Advertisement
Published: January 7th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Kilos of pretzels, soup, and cookies consumed by Felicia since we arrived in Germany 3 days ago: 50
Kilos of sausages, sauerkraut, and lager consumed by Jason since we arrived in Germany 3 days ago: 100
Litres of mulled wine consumed by Jason and Felicia since we arrived in Germany 3 days ago: 200
Wandering around in German Christkindlemarkts (Christmas markets): priceless.
We arrived at our hotel in Munich around 10pm. Fresh off the plane, we knew we didn’t want to go far. Especially because it was really really cold. As we walked out into the night, we turned around in all directions. A familiar and welcoming sign caught our eye: Lowenbrau. Yep. Right down the street, not even half a block from our hotel. Yum. Our first meal in Germany included Bayern Bratwurst, Gemüsesuppe, and pretzels. Of course we had to sample a bier as well. We did not come easily into this knowledge of the German names for our food: our waiter, seeing us helplessly looking at the menu (It was all in German) translated it for us. It turns out that he lived in New York City for 10 or 15 years. He also helped us get
our travel itinerary organized: He told us that we had to visit the following places in Germany: the Hofbrauhaus, the Neuschwanstein Castle, the Nyphemburg Castle, the Augustiner Bierhalle, the Munich town hall, and the Olympic Stadium.
Not fully recovered from our travels the day before, we took the subway (public transportation is awesome in Germany—ontime, efficient. I don’t think we ever waited more than 10 minutes for a subway or tram) to the Marienplatz (town square). After dodging several Christmas shoppers, iceskating children, and iceskating polar bears, we arrived at our destination. H&M Women Clothing store. I mean Augustiner Bierhalle (more sausages, pretzels and bier for lunch to keep our sustenance up). I mean H&M Men Clothing store. I mean the Town Hall (which houses Munich’s famous Glockenspiel). I mean H&M Clothing store (Everybody). I mean the Christmas market. It was all here: Christmas ornaments, heart-shaped gingerbread cookies, and wooden puppets hung from stalls. Baked goods and straw decorations were sold from other stalls. Here, at the Christmas market, we sampled our first Nuremburger sausages (yum) and glühwein (hot mulled wine served in a coffee mug. You pay 11 euro, but when you return the mug you get half
Glühwein
Who knew that mixing cinnamon and spices with red wine, and then heating it up could taste and feel so good on a cold Christmas morning, or afternoon, or evening. of the money back). Felicia shopped until Jason dropped. (Felicia note: H&M has become a favourite because of their proclivity for fair labour practices paired with reasonably priced clothing). (Felicia note 2: Jason was shopping pretty hard, too! We finished most of our holiday shopping at the Christmas market…..). It was really really cold this day, too.
After eating dinner off the menu written in English in the Ratskellar (the cellar of a German town hall typically contains a restaurant), we walked a few blocks to the Hofbräuhaus. The Hofbräuhaus was built at the end of the 19th Century. The Hofbräuhaus probably seats more than a 1,000 bierdrinkers. In 1923, Adolf Hitler locked himself inside the Hofbräuhaus and declared himself the ruler of Germany. He, and his followers, were quickly arrested and thrown in prison. Revolutions typically fail when they are conceived, planned, and executed after several liters of bier. On a happier note, the Hofbräuhaus serves more than 10,000 liters of bier everyday! In the middle of the ground floor, an oompah band plays traditional German music while you eat, or drink. A Hofbräuhaus oompah band wrote a world famous song, entitled “oans, zwoa, g’suffa (one, two, chug).”
Hofbräuhaus
We drank and ate here several times. Many Münchers have a bier at the Hofbräuhaus every day. The regulars have their own Hofbräuhaus bierstein and a locker in the Hofbräuhaus where they can lock up their beirstein. History aside, biers are served in giant litre mugs, as Jason can attest to.
We did a few side trips in between days, which we want to write about in another blog. So that brings us to Christmas Eve.
On the flight to Munich, we sat next to a German college student who was studying Developmental Environments in an English University. Naturally, we asked her how Germans celebrate Christmas. She informed us that they set up their tree on Christmas Eve, place the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve, have a feast on Christmas Eve, and then open all of the presents on Christmas Eve. For the most part, she didn’t mention Christmas Day. We didn’t know quite what to expect for the 24th and 25th, but we figured it out soon enough.
Christmas Eve is probably the biggest holiday for Germans. Most everything closes down by 2pm (even when you have items to purchase in your hands and you are walking to the cash register).
umm... glühwein
Does it look cold. It doesn't feel nearly as cold after drinking sweet, sweet glühwein Realising this, Jason and I went back to the Marienplatz to buy some food for our holiday meal. We hung around the Christmas market a little more, too (the 25th was not just very very cold, but very very very cold, so we had to have glühwein at the beginning and end of our shopping excursion) We could not subsist on the plate of Christmas cookies that the hotel staff had left in our room that morning. We spent our Christmas Eve eating pasta, Christmas cookies, crisps, nuts, bier (of course) and watching DVDs.
The 25th, Christmas day, started out sunny enough but still cold. Beyond very cold; it was extremely cold. Many places were still closed. On our way to Dachau, we saw lots of people holding plates of Christmas cookies and presents obviously on their way to visit loved ones.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.05s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 13; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0206s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sim
non-member comment
I enjoyed reading your travel blog. I was also in Munich at Christmas time and really enjoyed it. It was just magical and it's amazing how warm a city can be in the coolest of weather. I am definitley going to try to return there some day. And the gingerbread!!! Yummy!