On Friday, after a lovely buffet breakfast, we left for Bad Aibling, where the Beaumonts live. Matt and Jessica have a beautiful home nestled in a valley with breathtaking views of the Bavarian Alps. After a quick visit at their home we were off to Salzburg, Austria for a day at the Christmas markets. Matt's Mom, Mary Beaumont, was in town as well, which was a lot of fun. We first visited the Salzburger Christkindlmarkt am Domplatz, the most famous of Salzburg's markets. It is situated within the Residenz Place. It was brutally cold, but the kids were troopers and were happy to eat pretzels, sausages and hot cider from the street vendors. The Beaumont girls, Helen and Emma, were having a great time teaching our kids to speak German and both were competing for Jack's attention!
Next we drove to the Christmas Market at the Hellbrunn Castle. The Castle was decorated to look like an advent calendar! The kids enjoyed the live reindeer, sheep and goats. They also had pony rides and a ride on a Christmas train. The grown-ups enjoyed the Gluhwein and toasted chestnuts.
Finally we stopped for dinner at charming family-run restaurant. The kids had sausages (hot dogs) and fries but Jack was keen to try the wiener schnitzel and loved it! What is not to love about breaded and fried meat!?
After dinner we drove back to Munich. We had three very tired kids! A lot of fresh air and walking around did all all in!
On Saturday we stayed in Munich. The Beaumonts drove in and met us at the hotel and then we took taxis over to the market in the Marienplatz. It is a spectacular market that supposedly dates back to the 14th century, when it was called a "Nicholas Market." In 1806 the Nicholas Market changed its name to "Christkindlmarkt." It was again a very cold day but we found plenty of cafes to pop into and warm up with cups of hot chocolate and cappuccinos for the grown-ups. We also stopped a couple of times for some Gluhwein. The boys were happy to warm up in a football store where we found new Bayern-Munich football jerseys.
We stopped for a snack at the Hofbrauhaus where we ran into The Brown Family (Natalie, David, Hudson and Audrey), friends of ours from St. John's Wood. We warmed up to the joyful music of an oompah band, ate pretzels and took in the local flavor. Although, Jessica Beaumont said that the residents of Munich would NEVER go to the Hofbrauhaus...it is definitely geared to the tourists.
After our respite at the Hofbrauhaus, we visited the market at the Residence as well as a Medieval Market near the Odeonsplatz. The market at the Residence had a lot of things for the kids to look at and little rides for them, so they loved it. However, by the time we arrived to the Medieval Market it was dark and much colder...Owen said it best, "Mom, this one is freakin' me out...that lady is juggling fire!"
That was enough for us! We hopped into taxis and went to the Seehaus, in the English Garden, for dinner. It was the perfect place for all of us to be - with 7 adults and 7 children - they were ready and happy to deal with us. A great recommendation from our concierge. After dinner it was back to the hotel for one last sleep.
On Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast and visited the Christmas markets one last time before heading to the airport to return to London. We had a wonderful visit with the Beaumonts and look forward to returning to Munich in the spring or summer...and definitely in September for Oktoberfest!
PROST!
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