Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 9: Christmas and Traveling Home

Waking up in Munich on Christmas is both a happy and sad day. For one, it is Christmas! We are traveling home to see our girl, Lotti! Number two, it is sad because it means we are leaving our favorite city. When we leave, there is always the hope of returning the following year, but nothing is ever promised. 

We had breakfast at our hotel and took the S-Bahn to the airport. We enjoyed a little time in the lounge at the airport before boarding our flight.

Getting cozy for our long haul flight home

Christmas mimosas!!!

Our flight was very lowkey and not very full at all. We ended up talking to one of the flight attendants a lot and several great tips for future travel in the Alps! Our Christmas day flight was just as relaxing as we could hope for.

My Christmas dinner, pumpkin ravioli

Ken's Christmas dinner, goose. Our flight attendant said this is a German tradition.

We had a wonderful time in Germany. This trip was a little more stressful than other trips. We were dealing with my mom being ill and managing it from afar. When discussed with her, she 100% wanted us to go on our trip to enjoy our time away together, knowing we would see her when we returned home. Even though we had her blessing, she was always on our minds and it was difficult to fully enjoy our time knowing she was not 100%.

As I always try to do, I made a video of short clips of our time away to somehow try to show how cute the markets are. The video fails miserably at capturing the smells and the overall environment, but alas, it is the best I can do!

2023 Germany Christkindlmarkts

Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 8: Christmas Eve

The Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt closes prompting at 2:00 pm on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed the market for final snacks and shopped around a bit for a few gifts. Sadly, it was raining so we were dodging the rain a bit. We decided to forego lunch at the market and was able to to get inside the Augustiner just before they stopped serving lunch and drinks for the day.

Christmas Eve lunch at the Augustiner

We dropped our purchases from the market off in our hotel room and decided to go for a long walk in Englischer Garten Park. It was a nice beautiful chilly day to enjoy the park. We were delighted to see that gluhwein was being sold at one of the stalls at the Chinesischen Turm Christkindlmarkt. Of course, we had to stop to enjoy a final gluhwein!

My handsome husband enjoying the last gluhwein of the season.

As we were leaving the park, we noticed that one of the drink spots we love so much in the summer was open and serving gluhwein! We had just enough cash left to be able to enjoy one more. Luckily for me, this stall sells rose!

Englischer Garten Park Gluhwein stall, open on Christmas Eve!

Buying our gluhwein

Three gluhwein options at this location

We were not the only ones taking advantage of this stall on Christmas Eve

So happy to be enjoying a bonus gluhwein!

This being our third time to spend Christmas Eve in Munich, we knew that our dining options would be limited. We also knew from last year, that there is a small cafe that is open that serves slices of pizza. We had pizza slices to go last year, but enjoyed pizza and drinks inside the cafe this year.

Christmas Eve dinner!

After pizza, we walked through the Marienplatz one final time to bid farewell, as we were leaving in the morning. 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

We ended the night with a glass of wine and paprika chips in our hotel room and feeling grateful that we got to visit our favorite city during Christmas.

Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 7: Augsburg

A perfect day trip from Munich is to Augsburg. It is approximately a 30-minute train ride on a regional train. We had such a wonderful time visiting here last year that we wanted to make sure and visit again. It is such an easy day trip that I think it is a not to be missed location during Christmas.

We arrived late in the afternoon to enjoy the market at dusk. I remembered from other visits here that they have so many different drink options with different styles of mugs and glasses.

Augsburg Christkindlmarkt

Augsburg has a Christmas Pyramid!

It was 

Enjoying our special mulled syrah!

After taking this picture a man approached us after hearing us speak English. He was from the US and had moved to Germany a few years ago after he reconnected with a German lady that he had met while he was in his 20's and stationed in Germany. Facebook helped to reconnect them and they were both single and thought why not! He told us that he gets homesick and likes to come to the market and listen for American English and talk to American tourists. We enjoyed talking to him and listening to his life in Germany including how he was able to get insurance. 

Sweet treats in Augsburg

The Augsburg Christkindlmarkt

My favorite photo from the evening

One of the busiest gluhwein stalls in Augsburg. It was drizzling and we found a dry spot under the Christmas tree to enjoy our gluhwein until the drizzle passed.

The market does get busy!

We shopped around for a while buying a few things for home. We ended up at the same stall as last year and the lady running it remembered me from last year. She was very kind and boxed my items for me very nicely so that I could get them home safely.

Shopping in Augsburg

We had such a fun time in Augsburg!

We had a short train ride back to Munich and we made it in time to enjoy our favorite gluhwein stall one more time in the dark. The Christkindlmarkts close at 14:00 on Christmas Eve, so I always like to make sure we can enjoy the market in Munich on the 23rd at night time.

Getting gluhwein at our favorite stall. Rose for me and Rot for Ken.

One of the reasons we love this gluhwein stall so much is that there is a seating area inside complete with a fireplace!

We enjoyed our gluhwein, closed down the market, and went back to our hotel to watch Christmas movies in bed.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for the win!

Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 6: A Lazy Munich Day

Friday was another lazy day in Munich. We had planned on a day trip to Augsburg, but with the weather forecast being unpredictable, we decided we were better off staying in Munich. Neither of us slept well again overnight so we slept in and had breakfast at the last moment before getting ready for the day. We made our first stop of the day the Medival Market. I ended up getting some nice gifts here last year and wanted to shop around it again during the day when it is not as packed as it is at night!

It was drizzling again today so we did our best to stay dry.

Munich's Medival Market on a less busy early afternoon.

For whatever reason, we always buy some candied nuts at this market and walk around and enjoy them while we shop and sip our gluhwein. 

We had an earlier dinner at Eataly and enjoyed shopping around the store. We had found a wine bar in the Viktualienmarket last year and we decided we would stop by and enjoy a little non-mulled wine for a bit.

Enjoying wine at the bar of the wine bar. It was very busy and clearly a favorite with locals after work. 

We left the wine bar and walked through the Rinkermarkt so that I could see my beloved Christmas Pyramid.

The Rindermarkt is such a great area away from the main Marienplatz market. 

The Christmas Pyramid, looking fantastic in the Rindermarkt

We walked home through the Marienplatz so that we could stop off at the Augustiner for a little Bierhalle action. 

It was probably our most low-key day of the trip. Between the unpredictable weather and our lack of sleep, relaxing around Munich was just what we needed.

Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 5: Munich

We woke up to a rainy day on Thursday. We tried to take advantage of breaks in the rain and skip out for small amounts. I did find time to run and of course I ran around the Marienplatz and saw the Marienplatz from one of my favorite viewpoints. 

Marienplatz scenes during my run.

It ended up raining more and we decided to relax in our hotel room during the storm. We both had a difficult time sleeping during this trip and found that we enjoyed afternoons in our hotel more than usual. 

Once the rain finally slowed down a bit, we ventured out to the closest gluhwein stall near our hotel. We ended up enjoying gluhwein with some Americans we met here that were originally from Chicago but now live in Tennessee. We talked to them for quite awhile about music and other things. 

Gluhwein is amazing, rain or shine.

Gluhwein and spiral potatoes make me happy!

The rain started to get heavy again so we darted into our favorite gluhwein stall to sit by the fire and watch others run around in the rain. 

My forever favorite Gluhwein stall in Munich!

Warm by the fire with rose gluhwein in hand

Once the rain stopped, we walked to Englischer Garten Park to the Chinesischen Turm Christkindlmarkt, which happens to be Ken's favorite market.

Englischer Garten Park's Weihnachtsmarkt

Eisstockschiessen is the German version of curling and it happens to be something that I hope to play one day in this exact spot.

It looked like it was several work groups that were there playing after work. We can only understand a little bit of what is going on, but we love to watch the game!

Enjoying gluhwein and watching Eisstockschiessen.

One of the best views at the Englischer Garten Market

All smiles at Ken's favorite Christkindlmarkt

We left the park and on the way was Hofbrauhaus, so we figured we should stop to enjoy a drink before calling it a night!

No matter how many times we go to Munich, we must stop by the Hofbrauhaus at least once each time!

Ken loves his one liter of dunkel!

I prefer wine, but love to take a sip of Ken's dunkel and of course, will never miss an opportunity to pose with a one liter!

We left the Hofbrauhaus feeling happy after our wonderful day in Munich, despite it being a rainy day!

Christkindlmarkts 2023...Day 3: More Munich

We woke up on our first full day in Munich and went for a nice run. We came back to our hotel and enjoyed breakfast before heading out to check out the Residenz Christkindlmarkt. We have visited this one many times so we knew it was the perfect place to go for lunch.

The Residenz Christkindlmarkt with the lovely Christmas Pyramid

Enjoying a white gluhwein while we shop around the market.

Enjoying our white gluhwein. With rum for Ken.

The beautiful Residenz Christkindlmarkt

Trying my first ever Eierpunsch which was a warmish frozen creamy drink. 

I loved the Eierpunsch but sadly, this was the only one I had.

After enjoying lunch and the Residenz market, we went back to the hotel to relax for a while. Ken had found a new local market that we knew we would want to check out later in the evening.

The new market is located on the Isar River. We decided to leave the hotel before sunset, hoping that we would be able to see a beautiful sunset and we were not disappointed.

Munich sunset

We arrived at the Praterstrand Weihnachtsmarkt which is located on an island on the Isar River. We were treated with beautiful twinkle lights and a lot of Christmas Trees. It was absolutely charming.

Praterstrand Weihnachtsmarkt

Praterstrand Weihnachtsmarkt    

We enjoyed some gluhwein, Christmas Carols, and pommes frites before departing the charming Praterstrand market. I was so grateful that Ken found this market.

We were so close to the Haidhauser market that we decided we should just walk a few blocks to enjoy this local market. It was much busier this year than it was last year, but we knew we would love the gluhwein.

The Haidhauser Christkindlmarkt

One of the adorable stalls at the Haidhauser Market. See how busy it is!

More cute things around the Haidhauser Market

Buying some of the best chocolate-covered strawberries I have ever had. We had them in 2022 and I told Ken that we had to come back to this market to get them again. We ended up buying two sticks of them to enjoy!

A gluhwein stall with Santa is really all I ever need.

Having so much fun at the local market.

We left the Haidhauser market with some to-go candied nuts. We, of course, had to walk through the Marienplatz.

Walking through the Marienplatz market

We ended the night at the Augustiner for one last drink before calling it a night. 

Ken always gives me trouble for the same cheesy smile in all of my photos, so I gave him this gem.

It was a wonderful day in our favorite city. It is fun to hit up some of our favorite spots and add a few new ones.