Christmas Market Video

One thing that I have had good intentions to do for quite a few vacations is a video with all the mini clips that I take during the trip. Alas, I finally did it!

I present the Christkindlmarkts of 2022!

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 9

Christmas morning got started with breakfast at our hotel. We took the S-Bahn to the airport and were ready to start the long journey home. We arrived in time to be able to stop in the Lufthansa lounge for a little snack before boarding our long-haul flight home. 

Ken ready to get cozy for our 11 hour flight home

My leopard fleece was a poor choice for the flight. I ended up getting super hot. Mental note for the future!

Champagne and ready for movies for the next several hours!

Watching the Holiday, drinking champagne, and enjoying a snack, is the perfect Christmas Day!

After a very long day of traveling, we arrived home and could not wait to wake up to pick up Miss Lotti. This was such an amazing trip. It was low-key and just how we like it. It is difficult to put into words why we enjoy doing a lot of this same trip each year (minus the pandemic), but we love it. The Christmas season is just more complete after spending time in Munich!

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 8

 Christmas Eve. One of my favorite days of the year. It is even better in my favorite city surrounded by all of the Christkindlmarkts. Poor Ken was not feeling his best. We had breakfast at our hotel and then went to the Marienplatz for a little last-minute gluhwein and Christmas Marketing.

We arrived at the Marienplatz in time to watch the Glockenspiel!

Christmas Carols in the Marienplatz

Such a gorgeous setting

Merry Christmas Eve! Poor Ken was not feeling 100%

We made our way to our beloved Rindermarkt for gluhwein and lunch. Of course, we stopped at my favorite Christmas Pyramid.

What I thought was my final gluhwein

After our lunch, we went back to the hotel for a bit to pack our bags for our flight home the next day. In 2019, we were in the Rindermarkt as it closed and watching the Christmas Pyramid get broken down by a crane was just too much for me to handle, so we wanted to avoid that scene at all costs.

After packing and relaxing, we went out for a nice walk through Englischer Garten Park. It was such a beautiful day and I thought we might walk three miles or so? Wrong. We ended up walking 7! It was crazy busy too with lots of families out for a walk. 

We had noticed this little hut when we were out walking our first full morning in Munich. Much to my surprise and delight, it was open! They were selling gluhwein! Of course, we stopped for a cup. It was such an unexpected highlight of the day.

Surprise gluhwein makes me smile!

We ended up walking to the end of the park and found a biergarten to take note of for our next summer trip. Much to my surprise, the gluhwein hut was still open when we went by to go back to our hotel. We of course stopped for our final gluhwein of the night. It was such a sweet treat and makes me smile thinking about it.

Happy to buy our final gluhweins of the trip. Such a wonderful surprise in Englischer Garten Park!

The darling little gluhwein hut. A lot of people were out enjoying the evening.

The Chinesischer Turm was under construction this year and just had a modified smaller alley for a market. Much to our surprise, they had a few stahls open on Christmas Eve!

My favorite church in all of Munich

We ended our night with dinner sold out of to go window of pizza and wine from our hotel. It was the perfect Christmas Eve.

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 7

I ran around the park after we woke up. Running in Englischer Garten Park is one of my favorite things to do in Munich.

It is funny to think this was snow-covered just a few days earlier.

One of my favorite views in all of Munich

We had a pretty low-key day but did venture out to the market to purchase a few last-minute items. Ken had some sinus symptoms and did not feel too fabulous. We welcomed the lazy day.

These are sold at a stahl that is right by our hotel. I have always wanted one but never stopped. I finally stopped and bought one to bring home! This stahl smells amazing, like cinnamon and ginger.

We eventually ventured out and we went to a darling little wine bar in the Viktualienmarkt. They had heaters set up and we sat outside and just enjoyed the atmosphere. A funny thing did happen while we were sitting there. Our alarm company called and our smoke detectors were going off and the fire department arrived. One of our neighbors confirmed that our house was not on fire, but the fire department came in and made sure everything was okay. Sadly, Ken spent about 20 minutes on the phone with our alarm company getting the smoke detector turned off because the fire department arrived again! Apparently, you cannot disarm the smoke detector remotely. We had a good laugh about it and were relieved that our house was not on fire!

After we enjoyed our wine, we went to the Rindermarkt for dinner and gluhwein. I may have been over-served.

I am fully aware that I cannot sing. I just hope that I always am capable of having such a good time!

I probably sang five different songs. Finally, a German lady told me she would be impressed if I sang one in German. Me, being the person that I am, started singing Frosty the Snowman in German. She laughed so hard, gave me a thumbs up, and went about her evening. I was kind of expecting a tip!  Ha, ha!

We enjoyed our gluhwein by the fire and Ken enjoyed my singing of Christmas Carols.

I was thrilled beyond measure about getting some candied nuts!

We eventually closed down the market and made the short walk back to our hotel. We loved seeing the markets in all their glory for the final night before Christmas Eve.

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 6

We woke up on Thursday with a forecast for rain in the afternoon. That kind of ruined our plans for a day trip, so we made the best of our day in Munich. We had a bit of a late start and went for a long walk along the Isar River. We joked about walking all the way to the zoo, which I am surprised we didn't do, honestly!  

After our long walk, we went back to the hotel for a while before heading back out. 

A late lunch of gluhwein and kase spaetzle

Another beautiful photo from the Marienplatz

We eventually ventured out late in the evening and walked through the Marienplatz for a photo before going to the Viktualienmarkt. 

Happy in the Marienplatz

I thought this stahl was absolutely adorable with all of the lights.

We found a little spot in the Viktualienmarkt to sit outside and have some drinks. It is normally a biergarten in the summer, but in the winter they also have gluhwein. 

Our drinks and all of the lights. I thought that this was so unbelievably charming. 

Of all of the videos I had from our trip, this one stands out so much. It was such a little romantic spot.

We left the Viktualienmarkt and went to Eatly. We found a little Aperol Spritz bar there and enjoyed an Aperol Spritz before enjoying pizza and wine. It was such the perfect end to a wonderful low-key day.

So much Aperol for the Aperol Spritz lover!

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 5

We started our day off with a run and breakfast at our hotel. We had plans to go to Augsburg later, which is only a short 30-40 minute train ride away. With that being said, we wandered around Munich a bit and had a little bit of a lazy day. 

We ended up finding a very cute spot in the Viktualienmarkt for lunch. We enjoyed some soup and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Walking back to our hotel. I always prefer to go back through the Marienplatz. It is just so gorgeous.

Such a gorgeous view.

There is an S-Bahn stop right by our hotel that we could use to go to the main train station, however, we prefer to walk to the train station. By walking we get to stop and watch the ice skaters in Karlsplatz.

Ice skaters in Karlsplatz. We sat here for a while and enjoyed gluhwein. 

After a short train ride, we arrived in charming Augsburg!  We arrived just as it was getting dark. Next time, we plan to arrive a little earlier to explore this darling city.

The Augsburg Christkindlmarkt

It is so beautiful that it does not even look real.

Augsburg Christkindlmarkt

One of the sweet stahls!

We both agreed that we absolutely loved this market. We both had some dinner here and I shopped around for a bit. This market has so many unique drink options with unique glasses. I brought home a frosted gluhwein mug from here to add to my collection.

Ken's spiked Gluhwein and my Hot Aperol. I loved how they served the Aperol in a wine glass. 

Having so much fun in beautiful Augsburg. I mean, Hot Aperol, a Christmas Pyramid, and tons of twinkle lights. What is there not to love???

After eating, drinking, and shopping, we took a short ride back to Munich. We ended up having some time before the markets closed so we ended up in our beloved Rindermarkt at the Christmas Pyramid. 

Ending the night with pommes frites and gluhwein at the second Christmas Pyramid of the day! I am not sure that our day could have been any better!

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 4

Today was our Salzburg day! After a lovely day in Munich yesterday, we decided to board a train and head to Austria! It had been since 2018 since we had been in Salzburg and we were very excited to return.

When we first arrived, there was still a little snow, so we got to see a little bit of a snowy Salzburg.

This is always such a gorgeous view. The snow makes it even prettier. 

We walked through the old town to the market. We stopped so that I could buy a few ornaments and then quickly stumbled into the main market.

The Salzburg Cathedral is the central backdrop of the market. It is such a beautiful market.

The Salzburg Christkindlmarkt

The last time we were in this market was in 2018. We had this giant pretzel that was doughy, cheezy, and had crumbles of bacon. It was amazing. I had thought about it many times since then. One of the main things on my agenda in Salzburg was to find the pretzel stand and get one. Well, I found it.

So very excited about this pretzel!!

One of the other things we did in this market versus the others was that we did not have gluhwein. I had hot Aperol and Ken had hot orange punch. They were both delicious and it was fun to enjoy something hot besides gluhwein.

Some of the cute stalls and architecture in Salzburg.

Ken enjoying his hot orange punch

The market was steadily busy but it is pretty spread out so it did not seem super crowded.

I was lovely the live Christmas Carols

Midday we left the market and walked to our beloved Augustiner brewery. Of all of the breweries we have visited, this one is Ken's favorite. It opens at 3:00 pm most days and we arrived shortly after it opened.

The view looking back at old town on our way to Augustiner.

The inside is very charming with all the dark wood.

Ken was loving his one liter of beer in one of his favorite places!

After eating at the brewery, we walked back to the old town to enjoy the market at night. I ended up buying a few to bring home from the market.

Christmas trees for sale. I may have sang Christmas Tree Farm to Ken a few times. He is so lucky.

Delicious treats

The Salzburg Christmas Market at night

We found a little table and stood and enjoyed our hot drinks taking in the atmosphere. There is nothing quite like these markets. It is so fun just to take in the environment with a hot drink.

I loved all of the lights. See the ground? That was ice!

The beautiful Salzburg Cathedral

We loved our time in Salzburg! It was such a lowkey-amazing day.

I love the lights along the streets on the way out of the old town.

Looking back at the fortress on our walk back to the train station.

Something that I want to be sure to remember is that we ended up on the incorrect train back to Munich. We had the Bavarian ticket and I was under the impression that all trains that have an R meant Regional and that we could ride them with our ticket. I was wrong. We ended up getting kicked off the train. 

We had to wait for another Regional train to come along. While we were waiting at the train station, we watched a drunk guy take a header directly into the train tracks. Ken and a German guy had to pull him up out of the tracks to keep from getting hit by a train. It was quite crazy. Not sure how he and his drunk friend were going to make it home. I am sure he woke up the next more with quite a headache at the very least!

Our adventures to Salzburg did not disappoint and I look forward to another visit!

Christmas Markets in Europe...Day 3

We woke up with plans to take a day trip but decided to stay in Munich instead. It turned out to be a wonderful day and it was not until I was putting this post together that I realized we did a lot in this one day!

We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel. We had slept in a little later than we planned and caught the tail end of breakfast. We decided to forgo running and went for a long walk around Munich. 

We left our hotel and made our way to Englisch Garten Park.

We got to enjoy the snow from the snowstorm a few days prior.

It was so gorgeous

Englischer Garten Park is so goreous in the snow.

I was so happy!

Winter Wonderland

I bet the water is freezing!

We wanted to stop for drinks and found a cute little place outside of the park. It was fun watching locals come in and exchange Christmas presents. We enjoyed our drinks before heading back to the park and back towards the Marienplatz.

We did stop for one of my favorite views in all of Munich.

The Hofgarten in the snow and the Theatine Church, my favorite in all of Munich

We were enjoying our morning together

I had planned for us to only walk about three miles, but we ended up walking around seven around the park! We decided to stop at the Residenz Christkindlmarkt for a bit. It was on our walk back to the hotel and we needed to eat lunch. This market has some great food options.

The Residenz Christkindlmarkt's Chistmas Pyramid

We enjoyed a little white gluhwein

The snow made it feel festive

The Residenz Christkindlmarkt

A few of the stahls. It is such a beautiful setting.

We stayed at the Residenz for quite some time, enjoying multiple rounds of gluhwein and shopping at the different stahls.

We walked home via the Viktualienmarkt and stopped to buy some stuffed peppers. I absolutely love eating cream cheese-stuffed sweet peppers!

After relaxing at our hotel for a while, we decided that we would walk to one of the local markets that we visited in 2019, the Haidhausen Christkindlmarkt. This market is extremely local and has quickly become one of our favorites. 

The very charming Haidhausen Christkindlmarkt

Behind me is the stahl that graciously served us a few rounds of gluhwein. I have a gluhwein mug for here from our trip in 2019.

It is definitely set up for people to hang around with friends

Gluhwein stahl at the Haidhausen Christkindlmarkt 

Haidhausen Christkindlmarkt, complete with Santa riding back and forth!

White and Red Gluhwein, it was delicious!

Buying chocolate-covered strawberries on a stick. I had multiple chocolate-covered strawberries on this trip and this stahl by far so the best!

We left Haidhausen and decided to walk to the Medieval Market near the Odeonsplatz. We have been here before but never had the Feuerzangenbowle that this market is known for in the specialty mug. I ended up finding some soap at this market too that I brought home for us to enjoy. It smelled amazing!

Feuerzangenbowle

Ken was so happy to try the Feuerzangenbowle.  He liked it so much that he got a refill. We also brought home one of these mugs since it is so unique.

My Feuerzangenbowle. I honestly did not care for it. It was so sweet with the extra sugar. It was so busy around the stahl that I was afraid I was going to catch someone on fire!

Ken with his delicious kase spaetzle.

We left the Medieval Market and enjoyed a final gluhwein near our hotel before calling it a day. It was such a wonderful day all over Munich!