DAY ONE: DEC 23rd, 2013
I had a lovely train ride from Budapest to Munich. 7 hours starting from 1pm, so really just slept lots and then enjoyed the train ride for a few hours. Luckily for me, it's pretty easy to fall asleep on moving vehicles, so I preferred this train ride much more than the hectic flights I had been dealing with. (I learnt later on that no, not all train rides are this fantastic... but we'll get to that in the next post).
So, I arrive at Munich at 8pm, check into my hostel which was literally a two minute walk from the train station, and then FREAK OUT at 8:40pm because this is my last opportunity to see Munich's Christmas Markets at night (they close at 9pm...) because they end the afternoon of the 24th... Now, it's only about a ten minute walk from my hostel to the main centre where the big Christmas markets are, but I was really pushing my luck. By the time I got to the proximity of the Christmas market areas, I stumbled upon a small one and it was already like 9pm, so I didn't want to risk not enjoying any of it... and just settled for seeing this one. There was a super cute skating rink, and I bought myself some nice mulled wine (got a little bit tipsy because I sat on a train all day and didn't really eat anything oops). So time for bed to actually see Munich the next morning. I wish I had known that all the Christmas markets closed so early, so I could have wandered around before checking into my hostel. Oh well...
DAY TWO: DEC 24th, 2013
Well my day in Munich for Christmas Eve was really lovely! Wandering around the city was so cute.
The most festive markets I've ever seen! Though my friend Yuri said that Nuremberg's were even better (crazy), these were fabulously cute.
In Marienplatz (central square), here's the Neues Rathas aka City Hall, with the famous Glockenspiel!
Christmas carols being played by cool old musicians.
But look how cute and cartoony almost this architecture is...
This is a live goose... yeah weird.
Inside of the Neues Rathas City Hall! ...
WHERE I MET UP WITH YURI! YAY! Honestly, it was so great seeing a friend, especially for Christmas. We walked around a lot more, saw ridiculous amounts of churches.
Here are some cute polaroid pics I took in Munich that day.
I left Yuri in the evening to go to Christmas Eve service at Peace Church United Methodist http://www.peacechurch.de/. It was lovely and very welcoming.
DAY THREE: DEC 25th, 2013 ** CHRISTMAS
Now it sounds a little ridiculous, but I spent Christmas Day at Dachau Concentration Camp. This is Jare, one of the two Korean guys I met at the hostel. I convinced them to go to Dachau with me because what better way to spend Christmas than at a Concentration Camp...... yeah awful.
From the Dachau train station to the actual memorial site, it's about a 15 - 20 minute walk. We decided to trek it instead of taking the bus there (woo saving a few euros). It was a beautiful walk regardless.
Okay, but getting to Dachau finally felt so strange. As the first concentration camp memorial site that I've been to, I didn't really know what to expect. I still think about it sometimes and it feels so surreal how horrific the events were. My rambling isn't helping anything - so just take in the pictures..
In the evening, I had dinner with Yuri (no pictures sorry!) at the train station Chinese place because most other places were closed. No pictures oops but it was delicious and we had lovely conversations and I really really loved being with a friend on Christmas. Travelling alone has been incredibly (as hopefully I've portrayed) but on such important holidays, people who matter are great to have around.
Amsterdam next! Woo, almost done! (Gosh, I really should have done this earlier; it's not taking me that long once I decide to pursue it.)
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