It's Minus Five in Munich

Erin's company offers something called Interim Leave to its employees.  The basic premise is that all expats are encouraged to take holidays, I suppose to ward off the stir crazies and culture shock.  It takes the form of an allowance with the caveat that you must leave the country to claim it, even if it's just a road trip.  Since we'd already done a fair bit of traveling, we looked for something that was a direct flight and not too far off.  The national carrier, Oman Air, has many direct flights, but mostly it seems to "fun" locations like Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.  On closer inspection we managed to find one that sounded nice - Munich.

Altes Rathaus on Marienplatz

Our hotel for this trip, the Cortiina, was built for business travelers but we chose it for being right smack in the middle of the central sightseeing area.  Berlin and Munich are famous for their Christmas markets, and Munich's is right on the Marienplatz - a square on which the old city was founded.  The other thing about the Cortiina (and Europe in general I have found) is that it is not ADA approved.  The old city areas often lack ramps, elevators and the like which makes pushing strollers a challenge.  


We were advised that the train system was the best way to get to the Cortiina from the airport, so on collecting our luggage and buying a ticket we walked out to board our train.  We missed the first one due to sudden onset stupidity (the train was right next to us and we didn't notice).   The next one was just five minutes later but it was a bit hard to board.  We had four checked bags, three carry-ons, a car seat in a backpack and a stroller full of kids.  (Yes, that is packing light for us) And we discovered it said "no strollers" on the train so we had to fold it up when we went in.  We basically had to board it in two trips which is pretty nerve racking considering you dont know when the doors will close and there was throngs of others squeezing around us to find seats.  An old lady was kind enough to hold Wynne's hand and help her walk over the gap into the train.  We had to find a place for our bags, stroller, and Erin had to wrestle Adam for most of the 40 minutes.  I tried to keep Wynne from putting her mouth on the metal (trash?) bin in our seating area.  In summary, this part sucked. 

Watch for Friendly Fire

When we arrived at our stop we exited as efficiently as possible (so not at all efficient) and we "re-combobulated" our junk for the walk to the hotel.  We had two more challenges as the train was two levels below ground and there was only an escalator and stairs to ascend.  So that was also done in stages.  We emerged to a snowy landscape and a truly beautiful sight - the Altes and Neues Rathaus and the Christmas village on Marienplatz.  We were spellbound by the winter weather and views but quickly returned to earth when we discovered we didn't know which way to walk to the hotel. We asked a German lady who helped us a bit in very broken English.  We did have the hotel map so eventually we found it, but pushing a stroller through ice and snow while carrying 780 pounds of baggage is definitely the stuff of nightmares. However, we checked in without smelling like vomit, which is more than we can say for our last hotel stay.

"Coldest Winter in 40 Years"

We did freeze in Munich; it was in the mid-20s the whole time we were there. Most of our souvenirs (at least for the kids) were snow gear. Adam got new boots after we discovered the ones we brought we couldn’t get his feet into no matter how hard we tried (and believe me, we tried hard). Then he lost one sneaker somewhere at the Christmas market so then we really had to buy the kid some footwear. Wynne had already gotten a new pair of boots on the first day after she made it clear that she was going to walk through every puddle and drift she could find and her high top sneakers were not going to cut it. Later she got new mittens because the first pair were always soaked or coming off. Then we bought heavy-duty type ski gloves and turns out, those always come off too. She hated wearing mittens but then hated stinging, freezing fingers more.  The hat we borrowed was too small and kept popping off her head but we weren’t able to find a cheap hat and just kept shoving it back on her head- much to her dismay.

"This kid needs a new foot!"

Adam lost one of his mittens (okay, his parents lost it amidst a sea of stuff) before we even got out of the airport. We put socks on his hands; then he lost the socks so we put more socks on his hands. Then we found the first set of socks on the street the next day on our walking route (someone had thoughtfully put them on a nearby windowsill-really.) and then we found his lost mitten in the pocket of the suitcase. He even got a scarf while we were there. 


One week of bundling up the kids was exhausting. We finally started half-bundling up, then carrying hats, gloves, etc. outside to finish bundling because it was easier to convince the kids when they were already cold and Erin was happier not to be sweating while she tried to coax on mittens. I got new gloves because my dollar store gloves didn't keep my hands warm enough. Enlightened parents were pulling their kids on mini sleds like they were running the Iditarod, and oh we thought about beating them up and taking it.

Dad I can't put my arms down.

In spite of all the bundling up we had a good time in Munich. We didn’t see as much as we would’ve liked; freezing kids don’t do well on long walks in the stroller. We did see Santa and I think he was the real one.  It was quite magical and the kids really enjoyed it. We were at the Christmas market and he was just walking around the booths with a push cart of Santa goodies. He gave them both a piece of chocolate and Wynne was just awestruck.


That same night we stopped at one of the many booths offering Munich's version of egg nog - Gluhwein.  Gluhwein is usually red wine and cider, with a heap of other spices as well such as cinnamon.  It's alcoholic and warm and when it feels like it's -5 you appreciate it.  The kids got the pure heated apple juice version.

View from a Window at Neuschwanstein Castle

We took the kids on a day trip to see Neuschwanstein castle. Apparently, the Walt Disney castle mimicked the design. We booked a tour with a company. It was supposed to be a 3-hour train ride to the town with a 30-minute hike up the top of the hill (the buses can’t make it up the mountain in the winter). Our tour guide was 20-minutes late and the train was 40-minutes late so when we got to the connecting train, it had already left. So we waited another 40+ minutes to get another connecting train and then there were problems with the track, so we had to take a bus for the last 30 minutes of the journey to the town.  All that miserable waiting was outside in 20 degree weather so that made it even more miserable. The tour was to start in Munich at 9 a.m. and we didn’t even get to the base of the hill until 2 p.m. We hiked up a very steep hill pushing the stroller in tandem while dodging Clydesdale crap (horse drawn carriages) in time for our 2:45 tour of the castle. We had to go back down the hill by 3:30 to catch the 4 p.m. bus 

Neuschwanstein Castle

back to the train station. Fortunately, the return train was direct to Munich but we were all tired and hungry and worn out. The castle was beautiful and we did get to see it all (there’s not much to see inside since it was never finished) but what a day.  Wynne is very into Beauty and the Beast right now and we told her we were going to see a castle like Belle’s. She interpreted that to mean “Belle’s castle” and so we ended up spending a lot of time telling her that the beast wouldn’t be there and then even more time telling her Belle wasn’t home and we couldn’t look for her or go back and wait for her! 

Juice-Giddy

Basic German Food Groups

Another day, we chilled at the uber-touristy Hofbrauhaus, Munich's famous Weisbier hall that's been around in one form or another for five hundred years.   We tried to stay as authentic as possible and limited our diets to sausage and beer.  It's the least I can do, I figure, to be local.  Adam and Wynne gorged on apple juice and sausage and pretzels and mustard.  There is also a band which strikes up German polka music when the mood hits them.  

We also took solo expeditions whilst the spouse babysat - this was mainly at night or naptime.  Erin visited Residenz, the Munich home to most of the Presidents and Kings during their reign.  Think of it as Munich's version of Camp David, except Camp David certainly does not claim to have the SKULL of JOHN THE BAPTIST sewn into a pillow on site.  Sorry, Erin did not open the pillow for verification.

I discovered a secondary Christmas market, this one seemed centered around people dressed like the Renaissance festival goers, except they were also drinking Gluhwein. It was in the center of Residenz which I visited just a few hours after Erin.  Strangely, the whole thing shut down around nine at night except for a few hardy drinkers.

 

A ceiling fresco at Schloss Nymphenburg; a palace in which many of the royals vacationed near to Munich.  The palace seems to stretch on forever in both directions, it's hard to believe it's just one residence.

Munich is most famous for Oktoberfest, which is obviously not a family oriented event.  So we weren't disappointed to have missed that - there was plenty of beer left over.  The aura of Christmas was so strong there in December, we were always in the spirit.  And despite the travails of gloves, stairs, and trains, we definitely we recommend seeing it. In the summer. With no kids.

-S