The Trip That Keeps Growing: Danube River Christmas Market Cruise - 17-19 December Munich Christmas Market and Home to Denver

17-19 December Munich’s Christmas Markets and Home to Denver

This morning we walked to the train station for our trip to Munich. It was easy to find our track number, but to reach it was another story. Each of us had 2 pieces of luggage – a large suitcase and our carry-on. To reach our track number we had to climb up a staircase with about 20 steps. Poor Bill, he took both the big suitcases (one at a time), while I took the smaller ones. Once at the top we joined the rest of the travelers sitting on benches outside in the cold waiting for our train. The trains to Munich were running about 30 minutes late, but when one came in about the time our ticket said we were supposed to leave, we struggled on board, stowed our luggage and sat down at a table across from a couple from England. It was only about a 10-minute stop in Nuremberg and we were on our way to Munch. It was only after the train pulled out of the station that I noticed the train number on the display in the car was different that the one on our tickets. We had apparently boarded the train before ours (which had been late) and our train was still 30 minutes from Nuremberg. Oh well, if asked, I will just plead ignorance. Fortunately, no one ever asked for our tickets. We found this to be true on all our public transportations trips– subways, trams, buses – while we had our transportation passes, no one ever asked to see them and we did not have to validate them whenever we used them. The only time the Munich train conductor came around was to tell us all that we needed to wear a mask on the train. This was also a first for Germany – the only place we had to wear a mask on the whole trip had been Vienna on their public transportation system. We arrived in Munich about an hour later and walked to our hotel which was only about 1 ½ blocks from the station.

After checking in, we decided to walk to the Munich Christmas Market in Marienplatz. It was about a mile hike, but it was not too difficult a walk. We did have to be careful of the packed snow and ice on the sidewalks – Munich had had about 4 inches of snow. The Christmas Market was huge and crowded. They also had the best glühwein mugs – tiny little boots decorated with Christmas items. Marienplatz at any time is beautiful with its many old buildings and cafes, but a Christmas it was striking. We enjoyed walking around the booths, eating a German pretzel and sipping our glühwein.

Back at the hotel, we decided to eat in their restaurant. The food and the wine were very good. Shortly after we sat down another family sat next to us. Their son, who was about 14, was trying to put together a wooden puzzle. I had seen these in the Christmas Market and thought that might be something Caitlyn would enjoy. But Bill thought it would be too easy for her as the Rubik’s cube is no challenger to her. I asked the boy’s mother what he thought of the puzzle and she said he had been working on it all day and still could not figure it out. And she also said that the Rubib’s cube was no challenger for him also. So I told Bill we had to go back to the market and get one of the wooden cubes. So after dinner we trudged back and found the market to be absolutely jammed pack. I knew where the booth was so we plowed our way through the crowds. When found the cube, the woman said that although it was a cube, when first taken apart it would be a long string of wooden blocks that then had to be put in the right order to remake the cube. So we bought it. We gave it to Caitlyn when we got back, but before she could see it, Bill had pulled it apart (just so she could not reverse engineer it). She may still be working on trying to get it together.

This was the end of our Danube Christmas Market Trip. The following day we took the Lufthansa bus to the Munich Airport and then a taxi to our hotel for the evening. On 19 December we flew home from Munich to Chicago and then on to Denver. The cruise really put us in a Christmas frame of mind, which was a good thing as I only had 5 days to get ready for Christmas and dinner at our home. If you ever get the opportunity to take a Christmas Market Cruise, especially one in Germany, do not hesitate to do so. You will not be disappointed!