However, in an effort to experience a more traditional Christmas feel, we ducked over to Munich for a weekend of sausage eating, glüwein drinking, and Christmas market strolling.

Saturday:
The weather was cold enough ( -1°C maximum) for the real experience, but unfortunately, no snow. However, it was perfect weather for getting wrapped up, wandering the streets of the old town, sampling the sausages, checking out the churches and warming ourselves with mugs of glüwein (warmed red wine with honey and spices).

After the crowds of the Market in the Marienplatz, it was a relief to discover a mini-market in the square within the Rathaus (Town Hall). There we nodded as a stall holder explained the intricacies of carving wooden nativity figures and sampled some more glüwein, seemingly to the disapproval of the stone gargoyles looking down from the arches surrounding us.  (About here, the digital camera packed up for the day.)

We then wandered north, through the English Garden to another market, ate a sausage, then followed a tip from a local we had met on the flight over and continued up to Münchener Freiheit where the local Christmas market was more suburban, more modern, more local and more intimate.

There, as we drank the glüwein with the locals, listened to a small choral group do an eclectic mix of numbers, smiled at the incomprehensible jokes and the audiences laughter, and relaxed and enjoyed something resembling the elusive ‘Spirit of Christmas.’

About now, exhaustion set in, and after experiencing the Christmas Market in Marienplatz at night with a higher density of crowds, being big saddies, we were in bed by 8:30pm.

Sunday:
Wandered back through Marienplatz to experience it one more time and to eat another sausage dish with cabbage at a stall. Then climbed the spire at St Peters for panoramic views of the city as far as the perpetual mist would allow.

Wandered over to the river and checked out the Deustcher Museum for a couple of hours, wandering amongst cut-away versions of 747s, 42 different types of flute, a V2 Rocket, hands on models of different types of weirs (!) and a collection representing the history of the bicycle.

We then ambled through some back streets to a Paulaner brewery in Kapuziner Platz that our friend on the plane had also told us about.  There we sank a couple of extra beers and more sausages.  It was a perfect lunch, felt just the right style, and a fine way to finish off our short visit to Munich.

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