People, get ready for a little bit of bragging. Last weekend, Ryan and I went to Munich. Ya know, we just popped over to Germany for the weekend as people do. Sound fancy right? But seriously, my Titi Pascale and Uncle Willie were doing a holiday in Europe and asked Ryan and me if we wanted to meet them for part of it. My aunt told me about the Christmas markets and I was all,”we’ll be there.”

In booking the trip, I did have some travel craziness where I felt guilty about spending money on a two day trip. But, Ryan and I moved to London so we could easily travel around Europe, and we were going to see family so it was totally worth it. And let me tell you, Germany was just lovely. Below is a picture of the view as the plane was landing. In the background are mountains (although a bit hazy and hard to see), and then in the foreground perfectly manicured fields and villages. It was so beautiful!

Once we met up with my uncle and aunt, we hit the markets to do some eating. We ate with abandon. We had potato fritters with apple sauce and Titi Pascale had them with some delicious garlic sour cream. We had cookies. We had bratwurst sandwiches. We had beers. We had roasted almonds with Nutella – which were so good we bought a second pack to take with us on the train to the airport. They were so good I’m going to have to look up a recipe. We also had giant pretzels which were soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Those were so good we took one on the plane and ate it on our layover in Copenhagen. And every single thing we ate was delicious. Even when we ate at the stand by the tourist-y ice rink, the food was perfection.

One of my favorite markets was Medieval themed. At this market I had a gargantuan glass of wine punch. I don’t totally know everything that was in it, but they poured wine out of the big jug, then splashed rum around on top, added a sugar cube, and then set the whole thing on fire. It was a huge cup and no one wanted to drink it with me (probably because it was so boozy), so I got a little tipsy given that I’d had the giant beer shortly before. I was a little shocked because the wine cost 15€ and I was all, “whoa… but I really want to try it.” But, when I returned the cup I got 10€ back, so then I was really please because I’d pay £5 for a regular glass of wine at a pub. All in all, felt like a good deal.

The city itself was really nice. We saw a man yodeling and we walked through a park and saw a beautiful waterfall and sunset. The whole weekend we had really nice weather. It was a perfect winter day with a nice crisp chill, but we could still have jackets open and hats off.

But what of the things I love most about Christmas time are the decorations. I love Christmas lights – and there were everywhere. They were on lamp posts, on windows, on buildings. The whole city felt really nice and festive. There was a store display window that was decorated in a woodland scene with lots of moving stuffed toys. It was pretty elaborate and cheery.

On Sunday we took the tram to Nymphenburg Palace. Side note, we found German people to be so nice. Someone helped us figure out the tram tickets, and earlier someone else gave us directions – both times unbidden. Anyway, Nymphenburg Palace was really beautiful. In front there is a lake with loads of ducks and swans. They swans were astounding! Really large, plush looking, with perfectly white feathers. We saw a women petting and feeding them. We were just waiting for her to get bitten – but it didn’t happen. The palace itself is an enormous complex.

Inside, was even more astounding. The main room where we entered was two stories tall, with gorgeous chandeliers, and an amazing painted ceiling. Throughout the whole place the ceilings had really detailed and elaborate paintings of mythological figures. Words can’t express how beautiful those paintings are. One, which I didn’t take a picture of, had such incredible perspective that it looked like the figure was standing on a cloud right above you, and that you were underneath her feet. We all stopped to look at one painting  that had a deer hunt (middle in photo below). This painting was huge, maybe 15 feet tall, but at the very bottom center is a large pack of dogs swimming after a fleeing deer. It was a cool painting showing a village and a hunt, but I thought it was curious that the main action was in such a tiny portion of the whole.

After we toured the palace, we checked out the carriages and sleighs exhibit. I didn’t have huge expectations, but I left blown away. The carriages were more ornate and beautiful than I have the ability to convey with words. There were nymphs holding torchs, there were geese squawking, there were gods blowing horns, and there we suns on hubcaps. Every since surface glittered and shone.

Some of the sleighs had built in ermine blankets and thick slippers for foot holds. These were truly amazing ways to show off the wealth and power of the monarchs. I felt bad for the poor horses who would have had to carry all this weight. One of the coolest sleighs (above) was of Hercules killing the Hydra. The hydra itself was made from one single hollowed out tree!

I left Munich glowing. I was well fed, I had seen some beautiful things, and I had spent some wonderful time with my family, and I was filled with the Christmas spirit. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it was true. I was sad to leave. I had so much fun with my family, and it was nice to be with people that I felt so comfortable with it. It was such a pleasure to just have some food and hang out. It made me more excited for when Ryan and I go back to the US next week! Anyway, Munich was delightful and now I want to drink a beer and make some soft pretzels, even though it won’t be the same, so I can hold on to this weekend feeling a little bit longer.

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I was so proud of my turkey! It came out of the oven and I was like, “The turkey is beautiful! Ryan look at the turkey! Look at it! It’s so beautiful! Take a picture of me with the turkey.” This was my first turkey done by me without the aid of a veteran (AKA someone who has done this more than a few times). You know how as you grow up there are lots of little things that make you feel like an adult? Well, cooking Thanksgiving dinner and preparing a really nice turkey made me feel like, “yeah, I got this, I’m an adult.”

Anyway, it was a really lovely evening. Our friends Alessia and Raffaello came over for their first Thanksgiving and they were the best sports. We were feeding them a number of foods they’d never had before and they tried everything. Having guests over meant I got to use these wine glass charms my friend Mala had sent me. They are little monster guys and they hang on to the stem by their mouth. It’s adorable and helps you keep track of your glass. Silly, but cute – see the picture below.

I made stuffing for the first time,and usually I don’t like it. And because I don’t like it, I thought why not lean in, so I put mushrooms in which I really don’t like. But it turned out to be amazingly delicious. I’m semi-converted. I also served cranberry sauce, canned shaped, cut into slices. I bought the can when I was in Raleigh. My family might correct me, but I have no recollection of ever having this kind of cranberry sauce as a kid. But, since the can shape with the lines on the side is an iconic American Thanksgiving image, I had to serve it.

We also all had to share what we were thankful for and we had to make trace our hands (with crayon) and color them in to be turkeys. I had such a blast, I went to bed full, woke up full, and went to work on Friday feeling all warm and fuzzy and aglow with the holiday spirit. Cheesy I know, but true.

Then over the weekend, we decided it was time to embrace Christmas so Ryan and I went to Hamley’s, which is a famous toy store in London. It dates back to 1790!! It was really crowded and felt a lot like going to FAO Schwartz in New York City. There were five floors of toys! They also had stuff on the floor doing demonstrations with the toys. I thought that seemed like a really fun job, until I realized that my job is the same just instead of demonstrating toys I demonstrate science. Ryan was into the the remote controlled cars and planes. I was into the Legos. I also go to toy stores, look at the Lego Star Wars items and sigh and wish they weren’t so expensive. People can do such cool stuff with Legos. Look at these AMAZING statues of the royal family!! Also, just fyi, the Santa and reindeer are all Legos, but they are in Covent Garden, not Hamley’s. We left Hamley’s with a present for Boden and a small toy for me and Ryan.

We then went over to Covent Garden to check out their Christmas scene. They had a nice big tree, a big silver reindeer, and some lights. I didn’t take a picture, but they also have ENORMOUS Christmas bulbs hanging from the ceiling. They are really impressive in size. It was a beautiful afternoon and I really nice way to kick-off the Christmas season. I even talked Ryan into stopping at Costa Coffee for a few holiday drinks. What could be better? Nothing, that’s what.

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