Ah
München you did not disappoint in giving me my fill of Christmas bliss! When Sarah and I made plans with our friend John (who is studying abroad in Stuttgart) to make Munich our last trip, we had two goals 1. visit as many Christmas markets as possible and 2. visit as many beer halls as possible! Sarah and I were the best traveling companions for this trip- she loves Christmas, and as you can tell from my blog, I love fun markets and fairs.
We landed at the Munich airport (which happens to be a 40 minute train ride from Munich) Friday night to snow on the ground! Along with the snow we were greeted with very bitter temperatures. Once we got to the city we checked into our hostel which was so nice and clean with lots of amenities, including a dog named Sunny who I had to be torn away from. We decided to hit up our first beer hall while we waited for John although we were nervous to venture out knowing no German and not having our translator with us yet. We headed to Augustiner-Keller, one of the main breweries in Bavaria I believe. In typical beer hall fashion we were seated at a table with several other people. One couple was nice enough to help us out with deciphering the menu. Second glance at the interior cover of the menu and we saw a photo of that nice coupe--we were sitting with the owners of the beer hall! For some reason that really excited us! I'm glad they pointed us in the right direction though, we tried some of their beer and shared some sausage, a pork knuckle (I have no desire to know what it actually is), sauerkraut and pretzels...we all know how I feel about pretzels! After that delightful dinner we walked around, discovered our first three christmas markets that were closed for the night, and explored Marienplatz taking in the beauty of the New Town Hall. John met us at the hostel at 1, but my then we were cold and wiped out so to bed we went.
New Town Hall
Saturday we spent walking all around the city with many breaks to warm up my cold fingers, drink some gluhwein, and try some treats! The first place we stopped at was the Oktoberfest grounds where they had a huge Christmas Festival set up. I couldn't get over how large the grounds were! Once we saw that we headed back into town a bit and couldn't even help how many Christmas markets we ran into without even trying. I'm not even kidding, we wandered past at least 9 Christmas markets that day!
We also spent awhile wandering around Englischer Garten, a huge park in the city that is significantly bigger than Central Park! It was great watching all the kids sledding on their beautiful wooden sleds. Unfortunately, I suppose due to the weather the nude beach was not a happening place. We walked to the Chinese Tower in the park and although we didn't visit the beer hall that is there, we did manage to locate a market on the grounds. There was even a Santa Claus-esc figure wandering around! Although I think I may hate Christmas now after he gave me the scariest look when I took a photo of him!
For dinner we headed to the world famous
Hofbräuhaus! After spending a significant amount of time trying to find a table we were able to take it all in at this awesome place. I had my first mass of radler (lemonade + beer). Oh my those mugs are huge...and heavy! For dinner we had more traditional German fare. I got a pretzel and spaetzele. The spaetzele was amazing! The
Hofbräuhaus was just such a fun environment. We even got to listen to an oompah band!
On Sunday we put on our layers and headed out to go visit Dachau. Being there was such a moving experience especially being there with a foot of snow on the group in freezing temperatures. It is just mind-blowing to think about everything that went on there. As sad as it was, I am really glad I got to visit Dachau and have that experience.
Wow I have done a lot of awesome trips! I am really looking forward to going home, seeing my family, the holidays, Megan's wedding, and going back to school for my last semester of college but I will be sad to not be able to get up and go to another new and amazing city week after week.
I have finals this week so am staying put in Florence attempting to finish a paper and study. Of course, there will be an obligatory visit to the local Christmas market (just for comparison's sake :) ).
Well....the trip has come to an end. I've gotten really sad, I think I'm actually going to miss this place! Let's hope that I'm able to get home in a timely manner. Florence got pummeled with snow yesterday, and since they rarely get it, the whole city basically shut down. It did make for some beautiful city sights though. Town had already light up with Christmas lights everywhere and some trees that had sprung up overnight, but the snow just made everything that much more magical!
Tree in front of the Duomo.
Delicious pizza for lunch with friends.
Snow! The garden at school.
My street.
View from the top of the Duomo.
