On the morning of the 23rd, we bundled up and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Munich. We arrived in Munich way behind schedule due to airlines being themselves. There were 2 people checking in hundreds of passengers, which caused an initial forty minute delay. This delay turned into 1 1/2 hours and then we boarded the plane, a small regional jet. After being bused out onto the tarmac, we learned the winds were too strong for the plane to take off so we sat on the plane for 3 hours waiting for the winds to die down. It was a nightmare. The flight was soon to be canceled and a bus was called to take us back to the terminal when suddenly, the winds weakened enough to take off. The flight was nice but, to make it more interesting, as we are about to touchdown, an act that is making the five babies/small children on the plane cry uncontrollably, the pilot takes off again because he was about to land on another plane. So we had to circle again before finally landing around 7 pm, 5 hours behind our original time. We ended up eating dinner at a local beer hall, the Augustiner, that had amazing food.
On the 24th, we spent the day walking through the local markets. There was a Christmas market near the Town Hall on the Marienplatz Square. The vendors had all kinds of Christmas decorations that are common back home and tons of ornaments for the trees and lots of nutcrackers. All day, we ate on the go; food like crepes, bratwursts with spicy mustard, dates, a wonderful pizza concoction with green onion, cheese and bacon, soup, and a few beers and cups of mulled wine to wash it all down. We visited the famous Hofbräuhaus, a brewery built back in 1589. It's one of the most famous in Munich. But, as we discovered, it is full of tourists, although there are plenty of locals, and the beer house we went to the night before was way nicer, cheaper food, and we were part of a very small group of tourists in the place.
According to some of the Germans we chatted with, the Christmas Eve celebration is more important than Christmas for family time so lots of the shops closed around 3 pm and the streets began to empty. We went wandering through various neighborhoods looking at the houses. They were beautiful and the architecture was definitely something that made me think of Germany. Of course, the Germans in Munich would correct me and say it's Bavarian, not German. We're starting to see tons of regionalistic pride in different parts of Europe. We enjoyed more of the Christmas decorations and neighborhoods, it made it feel more like being home. We spent the evening in a Middle Eastern restaurant, relaxed with a hookah, and chatted about whether or not to visit Dachau on Christmas.
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