All the Christmas Markets were open in Munich with hot Gluwine and handmade Christmas decorations. It was beautiful with all of the major stores decorated for Christmas, and nothing was prettier than the Marienplatz. We shopped for Christmas decorations at the stalls lining the platz and ate the wonderful hot candied almonds from one of the vendors.
At seven in the evening in Marienplatz all the bells were chiming and a German brass band began playing Christmas carols from the second floor of the Altes Rathaus. After each carol, the crowd clapped and the band leader took off his green traditional German hat with a long white plume on it, to thank the crowd in return. Of course, the band was dressed in traditional costume. It might have been a hundred years ago, if you did not see the two-story Christmas tree with white electric lights in front of the beautiful gray Gothic building.
All the restaurants and beer halls were decorated for Christmas, so we had to stop for bratwurst, weisbeer, and pretzels at the 100+ year old Augustinger. We had drinks at a comfortable Cafe am Dom later, overlooking the Marienplatz,, where we were able to observe the Christmas tree and mart and all the shoppers from the second floor window by our table. It was great fun!
We went to see the Christmas crèches at the Bayerisches National Museum. They have expanded the collection which Judy had already seen three times, but we enjoyed seeing it again, and having a nice tea in the marble hallway of the great old museum. When it began to rain and snow, we rode the very nice trams around Munich as well as used the very efficient, and seemingly safe, underground.
One of the large department stores had Christmas windows telling the story of Christ's birth starting with the Annunciation and going on to the Three Wise Men arriving. It was encouraging to see people bringing their children and grandchildren, and telling them the story of each window. Now if they were Wise Women, they would have stopped to ask directions, arrived on time, and brought practical gifts. Don't you think?
We found a superb fish restaurant, Austrian -- The Austernkeller -- just off the Maximilianstrasse, and ate there two evenings in a row. The service was wonderful, the food superb, and the setting charming. It was packed with people all speaking German except for us. They were so very nice to us in English and, when that happens, it makes the evening. After our last dinner there, it had begun to snow. It was so very beautiful with the snow drifting down through the lights.
Thanks to Sun we stayed one night in the Bayerischer Hof, the fine, old grand five-star hotel of Munich, a few blocks from the Marienplatz. A two skyhigh Christmas tree greeted us in the lobby. I only decided to join Peter and extend our stay the day before he left and they were totally booked after one night. Everyone from miles around comes to Munich to shop for Christmas and visit the Christmas marts. It must be a Bavarian thing to do. So we went to the Arabella Sheraton, with a nice mountain view, and only 10 minutes from the Marienplatz on the U-bahn, whose entrance was only 30 meters from the hotel entrance. Both hotels had wonderful breakfasts, although as usual the Germans charge $10-$15 a head for it.
No trip to Munich would be complete without a visit to Alois Dallmayr's gourmet deli, a Dragers-plus. It was wonderful, as always, with all of the rooms filled with wonderful foods and decorated for Christmas. Lots of good smells and beautiful Christmas decorations to ponder. I inquired about sending a gingerbread house to my nephews, but they were honest and concerned that it would not ship well.
All in all it was a wonderful way to extend a business trip in one of our favorite cities, at one of our favorite times of year, and one where they put more Christ into Christmas than some other cities.
