As tired as we were last night, the best that either of us could do was “nap” – where we slept for a couple of hours at a time before waking up again. I hit my stride around 2:30 and got in a full two and a half hours of solid sleep before the alarm clock went off for us to get up and get ready to catch our early train to Munich. We’re both still pretty tired.

It was still dark for the first couple of hours of our five hour train ride, but we were pleased to discover that it had snowed in the French and German countryside, so we had a picturesque view for most of the ride. We had the opportunity to enjoy the snowy view for a little longer than we anticipated, as our first train was an hour delayed. Something was lost in translation in the English version of the announcement, so we’re still not entirely sure what happened other than that we ended up in a city that was not supposed to be on the route and we had to wait for the train to reverse and get back on the intended route. Sadly, we missed our connection in Stuttgart and had to catch a later train the rest of the way to Munich. However, I’d rather spend an extra hour on the train in the snowy German countryside than an extra hour in an airport, so I don’t think either of us really minded.

Once we arrived and checked into our hotel, we took (most of) Rick Steves’ audio tour of downtown Munich using his mobile app. It was pretty cold this afternoon and evening, but the gluhwein in the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) was nice and warm. Highlights include:

• Gluhwein (obviously)
• The architecturally appealing New Town Hall
• The less impressive but still not-bad-to-look-at Old Town Hall, which is actually newer than the New Town Hall because the New Town Hall survived the WWII air raids, while the Old Town Hall did not and had to be reconstructed.
• Churches. So. Many. Churches.
• A synagogue and the knowledge that Munich’s Jewish population has finally returned to its pre-WWII level
• Charles deciding it was cold enoough to actually use some of the cold-weather gear he purchased for the trip (Exhibit: Hat)
• Me kissing a Razorback (I blame the gluhwein)
• Charles getting eaten by a big fish (no gluhwein involved)

We didn’t quite make it through the full audio tour before it started to get dark and our stomachs started rumbling for dinner. We decided to try a place that Charles spotted on the way to check into our hotel specializing in schweinshaxe. The English translation “pork knuckle” is a somewhat unappealing (though accurate) name for what turned out to be very tasty meal in a cozy atmosphere. We left with full bellies and a general sense of “gemütlichkeit” (a special German word for such warm coziness) and spent the rest of the evening strolling through the beautifully lit Christkindlmarkt (with a little more gluhwein to keep the gemütlichkeit going).