Munich Christmas markets

It's been a while since my last post, so I promise to blog a couple times this week.  I spent most of December on the road - Chicago, Tampa, NYC, Munich and Riga, so there is plenty to write about.  I have been to Chicago, Tampa and NYC a million times so I won't really say anything about them, except I got all my favorite foods there...so let's start with Munich...

I went to Munich to meet a couple friends (Mike and Pascale were visiting from Quebec, and Lukasz was meeting us from Italy).  I have never been to Germany but there are so many places there I'd like to see.  I didn't really have an agenda for Munich, other than go to the Christmas markets, beer halls, and to just spend some time with old friends.  That's a good enough vacation for me. 

I was impressed to see that the markets are so popular, even the airport has one, complete with flame throwing Germans!

After meeting Mike and Pascale at the hotel, we went for dinner and drinks at a beer hall.  Apparently this is a very popular thing to do in Germany.  It is just a very large building, with wooden tables everywhere.  You pick your own table (no hostess) and sit down...even with strangers if necessary.  Then you order beer and sausages.  Our waiter said they didn't have any more small beers, so we had to "settle" for liters.  I am not sure how you run out of small beers when they just put them into a mug from a tap, but I am not complaining.

We did some sightseeing, but I didn't worry too much about seeing everything, since I know I will be back...most likely for Oktoberfest.  Anyway, here are a couple things we saw...

The Olympic stadium/village.  This is where the Summer Olypmics were when a bunch of people on the Israeli team were taken hostage and murdered in '72.  I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone that would have remembered that, but if you have seen the movie "Munich" you know what a tragic time that was.  If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it.  Really good. 

Christmas market in town.  Lots of little shops of trinkets, but also lots of stands for gluwein (mulled wine).

It's so famous, even Santa gets his mulled wine there!

 More sausages.  Really, you can't get enough of them...there are so many to choose from.  And the potatoes and sauerkraut are delicious as well.  And the sweet mustard that comes with the white sausage.  So good.  It all goes perfectly with a liter or two of beer.  I also tried a cabbage roll, which was cabbage stuffed with meat.  It was tasty as well. 

Enjoying one last gluwein.  What a great time in Munich!

See you there next September!