One Night in Munich...

We had one night in Munich before John's parents arrived. So we got from the airport to our hotel. (Yes, the trains in Germany are awesome...affordable, clean, easy to understand, and alway.on.time.) The hotel was about 1/2 mile from Marianplatz, the tourist center of Munich. Lots of cool architecture, churches, shopping, museums, and food.

On the way, we had our first taste of gluwein, spiced wine served around the holidays.  And while we were enjoying this, little flurries of snow started to fall.  Serious heavenly trip off to a good start.

That's the New Town Hall (in German: Neues Rathaus...how could any American not just LOVE the fact that a government building is called a "rat haus"?!?).  The Gothic Revival architecture is stunning, and that tower houses the Glockenspiel. (Sidenote: Yes, Hank is almost as tall as I am. No, he had no pants other than school uniform pants before our trip.  Only Jack owned a long-sleeve shirt...which we had brought from Texas for Hank in summer 2010.)

The Munich Christmas Markets were in full swing, set up in the square in front of the rathaus and decorated with lights. We did a little shopping, as I immediately began wondering how many suitcases we would have to buy to get home...as a reminder, on the summer trip, we bought four...I'll go ahead and spoil it: we had to buy two large rolling duffel bags...

After the long day of flying and the little bit of shopping, we had our first Munich meal at a beerhall: the famed Hofbrauhaus.  The food was good, the atmosphere was great, and the beer was...as the Germans say, "supa!"

Yes, I did. Every drop.