Christkindlmarkt Overload, Crowded Trains, Jessica’s Leaving Weekend and the Last Maß Celebration, Snowman Fail, and a Shamrocks Styled Send Off

Sadly, this weekend marked the last of my friend Jessica’s time here in Munich. Jessica has been one of my my closest friends since arriving here in Munich and I would not have survived the culture shock and transition periods if she hadn’t been here, guiding me through the language and explaining things to me that I didn’t understand. She took me to the hospital at 3 in the morning when I sliced my foot open. She’s spent many a sleepless night with me, enjoying the Munich night life and running wild in the streets of this crazy German city. I was so blessed to be able to spend the whole weekend with her and have all of the time that I needed to spend with her before she left Munich to go back to Arkansas. That girl has my heart and I will never, ever forget the part she’s played in my life. That will always be with me when I think of my time in Munich!

The beginning of my weekend with Jess started with a Saturday trip to the Nürnberg (Nuremberg) for the Weihnachtsmarkt. It had been planned for a while so all we needed to do was just get everybody together and go. Only about 7 of us ended up going and that’s mostly because we chose to take the 9 A.M. train. Which was crowded, as usual. We got seats eventually and kept moving around until we were mostly together and arrived in Nürnberg around 11:30 ish. The weather was horrible and for most of the day we walked around in wet snow, slush, and rain and the freezing cold. The markets were wonderful, as usual, but not much different from those in Munich or anywhere else, really. It’s all for the experience, to be honest, and I had a wonderful day meeting new friends, wandering around a new city, and enjoying every minute of the day.

Vigil kept inside the St. Lorenz Kirche
   Nürnberg from the top of the Sinwellturm

Imperial castle and not part of King Ludwig’s castle craze apparently

Me, Joker, and Jess and our customary cup of Glühwein

I don’t know why but this guy in the center  just  made my shot super creepy

After we’d had enough of freezing cold feet and Christmas market crap, we jumped on the 5 o’clock train back to Munich. It was so crowded that most of us had to sit on the floor in the back of the train car. Half of the ride was spent being huddled underneath lederhosen clad Bavarian men and their beers. We made it home around 7 and all separated to get ready for a friends house warming party. Which was, as usual, a wild night. We stayed and Fabrice and Andre’s swanky new apartment until 4:30 in the morning before we trekked back to the train station in the cold, cold, cold morning air and then we all wandered back to Motorstrasse where I stayed the night with Jessica and the two of us stayed warm, cuddled up in her bed. :)

On Sunday, Jessica and I wandered into the English Gardens to check out the Christmasmarkt at the Chinese Tower. It was, as usual, jam packed with tourists and locals alike but it was cute and quaint, probably my favorite of the markets thus far.

Dashing through the snow…. in a two horse open sleigh…

St. Nicholas (but where’s his book of sins?!)

Lebekuchen (German gingerbread)

After the market, Jessica and I had dinner in town and ate at this delicious pizza/Italian restaurant called L’Osteria. The pizzas are HUGE and only about 8 EUR for the massive thing. We got half-pizzas instead and even still I couldn’t finish it. They were amazing though! After dinner Jess and I met our friend Daniel at our favorite spot – Jaegers Youth Hostel – so that Jessica could enjoy her last Maß in Munich. It turned into a ridiculously crazy, dramatic, over the top kind of night but that’s just how Jess and I like it to be. I had so much fun – even if the night didn’t end up so nice for me (stupid boy!) – and Jessica and I made it home to my bed where we slept for all of three hours. Haha. Great end to the weekend if you ask me!

    Me & Jess

Jessica’s last Maß!

This deserves a minor mention but on Monday I tried to make a snowman with Vee and it was an epic fail. The snow that’s been blanketing Munich for the last three weeks is too powdery for snow man making so we ended up just making a huge pile of snow in the side of the yard. But we did try!

Sledding fail.

River behind the house – fading sunset in the snow. 

On Tuesday night Jessica had her leaving party and, unfortunately, I was babysitting so I missed most of it. I made it to the end, once everyone had convened at Shamrock’s for karoeke and I rolled into the bar around 11:20 pm. I managed two beers and a whole of drunk-friend babysitting but it was good to spend even a little bit of Jess’s last night with her. She had so much fun and you could feel how hard it was for her to leave. We’re definitely going to miss her around here!

I’m going to miss you, girl! See you soon!

Hans im Glück Burger Grill, Mini Pizzas and Old Fashioned Cartoons, and A Last Minute Trip to the Chiemsee Weihnachtmarkt

Saturday, December 4th

I had a somewhat uneventful Saturday. Unless you count being entertained by your hungover, probably still drunk, and somewhat irritable Irish friend eventful. Then I had a very eventful Saturday! Haha. I kept the poor girl company while she moaned and groaned about the previous nights imbibing. We both had the hots for cheeseburgers so we found a new restaurant and ventured in that direction and were delighted to find that it was worth every penny. And the restaurant itself was really cool, great design!

I had the avocado burger. You know me. I love me some avocados!

Loved the trees on all the tables!

After lunch, Fio returned home to sleep off the rest of her hangover and I attempted to enjoy the Christkindlmarkt but I found that it was not fun and would definitely not be enjoyed. There were a million people walking in every which direction, pushing and being touristy and rude. I wasn’t down for that – I hate crowds – and so I just got on the train and went home. The markets will be better enjoyed on Wednesday mornings.  I was supposed to meet up with Jessica this day to make snowmen in the English Gardens (cool, I know!) but the girl is ridiculous when it comes to making plans and getting in contact with her. Haha. To make matters worse, she lost her phone and so I couldn’t get a hold of her. Instead of showing up at my house at 12 like we’d planned the night before, she came at 3 pm, while I was across town eating lunch with Fio. Silly Jessica. We tried to meet up with her again but lost her in the hustle and bustle of Marienplatz and that was the end of our attempts. Crazy girl!

Once I arrived home I had a few hours to spare before I had to babysit die kinder but, like always, I didn’t do much with my spare time. I chatted with a new friend, did some blogging (do I really even have any other hobbies?), and watched more Desperate Housewives. (You’d think that I would eventually run out of episodes to watch, wouldn’t you? Good thing there is still an entire season left for me to catch up on.) Around 8 I went downstairs to look after the girls as their parents went out to dinner. We made mini pizzas and stayed up late (for them, anyway) watching old cartoons. They passed out and were asleep by 9:15.

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? 

While all of my friends went out on the town again, I stayed in (for work purposes, of course) but it’s always nice to have a good excuse to stay in every once in a while. Money flies - I am horrible at saving (especially when a 44 EUR train ticket and 15 EUR phone credit take up a good chunk of it). When I was back in California, I was working three jobs and had enough money to get by, pay my rent, cover the bills, gas up my Stratus, and still entertain myself. It’s really hard to come down from those habits and I’m learning that the hard way with every pay period.

Sunday, December 5th

Originally I’d planned to go on the Erasmus trip to Nürnberg with Eric and Helen but Helen bailed on me and I figured that Eric could use a little trip without me. Ha. Last time we were attached at the hip - I’ll give the boy some space. Since a few of my friends were planning a trip to the Chiemsee Weihnachtsmarkt on the same day, I decided to go there with them instead and would save Nürnberg for the following weekend. Chiemsee is south of Munich, accessed by the train, and located on a little island. Incredibly quaint and absolutely adorable.

We took the Deutsche Bahn (trains) like we always do when we travel Bavaria and used a Bayern ticket which is 28 EUR for up to 5 people to share. I get to the central station (Hauptbahnhof) and run into Jess and Kymbat just before we met up with the others and was told that I would be able to jump onto someone’s Bayern ticket. But after we meet up with everyone and get on the train, we discover that  we have 17 people and 3 tickets – enough for 15 people. So myself and another girl would have to get our own Bayern ticket but pay 14 EUR each for it. Instead of the 5 something EUR paid by everyone else. So that sucked! They didn’t actually check it on the train ride there but we bought the ticket anyway once we arrived in Chiemsee and then had to pay another 9 EUR for the round trip travel ticket for the bus and the ferry out to the island. So there went an unexpected 23 EUR. But then Jess bought me a 3,50 EUR bratwurst mit semmel lunch so I guess I couldn’t complain too much. In the end, we split it up anyway and everyone gave us an extra Euro or two until it was all even.

Our trip to Chiemsee was ultimately a success. I didn’t even know what I was in for, seeing as it was such a last minute trip for me, but it turned out to be a good choice. We went to see one of King Ludwig’s castles (he has so many!), the Herrenchiemsee, and to get there we had to take a hike on this little wooded path and it was so pretty and serene. Jessica and I made it even more fun by using the soles of our shoes as ice skates until I fell on my ass on the cold, hard snow packed ground. But it was funny and I didn’t land on my camera so all is well! When we got to the castle we immediately started a giant snowball fight which was fun because I’ve been wanting to do it since it started snowing. I definitely lost but we got the boys a few good ones, don’t worry!

Yours, truly.

Jessica and Kymbat on the way to Herrenchiemsee

Herrenchiemsee

The island that this castle is located on is different from the island where the Weihnachtmarkt is located. That’s because the two islands are meant for men - “herren” or gentleman’s island – and women - “frauen” or the lady’s island.  There is also a nunnery on the lady’s island and the markets are known as the Frauenchiemsee Christkindlmarkts. Interesting little fact for you about the Chiemsee islands. :)

While at the Weihnachtmarkts (aka Christkindlmarkt) we drank the customary mulled wine (aka glühwein), ate pommes frites (which were surprisingly, hard to find), spent at least 10 minutes every half an hour trying to get our group together, took a million and a half pictures, and enjoyed new friends, warm clothes, and good German culture.

Chiemsee

Most of the group, at the see side.
(Thanks, Ana for the picture!) 

We found a fire!