One Last Trip to Germany

We took a little trip to Munich for Ryan's birthday (this year we're doing birthday trips, instead of birthday presents - especially now that we have tons and tons to pack all of a sudden...).

It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon so we walked around downtown to stretch our legs after the drive - everyone was out and about, so it was very crowded. We stayed at a funky little hotel right by the center of downtown, which was great and had an interesting breakfast buffet the next morning - lots of creamy spreads and pretzel-y things that we don't have in Italy.

That night we had dinner and drinks at the Hofbrauhaus which neither of us had ever been to, and that was great fun.

Now we're back in Italy for the weekend before leaving on Monday. We're squeezing in one last trip to Venice tomorrow, and then - Arrivederci Italia!

Munich!

On Wednesday and Thursday, we took a little girls trip to Munich. I've never been to Germany before - except the airport - so I was really excited. The weather was AWFUL - freezing and snowy and rainy....but we came prepared with rain boots, umbrellas and hats, so we still had fun walking around and seeing the sights, which was mainly....the Christmas market! Let the Christmas market season BEGIN! Their market had just opened, and was very popular, so we spent a lot of time there buying ornaments for our trees and drinking Gluhwein and eating pretzels and sausages with mustard. We also spent a lot of time in the German grocery stores, looking at all the things they don't have in Italy. We stocked up on German chocolate, beer and clementines (most of which you can probably buy in Cortina, but....), and practiced our German, which was very mediocre. Turns out that Munich is only four hours away from Cortina, so we'll be going back, maybe in the spring when it's not so cold and gray!