Munich at Christmas

Pat & I met in Munich this past weekend.  It was supposed to be a three day weekend trip, but turned into a 2 day trip due to "Xavier", the wind/snow/ice storm in Europe this past week.  So Pat didn't get in until Friday afternoon and we left Sunday morning.  Although I'm not complaining, because I know so many people were impacted by the storms in both Europe and the US. 

(Storm Xavier - why do feel the need to name every weather occurrence these days?)

But we were able to do a little touring around Munich, especially around the Old Town and the Christmas markets.  Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and MOST especially Germany & Austria have the best Christmas Markets.  Love them!  And it really helped get me in the mood for Christmas.  St. Petersburg is just starting to set up a few lights and trees, but it doesn't really feel like Christmas, if you know what I mean?

Here are the gate to the Old City.

The Old Town Hall was built between 1470-1480.  The tower is a little older, built in the 12th Century as part of the fortifications for the city.  The building and tower were damaged during WWII, but not destroyed, so repairs were made restoring them as close as possible to the original design.

Most of the market is centered around Marienplatz, which is the central square in the center of Munich.  The old and the new Town Hall of Munich is located in the square.  Here is a picture of it's tower, which holds "Glockenspiel", a 100 year old carillon (a bell/keyboard instrument found in many bell towers) that is over 100 years old. At 11 a.m., the square was packed as the Glockenspiel played and the figures in the middle of the picture moved (apparently reenacting historical Bavarian events).

The Marienplatz square

The square at night.  Does the tree twinkle on your computer?  (it does on mine)

These are the doors to Frauenkirche, or the Catholic Cathedral of our Blessed Lady.  It's enormous, and the pictures don't due it justice.  The church can hold up to 20,000 people.

  
Michaelskirche, or St. Michaels, a Jesuit church build in the late 1500's.  The green bronze statue near the door is of St. Michael slaying Satan.

This was interesting.  The church is named Bürgersaalkirche.  It's a small, very simple Jesuit church made up of a lower & upper church, as well as a museum honoring Father Rupert Mayer.  It was all in German, so I had to piece the story together between what I could see & what I could read later on the internet.  Father Mayer was beautified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 for his work & life during WW1 and WW2, and for directly challenging the Nazi's, which resulted in his exile and detention in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1939.

We also took a walk around Munich's food market, called Viktualienmarkt.  It operates 6 days/week, and was all decked out for the holidays.

A few final shots from our hotel bar.  We stayed at the Sofitel Bayerpost near the train station.  We like Sofitel's a lot, and we'd recommend this one.

The bar and glass hurricanes are going on my Pinterest page for future reference

Cheers, or I should say, Prost!!!