Christkindlmarkt in München
By Lothar. Filed in Germany |
Today is Nikolaus-Day (St.Nick) in Germany.
Last night we took the U6 subway from Nordfriedhof (next to our Ibis Hotel) to Odeonsplatz and U5 to Theresienwiese (site of the Oktoberfest), now Tollwood Christmas-Festival. We spent a great evening with Maria, Nicole and Rolf, strolling through the market and taking in the Christmas atmosphere. This was an international bazaar, with merchandise and spicy food, primarily from Asia, not my favorite. Instead of eating there, Nicole took us to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. It was counter service, as we have come to know it from Australia. We ordered our food at the cooking counter and a pager went off when they was ready for pick-up. We went to bed around midnight, exhausted, but happy to be here!
Now it is Saturday, December 6, and we begin our day with breakfast at the Kaufhof Dinea Restaurant, overlooking the City Hall at Marienplatz. Next, we meet Maria and Rolf, and together we visit the “Kripperlmarkt” am Rindermarkt. This is Germany’s largest market for Nativity scenes, hand-made wood carvings from Oberammergau, South Tyrolia and “Erzgebirge.” All of the hand-carved angels, kings, and divine families with their stables and animals are very impressive.
Next we find the “Weihnachtsdorf im Kaiserhof,” a village market in the historic courtyard of the emperor’s residence. We see all kinds of craft-making, from wood-carving, to jewelry-making and glass-blowing. We still have energy and take the subway to Wittelsbacher Platz, where the Medieval Christmas Market is in full swing.
The “Mittelaltermarkt” takes us back to the era of knights, castle ladies and traveling entertainers.
The booths are made out of old wood, and the wares include medieval leather shoes, pottery, knights’ armors, spices, fresh-baked bread, fresh-smoked salmon and even a pig roasting on a spit next to the Christmas decorations. They even offer “Dragon-blood,” but we stick to drinking the hot, flaming red wine (Feuerzangenbowle). We just have to wait until the alcohol stops burning before we can enjoy the wine!
In the afternoon it starts to rain, and we say goodbye to Maria and Rolf. We do a little shopping in Munich and then I drive our comfortable Mercedes A180 on the Autobahn to Memmingen. It is dark, raining and the temperature near freezing. I don’t want to take any chances and keep the speed under 110 MPH.
We pass Ochsenhausen, which looks very festive, with all the old houses illuminated by Christmas lights. At 19:00 we pull up to the Parkhotel Jordanbad in Biberach. Here, Gabi and I plan to soak in the thermal pools and sweat in the various saunas during the next 3 days. I can’t wait to savor some S+S, meaning soak and sweat to be clear.