Thursday, December 07, 2006

Christmas Fair

As promised, here are pictures of a larger Christmas fair in East Berlin in December of 1989. This one had carnival rides and pony rides for children.



It being a Christmas fair, you could also talk to Sankt Niklaus himself and tell him what you wanted him to bring you!

Also, here is a picture of the top of a food stand. We studied Märchen, or fairy tales, in German, and I thought this was cute. Can anyone tell me, or guess, which fairy tale this is from? Can the Artist translate it? :)

Speaking of food, in Germany at the time, it was considered very rude to pick up food with your fingers to eat. So with food such as french fries, at Burger King, say, you were provided with a little plastic fork. At Christmas fairs, you usually received a toothpick-type object, and in E. Berlin it was a very splintery, chopped-up looking toothpick. But mmmm, the fries were good!

6 comments:

~Kathy~ said...

Oh, you are bring back so many memories! We used to love to go to the Imbiss (Turkish fast food stand) near the house (our apt. was one of many in the house that had been divided up) we lived in. Our favorite was Schnitzel sandwich with pomme frites (I am sure my spelling on those is a little off, but it HAS been 16 years, you know! And yes, we always got a little fork.
I used to love to go to the Turkish vegetable stands and haggle with them. We always had TONS of fresh veggies and fruits. We also used to have flowers all over the house for just pennies on the dollar.
LOL about the East German fork! How'd you like their TP? You'll never guess what it was made of. I'll leave you with that teaser. E-mail me offlist and I'll let you know what it was made of. LOL!

Scottius Maximus said...

Barb!

"At Christmas fairs, you usually received a toothpick-type object, and in E. Berlin it was a very splintery, chopped-up looking toothpick. ""

Uhhh...wow! I aways heard East Germans were "in" to recycling, but that's ridiculous!

Marie N. said...

Interesting about the no-picking-up-food-with-hands cultural tabu. We did see people eat hamburgers with a knife and fork, now that I think of it.

The Artist is spending the night at her grandparents now, but I think she will spot Hansel and Gretel's witch's house without reading the words.

Were you served glasses of milk with ice in them?

Barb the Evil Genius said...

Didn't see a lot of glasses of milk, or ice, anywhere in Germany. Our professors preached to us that ice is a waste of water only used by decadent wasteful Americans.

Presbytera said...

I guess they don't market Kentucky Fried Chicken as finger lickin' good!

Thanks for the interesting pictures.

Genuine Lustre said...

The East Berlin I saw in 84 didn't look festive at all. I saw it from a bus and we had to stay on a special tourist route. Once, the west german bus driver made a wrong turn down an alley and the East German guide freaked out!