The Gluhwein Strikes Back: More Berlin Christmas Markets

This crazy interactive theater happening by Lunatiks Production is all about making winter appealing to Berliners who grouse about the gray skies and the black ice on the … cycle paths. They've taken over six run-down garages next to the old swimming baths on Oderbergerstrasse, with each one representing a different month of the long slog between summer and spring. You spend four minutes in each, and they promise you'll be grateful for spring when it finally comes. Sounds like fun, eh? [link]

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This Weihnachtsmarkt takes pride of place in front of the main facade of the beautiful Baroque palace and is suitably tasteful, with food tents provided by the Palace … Hotel and tapas bars shoulder to shoulder with smart sausage grills. The handicrafts are a little more pricey than average, but it's not so posh that you can't load up on bright red toffee apples, chocolate-coated bananas, or glacé cherries on a stick. Glühwein is served at a rustic bar decorated with antlers, right next to a giant two-story copy of one of those traditional whirligig nativity pyramids. [link]

The Dahlem Museum complex has gone appropriately multi-kulti with its Weihnachtsmarkt, offering two floors of stalls full of crafts from around the world: Mexican … embroidery, handwoven rugs, Indian garments, carvings, and toys. You can also have your hands henna'd as you sip fresh coconut milk from a shell or wait your turn for a meal in the "Bedouin tent." Each weekend of Advent has a different continent for a theme, and next weekend is Amerika, so there will be a program of activities and live music that includes a local Delta blues band, The Love Gloves. [link]

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How do you have a kitschy holiday market in a cutting-edge piece of architecture like Liebeskind's Jewish Museum? Answer: You use special stalls that look like the Ikea … foldaway version of the main building. There are only about ten booths here, offering novelty kippahs, deli goods, bijoux cosmetics, toys, and candy, but it's fun. You have to go outside for the food: lamb bratwurst with hummus or baked camembert with cranberry sauce. But there's lattkes and kosher stollen to follow. For those unfamiliar with the whole Hanukkah thing, there's a little exhibition scattered between stalls that explains the whole deal. Through December 31. [link]

OK, so there's nothing radical about this markt, but if you don't find central Berlin sufficiently gemütlich or trad German, head out to the forests in the west to … hear Christmas carols and watch a nativity play in the Grunewald. The wealthy locals will probably be keeping snug in real fur as their security cameras follow your movements closely. Frohe Weihnachten! [link]

Oh come all ye Prenzel'berg clichés to the green and ethical Adventsökomarkt, where everything is fair trade and proceeds go to help the children. Scoff organic waffle … and mead while deciding which handmade wooden toy to buy the kinder in your life. Buy a responsibly harvested goose. Buy a free range Christmas tree. Weihnachts never felt so pure. [link]