My very first R-and-R! Leg one – Germany and Austria

I am using my time under the strictest curfew in the world – here in Jordan – by working on paintings, finding recipes for Mike to cook for me, listening to music, watching shows and catching up on my blog posts, starting with our first R&R to Munich! Last December I was selling, donating, fixing up, arranging and packing out our house and by the time Christmas Eve arrived I pretty much had only a coffee maker and my couch left (Thanks to my neighbor who donated it for me the following day)! The girls wanted to spend Christmas at our house since it would be the last one for a few years so after we returned from dinner at my father’s, moved the couch into the empty dining room so we could be ‘cozy’ and not interrupt Santa who would be arriving soon to fill the stockings that were hanging from our fireplace. As we three sat on the one couch together I told them “This isn’t so bad, right? But just think, this time next year we could be somewhere like Germany celebrating Christmas at the Christmas Markets!” A year later, we did!

Where we decided to go: Munich! I’m going to get into the details a bit of how we travelled with the intent of providing a roadmap for anyone who wants to do this for 2020 and beyond!

Mike, our younger daughter Jillian and I took the RyanAir flight from Amman to Memmingen, Germany – a small, efficient airport – then we caught the Airport Express bus to Munich City Center at the bus-stop immediately to the right when you come out of the airport – we bought tickets on the bus (for the three of us I think it was 60 euro) but it is a little cheaper if you buy them online before. It was a non-stop super comfortable ride, lasting about an hour and a half, dropping us off at the Munich Central Station. We walked through the station which had bakery stands, coffee shops and a large food hall with all kinds of different dining options then exited on the other side where it was one more block to our hotel – Courtyard Marriott Munich City Center. I chose this hotel because we intended to walk and use pubic transportation to get around during our 7 day stay and we’ve always had a great experience staying at Marriott, we like consistency! We arrived a little later than originally planned because our flight was delayed leaving Amman – so we dropped off our bags in our room and turned right around to get some dinner and beer. Just outside of the Hauptbahnhof was a great looking place so we went back and they happened to have a spot for three!

The next morning, we got up early so that we could meet our older daughter Amelia and Mike’s mom, they flew United from Dulles to Munich and (finally, after having trouble finding the bus stop at Munich Airport, go outside the arrivals hall and look for the yellow Lufthansa signs) caught the Lufthansa shuttle from the Airport to the Munich Central Station, I did buy their tickets online (10 euro per person). The shuttle made a few stops, I think the ride was about 45 minutes and we were so happy when they arrived so that our Christmas in Bavaria could begin!

There are so many Christmas Markets in Munich and a lot of them branch off from the main one at Marienplatz. For first timers, this was just the most absolutely perfect place to ‘market and was a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel.

After getting the lay of the land at Marienplatz we went back to the hotel to rest for a little bit before we checked it all out again… at niiiiiight! This seemed to be our schedule for the week besides our two, daylong train trips we took.

The next morning we walked back to Marienplatz to check out the markets that were off the main plaza and we found this tower that we could walk up… so we did! Turns out it is St. Peter’s Church and one of the many attractions to see (not that we knew that beforehand!) when you visit Munich. I do like our style of sightseeing because we don’t feel like we are checking things off of a list which makes for a very relaxing vacation. The four of us walked up the 299 steps to the top, checked out the views and then walked back down! Good thing Jillian had her student ID, adults 2EURO students 1EURO LOL!

What we did have a list of were the different Markets around town, since not all of them were in the Marienplatz. One was in the middle of the woods in a well known park in the city called The English Garden. We took a cab to get there and our driver talked a little about the sights as we passed by, when we arrived to The Christmas Market at the Chinese Tower we found a lively little beer garden and unique stalls with handmade crafts.

I recognized some people from our hotel and asked them how they got here and they said a tram dropped off right nearby, so we walked through some of the lovely gardens to the tram stop, couldn’t figure out how to buy tickets and boarded with everyone else! Dropped us off right near the train station and some of us went back to the hotel and some off us went out for some more Munchen/Bavarian beer!

Another day another walk to a Christmas Market, this time we went to the Christmas Village at the Munich Residenz. This one is perfect if you have little kids (or big ones, as mine loved the storybook themed stalls) on the walk there we saw a statue with Michael Jackson memorabilia and turns out that this is set up across from the hotel where he used to stay in Munich. Was an odd sight.

Munich is nicely situated so that we could take two day trips by train to see some more of Bavaria. It was very easy and inexpensive to buy train tickets using Trainline and having the tickets emailed to me to show to the ticket taker. For our first day trip we travelled west two hours to Fussen so that we could get a look at Neuschwanstein Castle. Once you get off the train there are busses to catch (you can buy tickets on the bus) that take you 30 minutes to the bottom of the castle. We walked up the steep road, saw a little Alpine waterfall, saw the castle and then turned around and headed back. While we were sitting on the bus that takes us back to the train station I realized that I only had one glove, looked out the window and spotted it and ran off the bus to go get it and made it back in time – cannot have cold hands in Germany in December!

Once our friends were done with their meal, Amelia and I scooted down towards the windows so we could have some more strangers sit with us. Along came a family of 5 and as the table was being cleared we made small talk. Hello’s and where are you from’s and what have you been doing’s, and all the while something about the lady seemed familiar to me – maybe she had one of those nice faces I kept thinking to myself, I even said “you look so familiar!”. They were from Australia and on a long holiday traveling around the region. We mentioned that we had gone on our first train trip to see the castles and they said “oh we’ve been there, too” and realized that we’d all been there that same day! As we continued to talk it started to dawn on me so I asked them if they were on the 2:00 bus back to the train station and the lady said “Yes………oh my gosh, you are the lady that left the bus to get her glove!!” She had been sitting directly across from me and once I got off the bus she told us she turned to her husband and said “I don’t think she’s gonna make it back in time” but when I got back she gave me a little smile and applause and I looked at her and said something like “whew, need my good gloves!” Quite an experience considering there were SOO many people visiting Munich, sooo many people in HofBrau Haus and the train and bus were both packed standing room only, with people that day. The world is small in some regards if you are living in the moment!

The next day we walked in the opposite direction from the City Center as Amelia and I did the night before thinking we were going to have dinner at a vegan restaurant on the other side of town (needed reservations!) and we saw what looked like a big tented festival which turned out to be the Tollwood Winterfestival. Lots of art installations, more booths with food, drinks and things to buy, big halls of artworks, international food, theater shows and lots of people. By this point we were slowing down a bit so we walked around and then headed back to the hotel. https://www.tollwood.de/en/tollwood-winterfestival/

Then we went to the Medieval Christmas Market!

Next day trip was to Salzberg Austria because…why not! Again, inexpensive train travel, booked tickets online and we stayed so close to the train station that it was easy to get up early and get on a 9am! It was raining when we got there and it is a little bit of a walk from the train station to the old town so once we got there we went into The Christmas Museum to warm up (ticket prices on the site). History of Christmas from around the world, decorations and such, we weren’t allowed to take pictures but the site does a nice job of showing the museum off.

Salzberg also had a lovely Christmas Market that we were able to walk through between the drizzles, similar to the Munich markets but with slightly different wares and food. We also visited the Mozart Residence which is now a museum and dried out and warmed up again while we learned about the fam!

The next day was Christmas Eve and our official last day in Munich. as we were all flying to Dulles on Christmas Day. We peeked into a couple of the cathedrals along the Marienplatz, picked up some christmas ornaments and did a little bit of shopping before it started to rain and we headed back to the hotel.

Finally, we took some pictures in front of the Rathaus Christmas Tree and walked back to Munchner Stubn for our Christmas Eve dinner – without reservations and it was packed. I think the universe was rewarding me for arranging a great holiday trip for my family.

Next morning we were up and at ’em. Caught the Lufthansa Bus to Munich Airport and flew into Dulles Airport to start the second leg of our R&R. I will write a little about it in a new blog post – that I hope to finish this week so that I can get caught up. Not that there is anything that I can do in Jordan right now that I can share with you. Thank you for reading, my dear family and friends, bye for now.