Bavaria Christmas Markets - Day 3 Nuremburg

I got to Nuremburg without issues and had a about a 15 minute walk to my hotel.  I got to walk by, then through the old town, which is still surrounded by a wall with round towers.  

It was very picturesque.  I did find my hotel, which was very German and not at all a chain.  It is attached to a restaurant and it seems that there is a table adjacent to the lobby so that you can hang out with your beer. 

I arrived in my room to find that I had no pillows.  I dumped my stuff in my room and let the nice lady at the front desk know that I needed a pillow on my way out the door.  She asked if I wanted one or two.  Replied that two would be nice.  Remember this.

I wandered around just absorbing the atmosphere of the place.  I noticed something festive in the distance and came upon a small Christmas Market.  It was not one on my map or one I had read about, so it was a nice surprise. 

It ended up that this happens a lot in Nuremburg.  Random Christmas market stalls everywhere and, if there is a cluster of them...a mini Christmas Market.

This one had an interesting fountain in the middle of it.  

Not very festive...but interesting...lol

This market was mostly food and drink with some rides for the kiddies

It was likely a neighborhood kind of thing because it didn't feel very touristy with the usual stalls of ornaments and souvenirs 

But lots to drink and a temporary party area.

I had noodles with parmesan and mushrooms before, when in Vienna.  However, those were more egg noodles with JUST cheese.  This had a bunch of cream added to it before they dumped it in the giant bowl of parmesan that was made of a wheel of the stuff.  It was so very rich that I could barely eat half of it. 

My first gluhwein of the season.  This is actually a mug, but the handle is to the back so that you can see the design.  This is also my first mug of the trip.

It started to get prettier as the sun went down

All brightly lit up

I also wandered outside of the market a bit to get a feel of the neighborhood

This church was on the edge of the market

I made my way back to my hotel after my noodles and gluhwein.  This place had a lot of character, I'll give it that. You actually had a physical key, attached to a GIANT fob, so you had to drop it off and pick it up at the front desk whenever you went out.  My bathroom was as big as the room.  However, I arrived to one very flat pillow.  I decided to suffer with it.  The mattress was very comfortable and not wrapped in plastic, thank goodness, but the room was pretty warm.   I actually had to open a window.  

 

Bavaria Christmas Markets - Day 2

 Woke up early and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel.  Except I spilled yogurt on my shirt and walked around like that until I got to my room and looked in the bathroom mirror.  Lovely.

Checked out and got to the train station WAY too early and camped out at my platform.  Then they changed the platform and I had to relocate.  After that, we started about 15 minutes late.  So much for German train punctuality.  I'm not particularly worried, it's not like I'm on a deadline.

Train is pretty comfy though and I'm here just wasting time until I get to Nuremburg in about an hour.  I'd take a photo out the window, but we're moving FAST.  It's pretty and green...lots of farmland dotted with cute little villages, each with a church or two with tall steeples.  

Bavaria Christmas Markets - Day 1

So, I started this yesterday from my phone and everything posted weird.  Sideways and upside-down photos along with me being grumpy from lack of sleep.  So, let's start this over...we'll begin with the ubiquitous photo from on the plane.  This time, it's the gingerbread man cookies that were my snack on the plane.  

Too cute!  Points for British Airways.  Both planes I took, from Austin to London and London to Munich were not full and I ended up having entire rows to myself.  I know I won't be that lucky on the way back.

Once I arrived in Munich, I hopped the train to the central train station.

This was an advertisement on the station floor, which I found to be quite humorous as a Jersey girl.  Jersey is apparently gunning for the German tourist market.

Got a little turned around getting to my hotel, but found it eventually.  Got checked in and decided to find something to eat.  Got some groceries and wandered around for a bit.  I actually had decided to try to find one of the Christmas Markets on my map, but no matter how I tried, there was no market anywhere near the spot on my map.  I decided to give up and head back to my hotel when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.  

This isn't it, it was an ice rink set up in a square with lots of bars around it.  That looked promising, so I walked past it and found this gate to Karlsplatz.  While not a Christmas market per se, it's a pedestrian zone with shopping.  They had added a market vibe to the area.

This is one of the big department stores in the area all decorated for the Holidays.

There were festive street lamps

St. Michael's Church.

Sleep deprived Donna who found some pretty lights for a selfie.

A couple of stalls that gave it a market vibe, but there were only a few along with hot chestnut stalls and other festive decor.

Of course there was gluhwein

Another big department store all decorated

Dunno what this was, but it's cute.

Our first decorated store coming from the other direction..

And the gate from the inside. 

I got back to my room, ate the cheese and bread I had picked up at the grocery store along with a Coke.  Here the Coke is more like what we're used to as Mexican Coke because no high-fructose corn syrup.  I also watched Snow White on the German Disney channel...in German of course.

Then took a quick shower to wash off the travel grime and headed to bed.  I woke up sweating because of the freaking waterproof cover on the mattress and the heavy comforter.  The room was pretty warm too.  I folded the comforter in half and put it under me and used my travel blanket.  Then, I slept the rest of the night like a baby.