Weekend in Germany and Prague...yeah, it was cold

This week is the Bayram holiday in Turkey where everyone gets a whole week off of work and all the shops are shut down so I decided to take a little vacation to Germany to visit my sister. It was a great change from Turkey because I finally got to see some Christmas stuff! I had almost forgot it was that time of year because I am not bombarded with it in Turkey and it is almost like it doesn't exist. So I had some good times seeing the Christmas markets, eating some home-cooked food and getting to wear my scarf and mittens again. The best part of the weekend was the trip to Prague. I am in looooovvvvee with Prague. It may have jumped to the top of my Favorite Cities in the World List! Even though it was raining and 32 degrees and I had to be outside for 7 hours and almost got hypothermia, I still loved it. The Gothic architecture, the Charles river, the massive town squares...gorgeous! If only Matt Damon had been there as Jason Bourne, it would have been the best trip ever.

Okay, I didn't actually take this picture but it was better than the one I took of the bridge so there you go.

The funniest part of the day was when I went to get coffee and told them my name and the barista said "Like the Kelly Family!" (blank look on my face) "You know, the singing group of brothers and sisters! They all have the long hair? You know? .......The Kelly Family." I didn't have any idea what see was talking about so I Googled it when I got home and came up with this motley bunch who apparently have 23 albums. I still couldn't figure out what country they were from but something tells me not America.

So anyway, I got to see a Salvador Dali exhibit in Prague, do my Christmas shopping and walk about 15 miles and then it was time to return home. My sister and her family live in Grafenwoehr which is an Army base in a really rural part of Germany so the wide open spaces and sparse population was also a big change from Izmir. The highlights of the trip were going to a crafts fair with my sister where she was selling jewelry, going to the Christmas markets in the surrounding towns with my brother-in-law, Chris and eating this killer traditional potato pancake with Nutella inside. Yuuummm. Oh, and buying perfume at the PX for half the

price in a normal store!

So now I am back in Izmir and have the next 3 days off of work and I'm trying to keep myself busy without spending any money. Laundry is on the agenda for tomorrow.