is called Mutterschutz…ok, even more accurately, Ana is. By law in Germany, the mom who is pregnant must take 6 weeks off before the due date at full pay. So we have 6 weeks before the due date to prepare and get everything ready.

For us, this preparation includes doing some fun things together and making sure we do some things that have been on our Berlin bucket list for a while.

In addition, because we can’t fly to the US for Christmas this year due to little guy appearing right around Christmastime I have announced my goal of Christmas markets this year. If you have read me in the past years, you know I LOVE Christmas markets. I love the feel of them, the festive nature, the gluhwein and the lights. I love that people are happy and it just feels festive. The first year I lived in Berlin I went to 8 Christmas markets and loved it. Then COVID hit and the market amount went way down plus last year I traveled to the US again.

This year I am aiming to go to at least 10 Christmas markets!

All of that being said, Ana and I set out on Wednesday to do something that has been on our bucket list and go to the first Christmas market for us of the season. Ana has agreed to go to three markets with me this season so I love that the first one I went to was with her.

We set out in the morning for the Bundestag or the governmental building. On top of the building is a dome you can climb. Next to the dome is a restaurant that is said to do an amazing brunch. We have been up in the dome a few times but the restaurant takes much more planning with a reservation and plenty of time. This was our time!

It was truly incredible. All of the food was amazing and well done. Every ingredient was high quality and the view was truly spectacular! We took our time and loved every minute of it. On our way back down we could stop in the dome to look around again and enjoy. The outside was cold but sunny so the inside was toasty warm and at one point almost too sunny. It was perfect!

When we were finished we decided to go for a nice walk because we rarely are near these touristy places and on a weekday sunny cold morning, it was really lovely to wander. Not so many tourists yet for the day and we could take our time.

We decided that baby needed his first pic at the Brandenburg Tor still in belly. He will be partially a Berliner after all!

We had to go for the bear pic too!

We were going full on tourist for a little bit and having a good time doing it.

We meandered until we go to Bebelplatz which is the location this year for one of my absolute favorite Christmas markets each season. Normally, this market is on Gendarmenmarkt but due to construction this location holds this magic and I did not mind one bit. We wandered in and looked at Christmasy things to kick off the season. The weather was perfect to wander and it wasn’t crowded…what a treat! The only shame was that we were so full that we couldn’t possibly indulge in any Christmas market treats yet!

After looking at all of the delights we went to one of our fav bookstores and then headed to a friend’s house to pick up their cosleeper for more baby prep. By the time we got home mid afternoon we were both so satisfied and pretty tired.

A good day for living in Berlin!