I loved getting to Skype with family last night, as well as watch part of the Seahawks game. But I woke up this morning after just a few hours of sleep feeling tired and unenthusiastic. This was my fifth plane ride in three weeks, and I wasn't really looking forward to a long travel day. I got to the airport just an hour before boarding this time, and they boarded and took off on time. The flight was bumpy, and I wasn't feeling very well by the time we were just half an hour into it. I decided to try and get some shut eye. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and actually fell asleep.
I woke up an hour or so later feeling much better. The turbulence was gone, and out my window I could see the snow covered Alps rising out of a sea of fluffy marshmallow clouds. It was such a gorgeous view! We landed in Munich at 2:45pm and I headed to catch a train into the city.
I liked Munich before I even left the airport. Everything smelled wonderful and there was a lovely little Christmas Market right there at the airport complete with ice skating and Christmas trees. I caught the 3:05pm train into the city and arrived at the central station forty five minutes later.
My hostel was really close to the train station and I found it pretty easily. I checked in and went to drop my stuff off in the room. There I met a girl named Laura. She's from Canada and had been traveling around Europe since October. After talking for awhile we decided to go and explore a few of the Christmas markets together.
The first place we headed was the Medieval Christmas Market. It took awhile, but we eventually found it. This market was small, but nice, with lots of cute little booths and plenty of people eating and drinking. We looked around for a few minutes before heading down the street towards the main Christkindl Market.
On our way there we walked by the Royal Residence, which has what they call a "Christmas Village" in their courtyard. We walked through looking at the the ornaments, carvings, furs, clothing, and more that vendors were selling, and watching little kids get really excited about the stalls of animatronic talking or singing animals. After a few minutes we left and went to the main market.
By then it was dark, and really cold, but neither of those things took away from the festive market atmosphere. I love how the city is lit up with lights and trees and decorations. As we walked through the Marienplatz a choir was singing Christmas carols on the balcony of a nearby building. The foods smelled amazing, especially the spiced roasted nuts. I bought a huge pretzel to eat as I walked along looking at everything.
When we finally came to the end of the market, there was a small area that seemed to be specifically for food vendors. Everything looked and smelled delicious. I got some kaesespatzle for dinner (Basically just noodles and cheese, but SOOO good!) and ate it as we walked back to the hostel.
Our hostel is less than a ten minute walk from Marienplatz. We got back and warmed up (so. cold.) before deciding we were going to head back out again for a drink.
We made our way to Haufbrauhaus. It was packed with people sitting at wooden tables enjoying lots of beer. There was a band playing music, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We walked around to look for any open spots but eventually decided to try somewhere else. It was just too crowded.
We soon learned that everywhere was crowded on a Friday night. So instead of going somewhere for a drink we grabbed a gluwein (hot, spiced wine) from one of the many places at the market. It was nice and hot, but a little too syrupy sweet. I got to keep the mug as a souvenir though, so that was cool. :)
When we returned to the hostel a second time we met the two other girls who are staying in our room. They're from Australia. We talked about why we were traveling and where we've been, and shared advice and tips for different cities we've been to. It was nice. I'm probably going to join them on our hostel's free walking tour tomorrow, which should be fun :)
Today was good. I didn't get lost, ate yummy food, and made new friends. I'm excited to have a whole day to explore tomorrow!
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