Synopsis: We went to experience the famous Christmas markets (Kris Kindle Markt) and to return to the place where Rob and Jean lived while completing a tour in the US Army (Rob, not Jean) in the early 1970's. The markets were crazy, crowded, and cold, but it was hard not to feel the Christmas spirit while drinking mulled wine eating copious amounts of sausage (Eric, not Erin).
Again, the journal entry for this trip is in Erin's book.
Pics of the trip--http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.cgj781lj&x=0&y=4v87cu&localeid=en_US>
The following entry was copied from Erin's hand-written journal.
We arrived Friday into Munich. We took the Bahnhof to Hauptbahnhof station (approx 30 minutes) and found our hotel – Tryp. Smoking indoors is still legal so it is a bit unbearable in the lobby of the hotel. We drop our things in the room and head out to find the Marienplatz to see the Chirstkindl Market. The stalls at the Christmas market consisted of ornaments, lebkuchen (a version of gingerbread), gluhwein (mulled wine), wooden crafts, sugared nuts, chocolate covered fruit and nuts, and a whole lot of brats & brezn (pretzels). We ate a ridiculous amount of pork. The ___ (orbrot) was the best part! The weather was bitter cold, but that didn’t stop us from being outside all day. We went to a traditional restaurant, Ratskeller (“City Hall”) under the giant Glockenspiel (cuckoo clock) for dinner. We both had sausage, some form of potatoes, and potato pancakes to start. 
Everything seems to close relatively early in Munich. But on our way back to the hotel we happened upon a skating rink where quite a few children (and a few adults) were enjoying the small outdoor rink.
Saturday
This morning we tried to work out in the hotel, but it was really janky so we did a makeshift workout in the room then headed out. We arrived at the train station but found the tickets to be really expensive so…we decided to rent a car and drive to Nuremburg. Eric’s parents lived in Nuremburg for a few years and recommended that we go since we were so close and because its Christmas market is so famous. The drive was relatively uneventful, but Eric was really excited to go 160mph in the Fiat on the autobahn. That might have been the highlight. The trip took approximately 1 ½ hours – not too bad.
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| One of many Lebkuchen stalls at the Christmas Market |
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| View of Nuremburg from the Castle |
***I, Eric, copied the Belgium and Germany trip notes out of Erin’s written journal (it’s now 2011 – over three years later) and her Nuremburg entry mysteriously cuts off mid-page! I’m afraid my memory only contains the summary points by now, so the details will be missing from here out.
We spent a lot of time looking at the Christkindlmarkt. The offerings were pretty similar to what we saw in Munich and the place was absolutely packed with people. We bought ourselves the painted-Santa-Clause-with-candle-hole which we’ve used every year since. I can’t remember what we did for dinner, but there’s a good chance it involved pork. Later that night we drove back to Munich. We were ready to go out for dessert, but again the city was pretty quite except for a few clubs so we found a coffee house (it might have even been a Starbucks!) and shared a piece of cake.
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| 1972 Olympics Pool Venue |
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| Eglischer Garden |
