Christkindlmarkts 2019...Day 6...Munich

This day may have been one of our laziest days on vacation in quite awhile.  We had plans to get up and take the train to Regensburg, but Ken was not feeling 100%.  He still wanted to go, but I told him there was no need to travel an hour and a half on a train feeling exhausted.  We decided it would be our lazy day around Munich.

We went to the Dallmayr for a little shopping, I ran around Munich, and we just kind of dilly dallied around.  We went to the Viktualienmarkt and shopped around and ended up stopping at our favorite lunch spot, the Fische Witte market.  We sat outside under the heaters and enjoyed watching all of the people stop at the market for food for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  We had pasta, soup, and wine and had such a great time.

Afterwards, we wandered around the Viktualienmarkt for awhile and ended up getting a giant cinnamon sugar pretzel for dessert.

Some of the many market stahls in the Viktualienmarkt

The May Pole all lit up for Christmas.  

The cutest little gluhwein stahl in the Viktualienmarkt

The adorable stahl where we got our giant pretzel.  It was so delicious!

We wandered back to the Marienplatz and shopped around

We found a little spot a block off of the Marienplatz where we could sit outside under heaters with a bottle of wine.  It started raining and people were running around with shopping bags, but we were warm and cozy under an awning.  It was so nice.  We listened to the church bells, enjoyed our wine, and felt so grateful to be in our favorite city.  We left just in time to get a final gluhwein of the night and see the market stahls open one final time during the night as they would close at 2:00 pm the next day.

It was a very low-key, but great day all around Munich.  

We ended the night with apfel strudel at Augustiner.  It was all of our favorite things in Munich!

Christkindlmarkts 2019...Day 5: Munich and the Krampus Run

We woke up on Sunday and were quite lazy before getting our day started.  We slept in, went to breakfast, and then I went for a six mile run around the park.  I was so late in getting started that the market in English Garter Park was already open.

Running by the market in Englischer Garten Park.  I knew we would be back here shortly for a day of gluhwein drinking!

After my run we got ready and made our way to the park.  We were both a little hungry and we knew that the Chinesischer Turm Christkindlmarkt would have plenty of options for lunch.  

I chose kase spaetzle, obviously.  It was so unbelievably good.  This is definitely my favorite thing to eat in Germany.  Ken ended up with some type of sausage and he also got to eat half of my spaetzle.

Chinesischer Turm Weihnachtsmarkt

I really enjoy the market at the Rindermarkt by our hotel, but this is definitely my overall favorite market.  It has a very local feel to it and is very family friendly.

We enjoyed some chocolate covered strawberries from this stahl.  I think chocolate covered strawberries are one of the greatest things in the world.

Chinesischer Turm Weihnachtsmarkt

There was a small moment where I ended up losing Ken at the market.  It is not as easy to find a tall guy in Germany as one would think!

Happy Christkindlmarkt goers looking for brats and gluhwein!

We said farewell to our favorite market and started walking back to the Marienplatz.  

We were excited on this day because of the second running of the Krampuses that happens the weekend before Christmas!  We were fortunate enough to see the larger Krampus run a few years ago and were excited to lay our eyes on Krampus again.  We double checked our map and knew that we could be near our beloved Christmas Pyramid and see Krampus.

On our way to the Rindermarkt to find gluhwein and wait for Krampus.  Munich is such a beautiful city and even more so when there are Christmas lights everywhere.

The Rindermakt stahls are beautiful and a little off of the beaten path.

I have my gluhwein and I am ready for Krampus!

The Christmas Pyramid was looking quite festive.

There's Krampus!

Krampus!

 A Krampus selfie

When you are popular with Krampus.  I am not entirely sure what is going on here.

Dusk in the Rindermarkt

After the Krampus Run, we decided to walk around for a while before deciding on stopping for dinner at Paulaner.  We both enjoyed a little schnitzel, which was delicious.  

On our walk back to the Marienplatz, we noticed my favorite spaetzle stand.  It used to be right by our hotel, but it was on the other side of the Marienplatz this year.  Yes, I really it is sad that I know the location of all of my favorite stahls.  This place serves some amazing spaetzle!

The Marienplatz at night

We walked back to the Rindermarkt and stopped off at this stahl for some gluhwein.  They sell red, white, and rose.  The rose became my favorite this year!

My beloved Christmas Pyramid in the dark.  

We stopped at watched an amazing street performer while we enjoyed our gluhwein.

The Christkindlmarkts close promptly at 8:00 pm on Sunday nights.  We were not quite ready for bed, so we stopped off at the Asian restaurant by our hotel for dumplings and wine.  It was a full Sunday that we both enjoyed.

Christkindlmarkts 2019...Day 4: Coburg and Nuernberg

Saturday was the only day that we had train tickets reserved.  All the other trips we traveled with the flexible Bayern ticket, but on this day we traveled via a faster train so the tickets were purchased well in advance. 

We started our day with breakfast and Ken joined me for a run.  We ran to the park and enjoyed a drizzly morning.  Afterwards it was to the train station we went!

European train travel essentials.  The paprika chips are amazing!

Our first stop once we arrived in Coburg was the Christkindlmarkt for a Coburg brat.  Rumor has it that the Coburger brat has special approval by the German version of the FDA due to the egg white that is used to season it.  It was delicious!

Ken enjoying his first bite of his Coburger brat.

I chose ketchup for my Coburger brat instead of the traditional mustard.  I loved it.

The remainder of our time at the Coburg Weihnachtsmarkt consisted of us wandering around and drinking gluhwein.  I was disappointed that they did not have any wooden ornaments that said Coburg like all the other cities we had visited.  Instead, I had to settle for more gluhwein, sigh...

Coburg Weihnachtsmarkt.  The buildings around the town square did not even look real.  Look how adorable they are.

A gluhwein stahl with huskies pulling Santa's sleigh?  Two gluhweins please!!!

We enjoyed our gluhweins by the fire.  It was warm and lovely.

The market was filled with locals enjoying gluhwein and snacks.  It was the best kind of Saturday.

The candy shop.  We left with gluhwein candies and candied nuts.  We have deemed the candied nuts our favorite treat at the markets, well besides the gluhwein!

I gave Ken my phone to take a selfie of us because you know, long arms, and this is what I ended up with.

Then there was this.  This was a moment when I told Ken he was ruining Christmas.

We left the market for a bit and stopped off at a local brewery.  While we were enjoying our beers, we met a German man that was in the brewery with his mom.  He was excited to discover that we were from the United States and wanted to practice his English with us.  He was so kind and we stayed at the brewery longer than we planned because we were enjoying speaking with him.  

After the brewery, we wandered back to the market for one final gluhwein.  

Enjoying white gluhwein at the Coburg market

We left the market and decided that we would take an earlier train to Nuernberg before making our way back to Munich.  The Nuernberg Christmas market is the most famous market in all of Germany.  We have never stopped there despite being in the area a few times.  We decided, why not?  We knew it would be busy and boy was it!

So excited about checking out the Nuernberg market!  Look at all of those people!  It was crazy busy.

The famous Nuernberg Christkindlmarkt.  Nuernberg has so much Nazi history that I hope I find myself here again some day.

We wandered around the river and found all kinds of cute areas.

We ended up stopping at a little bar with outside seating.  We enjoyed a few cocktails with some local guys that were in their 20's.  They were excited when they figured out we were American and told us how much they loved Americans.  They were super drunk, but a lot of fun and very nice.  

We left the bar and started our way back to the train station.  On the way, we found a gluhwein stahl that had the perfect Nuernberg mug.  We ordered a gluhwein to share so that we could keep the mug as a souvenir.  Our time in Nuernberg was short, but fun nonetheless.

The gluhwein mug that we were leaving with.  Ken said this mug cost him way more than 5 Euros.  I told him there is no price for my happiness.

I ended up finding a wooden Christmas tree with ornaments to bring home with me.  I love having these items around our house that remind me of our trips.

There were several adorable stahls in an area near the train station.  I would have loved to have spent more time here, but with our last minute decision to stop, I am glad we were able to see it.

We boarded the train back to Munich, so happy that we stopped in Nuernberg.  

It was obviously way past my bed time on the train.  

We ended the night with a drink at the Augustiner before calling it a night.  It was a great day around Germany.