Given our never-ending quest to now spend Christmas in Europe and enjoy the wonderful Christmas markets, we had to scheduled a trip to Munich, one of our favorite cities. Our choice to return to Germany has nothing to do with the beer, meat, or music. It was all about the holiday spirit. Really.
Staying in the Residence Inn Munich East, we were close to downtown (just a few minutes walk to a train and a couple of stops) and close to the English Gardens and a river trail which we ran everyday. Great runs were followed by great breakfast buffets. But what we really wanted was to take advantage of the Christmas markets. Full of the smells of cookies, spiced wine, and with holiday music in the air, the atmosphere can't be beat. However, the crowds leave something to be desired. With two little kids in tow, getting around jam-packed markets in the cold evening is not as enjoyable as one would like. We did enjoy a parade of characters like knights and drinking wine from goblets at the medieval Christmas market, but long lines and no space had us exit for a beer joint where we enjoyed sitting with some friends from Hong Kong we used to work with in Joburg.
No trip to Munich would be complete without visiting our favorite beer gardens and halls at places like Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner, and Paulaner. Good food, good drink, good music and good fun. We also ice skated in the square to music and smells of food and drink. The last highlight was spending the afternoon with our friends who live in Saudi but we worked with in China. But we soon were headed south to Austria on the autobahn in a rented car. Next stop: Obertraun.
Located in the beautiful Lake Hallstatt region, Obertraun is a gem. A crystal lake, high peaks, and the feel of being away from it all is spotted with little shops and restaurants and the perfect compliment to our first few days in the big city. Staying at Obertrauner Hof, we netted a great 2-bedroom place with breakfast and excellent hosts.
Wanting to take the girls sledding but having little snow, we took a cable car up to the top of the mountain over town, and hiked to a site called 5 Fingers. With amazing views, we were not disappointed, and the girls were able to rock down some slopes with an old wooden toboggan. Never mind that the drop offs on either side were about 1000 ft.
We then hit up a water park on Christmas day, as it was the only thing open. There is something quite amazing about being able to swim in 80-degree water and yet it is snowing outside. Your hair freezes but you are warm. Great slides kept us busy for a few hours and were a nice compliment to the Christmas movies we spent the rest of the day watching.
This trip marked our family's first skiing effort. After a ridiculous amount of waiting in line to get sized up for rentals, then another line for the lift tickets, we dropped the girls in ski school, which at 65 Euros an hour did not really count as school (going "down" this nearly flat piece of land and stepping on a belt to be rolled back. Lather, rinse, repeat.). Sarah and I headed up, spending 25 min on lifts to reach the top. This is when the problems started. Sarah cant ski. Not even remotely. And the first steps off the lift (the ones she didn't fall on) got us to a precipice overlooking a huge drop. It was scary, even for me, and I can ski. Sarah proceeded to flop gradually down the hill, crashing every few feet, and looking like a person with a severe muscular issue. Arguing ensued, and there was a very real reality that someone would have to sled her off the mountain. After threat of divorce and nearly 45 minutes later, Sarah was able to get to the final push. However, this too was a huge drop. She took of the skis and walked it down while I went on to pull the kids from "school" lest they charge us another year of tuition for going over. Sarah and the kids done, I tried to go up again to bring the cost-to-run ratio down to about 100 Euros a pop, but they were making snow. Having only skied in Colorado in sunglasses, I was blasted repeatedly in the face with ice and could not see. After getting down, it was time to call this what it was: a disaster. Needless to say, Walker family skiing isn't going to be repeated anytime soon.
A Christmas highlight was the horse-drawn sleigh ride. Starting in the town of Gosau, we rolled out through the fields under blankets and, as the sun set, up into the dark woods, stopping only once to do shots of home-made schnapps that were passed back by the driver. Sleigh bells and the sights of crisp, white snow completed a perfect evening.
Other highlights were running the trail that meandered the woods above our lodge. It was such a nice sight that we took the girls on a relatively long hike on it, stopping often. Not to be forgotten was the opportunity to build a snowman and have a snowball fight in front of the amazing Lake Hallstatt. The snow, which was absent at the start of the trip. Started on Christmas and got steadily heavier over the week. The day we left it was slamming, turning a 2.5 hour drive back to the airport into 5 hours, causing us to nearly miss our flight. But I will say if I have to get stuck somewhere, you can sign me up for Munich and Austria anytime.
Staying in the Residence Inn Munich East, we were close to downtown (just a few minutes walk to a train and a couple of stops) and close to the English Gardens and a river trail which we ran everyday. Great runs were followed by great breakfast buffets. But what we really wanted was to take advantage of the Christmas markets. Full of the smells of cookies, spiced wine, and with holiday music in the air, the atmosphere can't be beat. However, the crowds leave something to be desired. With two little kids in tow, getting around jam-packed markets in the cold evening is not as enjoyable as one would like. We did enjoy a parade of characters like knights and drinking wine from goblets at the medieval Christmas market, but long lines and no space had us exit for a beer joint where we enjoyed sitting with some friends from Hong Kong we used to work with in Joburg.
No trip to Munich would be complete without visiting our favorite beer gardens and halls at places like Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner, and Paulaner. Good food, good drink, good music and good fun. We also ice skated in the square to music and smells of food and drink. The last highlight was spending the afternoon with our friends who live in Saudi but we worked with in China. But we soon were headed south to Austria on the autobahn in a rented car. Next stop: Obertraun.
Located in the beautiful Lake Hallstatt region, Obertraun is a gem. A crystal lake, high peaks, and the feel of being away from it all is spotted with little shops and restaurants and the perfect compliment to our first few days in the big city. Staying at Obertrauner Hof, we netted a great 2-bedroom place with breakfast and excellent hosts.
We then hit up a water park on Christmas day, as it was the only thing open. There is something quite amazing about being able to swim in 80-degree water and yet it is snowing outside. Your hair freezes but you are warm. Great slides kept us busy for a few hours and were a nice compliment to the Christmas movies we spent the rest of the day watching.
This trip marked our family's first skiing effort. After a ridiculous amount of waiting in line to get sized up for rentals, then another line for the lift tickets, we dropped the girls in ski school, which at 65 Euros an hour did not really count as school (going "down" this nearly flat piece of land and stepping on a belt to be rolled back. Lather, rinse, repeat.). Sarah and I headed up, spending 25 min on lifts to reach the top. This is when the problems started. Sarah cant ski. Not even remotely. And the first steps off the lift (the ones she didn't fall on) got us to a precipice overlooking a huge drop. It was scary, even for me, and I can ski. Sarah proceeded to flop gradually down the hill, crashing every few feet, and looking like a person with a severe muscular issue. Arguing ensued, and there was a very real reality that someone would have to sled her off the mountain. After threat of divorce and nearly 45 minutes later, Sarah was able to get to the final push. However, this too was a huge drop. She took of the skis and walked it down while I went on to pull the kids from "school" lest they charge us another year of tuition for going over. Sarah and the kids done, I tried to go up again to bring the cost-to-run ratio down to about 100 Euros a pop, but they were making snow. Having only skied in Colorado in sunglasses, I was blasted repeatedly in the face with ice and could not see. After getting down, it was time to call this what it was: a disaster. Needless to say, Walker family skiing isn't going to be repeated anytime soon.
A Christmas highlight was the horse-drawn sleigh ride. Starting in the town of Gosau, we rolled out through the fields under blankets and, as the sun set, up into the dark woods, stopping only once to do shots of home-made schnapps that were passed back by the driver. Sleigh bells and the sights of crisp, white snow completed a perfect evening.
Other highlights were running the trail that meandered the woods above our lodge. It was such a nice sight that we took the girls on a relatively long hike on it, stopping often. Not to be forgotten was the opportunity to build a snowman and have a snowball fight in front of the amazing Lake Hallstatt. The snow, which was absent at the start of the trip. Started on Christmas and got steadily heavier over the week. The day we left it was slamming, turning a 2.5 hour drive back to the airport into 5 hours, causing us to nearly miss our flight. But I will say if I have to get stuck somewhere, you can sign me up for Munich and Austria anytime.
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