Today, we woke up at 7AM and decided to go for a walk while the sun was finally shining outside. It's the first time since we arrived on Wednesday that we've seen the sun. We had coffees at a chain of coffee shops, called "San Francisco Coffee," and then we went to a little grocery store to get some still water, of which there was none, and to walk past the Bavarian National Museum (pictured here) and the English Garden.
It was too cold to stay out for too long, so we walked to the river and the statue of peace and walked back to our hotel. We decided it was already time to eat, so we headed back to town.
We went for lunch at another restaurant where you enter in one door and it ends up being the size of about four restaurants all together. I was not feeling like more sausages, sauerkraut, and dumplings even though I love them all! I think after three days of eating only those foods for each meal, I just couldn't take any more.
I finally ate a salad in Germany, which was great! I also ordered potato pancakes, which I love. Dave ordered more of the same: meat and potatoes. Although his first German word was "dunkel," which means dark so that he could get a dark beer. He's loving the beer in Germany and taking advantage of our stay to enjoy it. I don't blame him, he's not happy with the Italian beer. I'm doing OK with my "stillis wasser" even though a third of a liter (which is about two cups or something) costs the same as his liter of beer!
With all the Christmas markets downtown, we decided to go to a larger market on the southern eastern part of Munich. Bob suggested that we go, so we decided to call Marco to join us. We met at the same spot in Marienplatz and took the U-bahn there. We got a "Partner Day Pass," which cost us 8,80 Euros.
At the market, they were selling crêpes, mulled wine, beer (of course!), food, and many arts and crafts. After walking around in the snow to get to the market, we sat down inside one of the tents to get something to drink. Since it's pretty difficult to get water, I settled for a mulled wine. Dave had to pay 1 Euro per glass so that either the customer can keep the glass for the 1 Euro or they get them back. Dave had a hot "mojito," which is a Cuban drink that's normally served cold. It was really tasty.
As we were walking out to leave, I saw that they had "hot coconuts." I was intrigued as I saw people drinking out of half of the shell of a coconut. I went to the kasse (cash register) and paid to get one. The woman told me to pay an extra 2 Euros for the coconut and explained to me in German that if I get it back I get back my 2 Euros. I mostly understood the hand gestures and not the German. I have, since I've been in Germany, learned the numbers. I stood in another line to get my hot coconut. I watched as the bartender poured white liquid into the coconut (which I assumed was sweetened coconut milk) and added rum and a red syrup to it. He plopped in a straw and handed it to me.
I stirred it up a little and took a sip. I loved it so much that I just had to share. We all were surprised at how good it was. I decided to keep coconut shell as a memento of our trip to Germany. We took the U-bahn back to our hotel and parted ways with Marco. When we got to our station and out onto the street, I realized that I wasn't certain where I was. I asked three people, all of whom didn't speak English, where our street was. One woman pointed in one direction and made many gestures about going straight and then turning right. But, somehow, I didn't get the feeling that she knew what she was talking about or that she didn't really know where she was sending me. I asked another man, who just responded, "I don't speak English." Then, I asked a third man, who pointed me in the opposite direction and that seemed right to me. I followed his instructions and recognized the street a little bit more.
Another day of walking around town and realizing how much we really love Munich. It's a clean city with so much to see and do. If it weren't so cold, we'd probably enjoy it even more!
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