Munich Christmas Adventure: It's cold!

Our first impressions of Munich? Dang, it's cold! 34 degrees to two people who haven't seen anything lower than about 65 in almost 4 years is really cold.

For me, that's exactly what I wanted so I was thrilled and loved having to wrap up with a scarf and gloves. Yep, I was cold, but it was such a refreshing change that I really enjoyed it.  My husband, not so much. He's been a really good sport, though.

I know my Wisconsin friends cannot relate, and I wish I could express it in a way that you would also understand, but I don't think I can. You see, I really miss having 4 seasons and while I do enjoy being warm and having sun EVERY day, I really miss the variety. I also miss wool socks, fleece, wearing scarves for warmth instead of fashion and cozy sweaters. That feeling when you step in from the cold into a warm house or restaurant. Drinking hot drinks and feeling them warm you up from the inside. Even with the air conditioning on it's highest setting, you can't replicate that feeling.

I think the other thing is that the turn to cold weather forecasts the holiday season. It is hard to get in the holiday spirit when you shop for your fake Christmas tree at the grocery store while wearing a T-shirt and flip flops. :) For me, the cold is Christmas as much as ornaments and presents so this trip is really putting me in the spirit.

Besides the weather, Munich is brimming with Christmas cheer. Decorations everywhere and every corner looking cozier than the last. I'm in heaven!

Starting our Munich Christmas Adventure

First an apology for my loyal readers - I have been busy, I mean lazy. And while I'd like to promise that I'll get back on track and blog regularly from here on out, I'm not sure that's a promise I can keep. In any case, I'll try my best to keep you up to date on our Munich adventure while here.

Why Munich you ask? This adventure started in May on my birthday. I don't remember exactly why, but I decided that for my birthday I wanted to plan a Christmas trip for the first week of December (National holiday so a good time to take a week off while only using 3 vacation days). I had 3 requests: 1) I wanted to see some snow, 2) I wanted to experience proper Christmas spirit, and 3) I wanted to try out FIRST class.

So, onto the flight booking system to see what was available and up pops Munich. Christmas markets - check; First class seats available - check; snow? - hmmm, maybe cold enough but doubtful. I decided 2 out of 3 was good enough and convinced Brian who reluctantly agreed. (He wasn't as excited about the cold weather idea for some reason.)

First class is a dream - seriously, we should all get to travel this way all the time.  Too bad that even with my discounts, it's expensive as heck! Here are a few photos so you can also enjoy the experience.

In the airport. Yes, we were that geeky couple taking a selfie with our first class tickets. What a bunch of losers!

On board and Brian hanging his jacket in his own personal closet. Makes the dress code of a jacket worthwhile when you get your own closet!

It's like you're own little living room on board when you've got the two middle seats like we did. There's even a privacy panel in case you're not traveling with your neighbor  (or I suppose in case you've had enough of your spouse!)

Big comfy leather seats that recline flat so you can get a nap in.

A welcome box of chocolates! Yes please.

And welcome on board dates and Arabic coffee.

And what I didn't get a photo of are:

• The set of lounge wear - pullover shirt and pants and slippers that you can wear during the flight so your own clothes don't get wrinkled. We didn't bother as it was a day flight but are using them now as PJs!
• The amenity kit with toothbrush, mints, lip balm, face cream, hand cream and sleep aid lavender scented oil.
• The noise cancelling headphones that are so good you have to take them off when they bring you your food and drink or you can't hear anything!
• And the food and drink? You have your own first class chef that will pretty much prepare whatever you'd like and make recommendations. We made sure we ate twice on our 6-hour flight so we could try breakfast and lunch!

Clearly we arrived in style!

Prague: Chesky Krumlov castle

There are a number of day trips one can arrange from Prague. We decided on Chesky Krumlov castle. The location was a good choice, the tour company however ...
It started with the threat of rain. Luckily, we had brought along the umbrellas we bought in Budapest when we were caught in that shower so that didn't cause too much trouble. The real problem was our guide. First, he had to give the tour in English and in Spanish and he kept forgetting which language he was in! He'd start in English, then forget to repeat in Spanish. Then he's start in Spanish and realise he was trying to talk to the English speaking tourists. He kept correcting himself, forgetting names, dates and events. It was a bit of a mess.

But, the place was beautiful and the castle tour itself was very interesting (different guide) except that they didn't allow photos, which I think it just mean.

This is a bridge that connects the different parts of the castle over this ravine. 

The town was so gorgeous with this river running through it and the old houses.

There are all kinds of different architectural types in the same place here. Our guide said it was because the town was too poor to tear down the previous style and rebuild in their own. Lucky for us!  If you look closely, you'll see Jesus and a bishop entertaining the kids by the monument.

View after view and each one better than the last. Too bad for the cloudy skies. 

You can see the kayakers in this photo. They get a little bit of rapids as they go over the dam.

Prague: St. Vitus Cathedral

As I mentioned in the previous post, St. Vitus Cathedral is the heart of the Prague Castle complex. It's huge, very gothic and very interesting. Let's have a look.

Front entrance. There is free entry for all up until a certain point. After that, to get a closer look, you need to purchase a ticket.

Lots of gargoyles to help the water drain off the roof. We were near here during a pretty heavy downpour so got to see them up close and in action. 

A view of some of the stained glass. I have quite a few photos of the windows, but I just can't get them to turn out.

Here's a view of the organ. They have concerts here as well each evening, but we didn't end up fitting one in. I'm sure it's amazing acoustics.

These are the actual crypts of some of the Hapsburg royalty who play a prominent role in Prague history. What I found interesting is that they are in the middle of the church itself. Those are pews on either side. Not sure I'd be that comfortable sitting next to them during Sunday mass.

Confessionals. I love the contrasting colors in this picture.

All along the far end of the church are these small separate chapels paying homage to various rulers, patrons or saints of the church. They each have their own style, which makes for an eclectic hodgepodge of a collection, but very interesting. 

For example, this is the crypt of John Nepomuk who was one of the queen's confessors. When the king insisted he spill the queen's secrets, he refused and was then thrown off the Charles Bridge. He now has this monstrosity (all silver and weighing many tons) in St. Vitus and has his own larger chapel in another part of the castle grounds.

Prague Castle

An absolute must-do on any trip to Prague is a visit to the Prague Castle. It's a beacon and a landmark as it sits high on a hill that you can see from most vantage points in the city. You really get a sense of how life must have been before skyscrapers and cars. Everything would start at the castle and flow down the hillside to the river and then over to the other side.

Prague Castle is a complex of many buildings and we spent 2 half days there in order to get a look at everything. You can rent an audio guide for up to 3 hours that provides more information than your head can take it. We did that the first afternoon and felt a bit rushed trying to fit everything in. The second afternoon, we took our time without the guide to really enjoy the place.

This is the first inner courtyard of the castle just inside the gates. We took these during our Segway tour around 10:30am on Sunday morning so it wasn't very crowded.

Fountain in that same courtyard. Still enough tourists that I couldn't get a shot of just the fountain. You can see in the background some of the restoration going on.

This is outside the gates and looking back to the castle compound. You can see the crowd starting to form for the hourly changing of the guard.

Here's a better view of the front gates shortly before noon for the changing of the guard ceremony. Now you really get a sense of the crowds!

This is the end of the ceremony and the guards heading away from the castle. I captured some nice video of the event, but can't get it to upload into the blog.

This is inside the castle complex near an area called Golden Alley where the merchants for the royal family lived and set up shop. It started to rain about this time, which, of course, we loved, but did put a damper on our photo ops.

Sun back out and one of the chapels in the castle complex. The largest structure is the St. Vitus Cathedral, and that's so cool, it deserves it's own blog post. You can see the poster for the evening concert. Again, music everywhere in Prague!