We get to City Airport and discover that our flight's been delayed indefinitely, due to the blanket of heavy fog hanging over London for the past few days. In a few minutes, our worst fears have realised- they've cancelled nearly every flight leaving from the airport for that morning. We line up for almost two hours at the Lufthansa desk. When it comes to our turn, they put us on another flight heading into Dusseldorf, with a connection into Munich. This flight's out of Stanstead Airport, which has been the least affected by the fog. We're thankful, until the lady behind the desk says that it's at 5pm in the evening. However, they do provide us with a car to the airport, and we share that with two other girls who were booked to fly the original flight with us.We spend the rest of the Friday at the bar at Stanstead. It's not a bad way to while away the hours, I guess.. Our flights to Dusseldorf and then to Munich were both on Air Berlin, and we find it hard to believe that Air Berlin's considered a budget airline- it's pretty spacious, clean and the staff are so pleasant! We arrive in Munich, get to our hotel with minimum hassle- thanks to plenty of useful advice from Phil, a friend from work.
The next day, we head straight to the Christmas Markets in Munchen
Freiheit. It's a cute little place... wooden stalls selling hot food, lots of gluhwein (mulled wine) and crafty things. The stalls are all painted bright colours and there are lots of festive, colourful decorations everywhere, but we're almost too cold to take it all in... Whilst not cold enough to snow, the cold seeping through my boots prevents me from staying too long in one spot. I find myself marching Matt around the place, looking for the perfect German (hot) snack to wrap my hands round and sink my teeth into. After steering Matt away from the stall selling Thai inspired pizzas, we head to the sausage stall and ask for a 'currywurst mit semmel'. Phil had mentioned that this was one thing that we absolutely had to try, and I had
thought it was a curry flavoured bratwurst... it came in a cardboard tray, pieces of sausage swimming in a hot curry flavoured sauce and a bread roll to dip into the sauce. I didn't think I'd like it... but it was excellent. We also had a white sausage in a roll with ketchup and mustard. That was nice, too. I could definitely taste the thyme in the sausage.Wandered around some more. Plenty of really interesting and pretty things- I got a pair of felt shoes for Hilda... we then walked past another stall selling what looked like little pancakes with toppings... (I got told they are called 'Kartoffelpuffer'- they're potato pancakes) We asked for sweet toppings- the people before me had melted cheese and ham... yum... but we just had our sausages. We got our pancakes sandwiching some cranberry preserves. The mix of warm, salty and sweet was oh so yummy... Kinda like when you put your McDonalds fries into a soft serve icecream....
We then had a bit of a walk throught he shopping district. Must've been a pretty upmarket place.. lots of women in near full-length fur coats, walking their dogs. Not as many canine friends as in Paris, but do these dogs have an access all areas pass? We saw dogs in shops, in cafes, in our hotel, on the train... Even in the departure lounge of the airport!
We then walked back to Marienplatz. When we got closer towards the city centre, we started to see some statues of lions dotted around the place. These had been painted in all different themes. The one you see here, with Matt... I presume the artist wanted to represent the inner Lionel Ritchie???? What say you?
We finally reached the Christmas market in Marienplatz. It was a lot larger than the one we went to, that morning. Lots more places selling roast chestnuts, gluhwein, and there even was a stall selling chocolate covered fruit on sticks! This is the only time you'll see me eating a banana, outside of Brunei...
We had some gluhwein... this was really, really good! With extra rum. We
walked on, holding the warm cups... stopped at a place with a roast haunch of pig. Had a pig sandwich... There was something that they were selling in the stall. Something white, with speckled bits, spread on toast. The stall owner said it wasn't pork fat.... Matt didn't let me buy it.... but I'm quite curious as to what it could be. Just did a google search: Schmaltz- pork dripping with crackling in it. Damn. Missed opportunity!
Dinner was at a little Japanese restaurant. It is so weird, after living in Australia and then in London, to head into a Japanese restaurant where the language they speak after Japanese ISN'T English! We still got by, though! Great food, and great atmosphere. I needed help from the diners next to us to ask for dessert!
Next post: Christmas Eve and the big day itself...
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