Munich 1

Arrived in Munich in the evening after a fun day visiting the castle in Nuremberg and a quick dash to a couple of breweries GB wanted to see before we left.

First impression of Munich is that it is everything that the "best city to live in" people say it is.  It is clean, safe, pretty and full of the charm of Bavaria.

We have visited many a beer hall already in our 2 nights of being here.  Last night we did a beer challenge tour.  GB had a ball.  I will reserve my judgement for when I have more sleep so it will be balanced and not jaded by wheat overload and sleep deprivation.

One thing I did learn on the tour was that it is pretty much a must that we buy our own fireworks to let off on NYE.  A German girl on the tour advised that NYE people will generally watch the countdown on TV and then rush the streets to all light their own fireworks to celebrate. She also gave me the tip that you should throw the firework before it explodes otherwise your hand will also explode.  Apparently there are lots of accidents each year and they still haven't been banned.  This is why I love Europe.

There is also a cute tradition of melting some sort of metal on a spoon and dropping it into cold water and reading from the shape of the now cooled metal what the year ahead will hold for you.

Rathaus

Pork free day

Old Town House

Hoffbrauhaus

Rainy walking tour of the city

Inside HB

St Peters

Beer tour

Marzipan everywhere!

Christmas Day

My first Christmas in Europe was very fun.  

A little walk to find the tour

The rock cut cellars used for bunkers during the war and the storage of beer before and after

The brewery/distillery that still uses the cellars

Having a pre-lunch drink 

Christmas dinner

Heilig-geist-Spital

Merry Christmas

Next stop - Tarantula Bar

And the very last stop - SHINY COCKTAIL

Nuremberg

Nuremberg is living up to expectations in the pretty Bavarian city stakes.  We are staying in the Old Town section of the city which helps.

We arrived yesterday by train, yet another awful ride on the German trains, and were delighted that the hotel was as cute as the pics on the internet and that we had a great location for walking to all of the sights in old town.  Dave is also in Germany for the next 10 days.  We are having Christmas and New Year together.  It is fun to be in another country with friends - have really only ever done it with GB.

Last night we ventured to the wall - well a part of it - which has now turned into the red light district of Nuremberg.  Very strange place indeed.  We managed to be completely weirded out in a very strange bar where the older bar tender lady offered to strip for Dave at a cost of 60 euro.  We politely finished our drinks and made haste out of the venue.  Lots of girls hanging out of windows wearing very little, offering...well who knows, we are in Germany after all...

We went for a Kepab and some water instead.

Today was the last day of the Christmas Market.  It didn't have the same party atmosphere of the Hamberg or Weimar markets.  A lot of tourists and not a lot of charm.  We did try new glühwein flavours though - cherry and blueberry.  My recommendation would be the standard with a hearty shot of rum - its the best.  Everything now is closed for Christmas.  We couldn't find anywhere open for Christmas Eve so we are having a throw together meal in our hotel room of cheese, olives, sausage, bread, sauerkraut and a nice organic Franconian red wine, recommended by our friendly and passionate Deli / speciality store owner.

Lorenzkirche

Market pic

Cute apartments

Christmas Eve fare

Weimar 2

Yesterday was the best day we have had in Weimar and perhaps on of the best of the whole trip.  It was snowing when we awoke, which is always a great start to the day.  It is like a really good foundation, covers up all the nasty bumps with a beautiful clean pure blanket of sparkling white and leaves the important features displayed, even accentuated.

We did a self paced walking tour of the city and learnt that Weimar has a very big crush on Goethe and Schilling and lets them play way too much of a role in any historical feature of the city.  The other day we went into a little museum/display they had set up about the history of Weimar.....the feature started back with first man etc and I thought it was going to be a very comprehensive albeit concise look at the development of the town and the great important city it became - but it ended before even the 1900's.  Very disappointing. And they had the character of Goethe narrate the majority of it.  So when we decided to do the walking tour I thought we would have better luck.  Not so.  This time our guides was both....yep Goethe and Schiller.  By the end of the tour I thought Goethe was a arse and Schiller a dick.

But it was a fun way to walk around the town and it took us to the Cemetery which we had both wanted to check out.  Afterwards we had many a refreshment at the Glühwein hut that has become our home in the market, then we headed over to the town hall to listen to the bells and enjoy the events on that side of the town.

It snowed pretty much all day - with a slight pause in the middle where the snow turned to sleet.  I loved it.  Chris made friends with a kid that decided to use the wrapping paper rolls that his mother had given him the task of carrying around as weapons.  He was very creative with how many different weapons he came up with actually.  And I made friends with a group that had bought their ageing Bernese Mountain Dog to the market with them.  We bought a silly glass snail and were taught the correct way to ask for a shot of rum in our mulled wine.


I can't really describe how beautiful it was to be standing next to a massive Christmas tree with a trumpeter playing and looking up into a sky snowing down on me.

Snow ball fight

looking pleased with myself for direct hit

The very best Christmas and it is not even Christmas yet

then GB got his own back

The river Ilm

more snow fights

I was trying to convince GB that the snow was thick enough to make an angel

hot Apfelpunch

Weimar

Weimar is everything that I thought small German cities would be like, extremely pretty, cute and lots of fun.  I love the old architecture, the cobbled streets and footpaths and of course the way they all are nuts for Christmas.  I am 100% sure that GB and I are going to be the annoying ones in the family when we get home - going over the top for and about Christmas.  It has gotten under our skins - we love it.

It is the small things.  Seeing father and son carrying home their Christmas tree on of the Christmas tree stalls in the city - just walking it back to there apartment.  Or the lady with a cart attached to her bicycle with a big tree in it.  The way all the family come out to the markets and have a wurst and some glühwein.

Weimar has been witness to my very first hangover of the trip.  Our first afternoon was fantastic, until I accidentally got hideously drunk.  We experienced several bars, the Christmas market and saw the sights of the town centre.  So much fun followed by so much hurt.  The next day we walked through the park and visited Goethe's garden house and some ruins we stumbled upon.

I think it is lucky that we are here in Winter, as beautiful as it is now, because I am pretty sure if this place was in all it's Autumn splendour then I am not sure I would ever leave.

What?!  Another Christmas Market

Ruins in the park by the river

Fish stall, that is a smoking box out the front

our local drinking establishment in Weimar is the one of the bigger Glühwein huts with fire to help keep you warm

The main square in front of the Town Hall

we bought too many sausages from this guy

a trumpeter playing on the balcony of the Town Hall  - it was beautiful

A little bar where we ended the night 

Not sure what this building is but I love all the little windows in the roof

Castle Museum and tower (think it might have been part of a gate house once)

Goethe's garden house - in the spring and summer it is covered in vines