Trip 40
Day 10
Today is our last day in Munich, which is sad because it’s one of our favorite cities. Even though we were just here in August of this year , it’s always a pleasure to return.
Taking the UBahn brought us to Karlsplatz , a public square just before the Tor (ancient city gate) that’s the start of the Marienplatz. But instead of the large fountain we’d see here in the summer, there was an ice skating rink and a restaurant. Rather amazing considering this was all erected in the last few months and is temporary.
Mid afternoon, we’re back down in the Marienplatz area doing a little shopping before going back in into the area with the Christmas markets. We saw this little item in Oberpollinger, but at $245,000, a bit over my range (but faster than my Tesla). How did they get this up to the 3rd floor of a department store? It apparently fit in the freight elevator.
We found that Oberpollinger has a very nice restaurant on the top floor and it was refreshing to see they had an entire department dedicated to Christmas ornaments. It seems so many US stores have nearly eliminated them. The store had a pop-up bar on an outdoor terrace and they had small chalets (by reservation) with seating inside; outside (no reservations), they had benches and tables.
From here, we walked down the Marienplatz as it’s getting darker and the Christmas lights are coming on. It’s not as crowded tonight as it’s a week night.
We bought a few small things while browsing the stands, something we hope will make it back on the return trip.
Just down from the end of the Marienplatz is the Viktualienmarkt, which in the summer, is an enormously popular Biergarten. In the winter, not so much, but they have a few open faced booths set up under the horse chestnut trees instead of the benches.
We’d understood they had a Christmas market, but it wasn’t so much that as the food stands that are open had decorated with lights and the Maypole was lit to the tip. Though it wasn’t that late, only a small portion of the food stands remained open.
We have an early day tomorrow for our next stop, so we took the UBahn at Marienplatz to head back out to the Schwabing area; unfortunately, no time to visit the Christmas market near the station.
Bis bald Munich, we’ll be back next September for Oktoberfest!
Country count 4
City count 6
Total Christmas markets 14
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