Christmas in Munich...

It was lovely.

Not only was the city beautiful and clean, but there was just something old-fashioned and wonderful about it. I loved it.

I'll not bore you with every detail of the trip but I will bore you with my hundreds of pictures (most of which I stole from my sister because her camera rocks). We went to so many places and saw so many things, so here are just a few of my favorite things..... from Munich:

Marienplatz - the town square where they had a fabulous Christmas market with so many beautiful (mostly hand-crafted) things and so many wonderful smells. If it didn't smell like grilled sausages, it smelled like candied apples and spiced nuts. Yum. Also, there was the most beautiful building - the Town Hall - that had a working glockenspiel in it. Super fabulous.

The Alps - They are beautiful and yep, I rode a toboggan down them. David, Traci, Calvin, and Henry rode a chair lift up to the top and rode their toboggans down a 3 mile run (an hour round trip) but I opted out (I'm a wimp) and Charlie and I stuck to the bunny hill. But we had a fabulous time walking the toboggan up the hill and riding down several times. I couldn't have had more fun with any other person than Charlie - he giggled uncontrollably the whole way down the hill every time we went. It was so cute. We talked Henry into coming with us once and he reluctantly accepted (he wasn't a big fan of the fast 3 mile long ride), and we ended up in a heap at the bottom of the hill. But they were so cute and we had a good time. The next best thing to that was having schnitzel and a warm cup of "kinder punch" (wassail) in the little restaurant when we were done.

The Residenz - It served as the seat of government and residence for the Bavarian dukes from the early 1500's to the early 1900's. It was really really beautiful. One of those places that I wish I could have seen while I was in interior design school....

The Deutsches Museum - The world's largest science and technology museum. There's something like 13 miles of hallway and about 28,000 exhibited objects and we probably saw a fifth of it. But it was really fascinating and educational.

Neuschwanstein - the castle that looks like the Walt Disney Castle. It is said that it was Disney's inspiration for the main theme castle and also for the castle in Sleeping Beauty. We took a horse drawn carriage up the hill (the castle is at the top of the Alps) and then walked the rest of they way up. The poor guy that owned it, Ludwig II, only lived there for nine months before he was diagnosed as crazy, committed to a hospital, and then mysteriously died shortly after. The castle was never finished, but it was very lavish and fun to see nonetheless.

Nuremberg - A fabulous little town outside of Munich. It still has the fortress walls up around the original city. We were there on Christmas Eve and I must say that this was my top favorite. The town was charming and the Christmas markets were fabulous. I got the most precious hand-carved nativity there. And I saw a flower seller that was selling flowers that made me want to cry. For reals. But the best part was when the huge (beautiful) cathedral bells started peeling (really loudly and longly - is that a word?) at 3 pm and everyone starting closing up shop and heading home to be with their families. It was adorable and felt everything good and Christmasy.

Frauenkirche (The Church of Our Lady) - a big beautiful cathedral at Marienplatz where Traci and I went to midnight mass. Yep, two Mormon girls at a Catholic mass - how much more random could it get? It was all in German and Latin and we didn't know what we were doing, but it was very interesting. And we sang Silent Night in Latin. I mean, how much more Christmasy can you get?

Ok, I know I said I wouldn't bore you with the details.... but I think I just did.

Anyway, here are some pictures. You may want to take a quick break - there really are a lot of them....

Charlie on the plane and Cal waiting for baggage

Me & my back-buddy, Charlie at Marienplatz

Cute little toy booth at the Christmas market

Marienplatz

The goodies at the Christmas market - true candied apples with hard candy shells (yep, had one! Yum!), candied and chocolate dipped fruits, and hot chocolate and real chestnuts roasted on an open fire (yep, had some! The hot chocolate was good, the chestnuts - not so much. But at least I can say I tried some!)

Another booth at the Christmas market... they were just so cute!

The Residenz - gor-ge-ous!

Nuremberg

The Cathedral whose bells rang loudly on Christmas Eve...

On the way up...

On the way down...

Turns out I can't steer a toboggan very well...

How cute are they?!

I have no words for how cute this boy is...

Calvin and his bog, me and the Janie, and all of us (minus David, the photographer) at the slopes

Jane while walking... Jane enjoying her own reflection... Isn't she the cutest?

I liked the taxis outside our hotel - they were Mecedes. Nice, right? Germans do make some nice cars...

Ludwig II's version of Versaille's Petit Trianon. Just one of his "little" escapes at the top of the Alps. Everyone needs one of these...

Neuschwanstein - the "Disney Castle." We didn't get the best shots of it...

but this is how it looks from afar... (not my picture - I stole it off the internet)

The precious hand-carved nativity that I got in Nuremberg. I love how baby Jesus can either go in the manger or in the crook of Mary's arm...

This is not German, it's Ukrainian. But Traci & David got this for me for Christmas and I LOVE IT. It is so detailed and intricate and precious. I have started a nativity collection and I have a particular interest in the simple ones with just the Holy Family. Isn't it beautiful? The top even comes off so you can put treasures inside... sigh.

Anyway....

Of all the eternally long posts that I have posted, I think this one takes the cake.