THE von LEGSYBOYS DO MUNICH AND SALZBURG.....

Sorry, you might need a cup of tea while reading this one!

The trip was worth it just for this.

When it's on your doorstep it would be silly not to experience the Bavarian and Austrian Christmas markets and see whether the traditional image is as magical as it appears. So of we went last Wednesday night to find out.

How do they get away with such signage!!

Tram 19 to Marianplatz

Late at night Munich is VERY cold, but the public transport system was excellent (actually, name a Euro city where it isn't) and we were tucked in by 1:00am. Thursday morning we caught tram 19 into the heart of the city, and a 2 minute stroll had us standing in the Marienplatz Christmas Market (it dates back to 1642!) with our mouths open - the scene was magnificent, the 35 metre high tree was sparkling with 2,500 candle lights, and the aroma of Gluehwein (hot spiced wine) filled the air. We were just in time to see the 12:00pm performance of the Glockenspiel. It's located in the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) that runs along the north side of the square. The bells were wonderful and the revolving figurines simply amazing (especially the jousting knights!). Afterwards, we strolled through myriad stalls of decorations, giftware, delicious food, and drinks.

Marianplatz Xmas Market and Neues Rathaus

See the glockenspiel?

 

There it is

 

Hmm, those faces ring a bell

The glockenspiel figurines do their thing

 

 

What they really mean is crap coffee!

 

That is one BIG tree

  

Beautiful, huh

 

The wurst stall in the markt...

Gingerbread anyone?

Gluehwein

....gleuhwein...

Confectionery bauble...

Decorative baubles

....yum, gluhwein.....

.....aaaah, that's better - gluhwein...

Maroni roasting by an open fire...doesn't have the same ring to it

Made from shaved wood - fragile and very beautiful

 

The old Town Hall - looks like a fairytale castle

 

  

 

 

 

Time for some lunch and where better than Augustine's, the famous Munich brewery house. We enjoyed all manner of sausages - wiener sausages for los ninos, weisswurste (Munich white sausage) for Dulcinea, Regensburger sausage with sauerkraut for Don L - and beverages, not least being the largest beer I've ever had. With full stomachs, it was back to the Ratstrinkstube where los ninos attended the "Heavenly Workshop". It was wonderful to see the kids engrossed in the craft making - screen printing, bag decorating, gold leaf painting (Dulcinea had a go at this too!), and calligraphy, all with a Christmas theme of course. At the finish there was only the four of us left with the friendly staff; we sat around in a circle and they sang a traditional Bavarian carol to us, and in return the LegsyBoys returned the favour by singing a traditional Anglo-Saxon carol. That may sound schmaltzy, but it was a genuinely warm moment for us.

Augustiner Bierhalle

The girls decide.....

...whilst Don L sups..

.........aaaaaaaaaah

It's as big as a sausage chewing kid's head!

Regensburger and sauerkraut - sehr gut!

Weisswurste apparently tastes better than it looks!

Into the Heavenly Workshop we go...

...making candles...

The finished product...

....and another

Decorating gift bags



Dulcinea looking angelic

Aimster with a true saint

Buzz does calligraphy with a quill

Gold leafing his rock

Gold leafing her rock

Faking it just to get hold of the gold leaf

Nice one Aimster

Los ninos with the Heavenly Workshop team - fantastic.

One cool dude with entourage

And was there any sign of the BIG GUY IN RED??

Tough work being Santa...

....a quick shot of gluhwein will do the trick...

...drink and ride??

Nah, better not - I'll push it instead.

We continued to stroll up Neuhauser Strasse and enjoyed the Manger Market - if you want something for your Nativity scene, then this is the place. Further up we came to the ice skating rink and there was no holding back Buzzy and Dulcinea - they've a way to go before they are Torvill & Dean, but I'll wager T&D didn't have as much fun! The Aimster and I sensibly sat it out! Eventually we strolled back through the spectacular lights, nibbling Nurnberger Lebkuchen and Weinachten Stollen, before finally dining in a café next to the Old Town Hall before heading 'home' for an early night. (Travel Tip: Cafes and bistros in Munich - and Salzburg - do not accept credit cards, nor do they advertise the fact. Extraordinary really, and Don L gave more than one manager an on-the-spot appraisal!).

Dirndl and lederhosen anyone?

 

 

 

He's even got his own store in Munich

......ah, some more gluhwein...

 

The Manger Market (Kripperlmarkt)

I'm looking for a 'Joseph'

 

The rink

 

Torvill & Dean....

...and a ring-in

Eat your heart out Steven Bradbury

Teaching the bear to skate backwards!

Gold! Gold! Gold! for Australia in 2014

 

....aaah, gluhwein...

.....aaaah, crepe...

......aaah, maroni, aka hot chestnuts

.......aaah, gluhwein....

Friday, it's 7:27am (!!) and we're sitting in 1st Class on the railjet to Salzburg (Travel Tip: Book online with DB Bahn. It only cost us 34 Euro. The return in cattle class cost us 39 euro - go figure!).

Check out the cool Bavarian vest and scarf

Chicas on a train

It was early in the morning after all!

Out of the railjet window



Now THAT is a postcard - even if I say so myself!

You've gotta stay warm somehow - rip rip woodchip!

The scenery is straight out of a picture book. We were met at Salzburg station by Peter, our hilarious (seriously) tour guide and along with a group spanning 5 to 85, hopped on to our Sound Of Music coach. For the next 4 hours we had an absolute ball - I could not have been more surprised. We passed the Schloss Mirabell (where Maria and the kids dance around the Pegasus fountain) and stopped to marvel at Leopoldskron Castle across a frozen lake (yep, the one where they all fall out of the boat), we stood next to Liesl and Rolf's gazebo at Hellbrunn Palace, drove past Frohnburg Castle (the front of the villa where Baron VT rips up the Nazi flag), on past Nonnberg Abbey (used for many film scenes), and then it was a 30 minute drive through falling snow to the picture postcard village of Mondsee located on Wolfgangsee Lake (the cathedral is where the wedding scenes were filled). With snow well over ankle deep there was no choice but to become embroiled in a snowball fight - Aimee and Buzz are adept at making and throwing them, before we adjourned to try one of Austria's most famous culinary contributions - Apfel strudel with vanilla sauce...and it was finger licking good (not as spicy as foreigners make it). It was marvellous tour, singing along to the soundtrack (I have the audio evidence!) and all the time with Peter (he's been doing it for years - check out TripAdvisor reviews for the SOM Tour) filling us in on the facts and myths (Travel Tip: If you are ever near Salzburg, you simply MUST do the tour. It is unforgettable and also serves as a guided tour of the whole city). PLUS - there's a trivia quiz to be won on the bus. I suspect the question remains the same, and the answer is....nah, you'll have to do it yourself.

These are a few of my favourite things

They are serious snowballs!!!

 

Walking on water

 

Leopoldskron Castle

 

Hellbrunn Palace

The Gazebo!

 

 

Frohnburg Castle

Nonnberg Abbey

 

Don't throw it Aimee....

 

....she threw it!

 

Don't throw it Buzzy

  

...oh oh...

Beautiful Mondsee

 

The cathedral in the distance

Mondsee Cathedral

 

Maria and the Baron tied the knot here

  

 

Apfel Strudel mit vanilla sauce

Oh dear....

.....he can't help himself!!

 

......the empire strikes back

  

We left the tour and walked into the Altstadt (old town - did you know that the whole town is UNESCO world heritage listed?), passing the Pegasus fountain and roaming through the countless little laneways (Getreidegasse, Judengasse and Goldgasse stood out) full of amazing middle ages buildings and shops, and walking past Mozart's birthplace (we didn't go to the tourist trap that is Mozart's residence, given it was flattened by bombs in 1944 and was only rebuilt in 1996!). We stopped for afternoon tea Café Tomaselli on the Alter Markt, it's the oldest vienna coffee house in Austria dating back to 1705, so naturally....and it was excellent, as was the strudel! But guess what - yep, cash only! Right across the square was the Kondetorei Furst Café, Austria's most famous confectionery house and home of the legendary Mozartkugel (look it up, we/I bought lots!!!).

Aldstadt

Schloss Mirabell

Pegasus Fountain

The bridge of locks....amazing

Mozart's birthplace

Café Tomaselli

Kondetorei Furst Cafe

Mozartkugels!!!

Austrians really do dress like this!

Cuckooland

Steinland

Eggland

 Next we were in Mozartplatz, staring firstly at the statue of the great man, the at the colossal Dom du Salzburg, and the familiar smell of gluwein pointing us to the Christmas market in Residenzplatz. Now if Munich's market is fantastic (which it is) then Salzburg market in the snow is otherworldly. I won't go on about it, you just need to see it - and experience it - for yourself. We stayed until after 6:00pm, long enough to also hear the 35 crystal clear bells in the glockenspiel; the smallest is 16kg and the largest 380kg, and it composes 40 different tunes - we didn't listen to them all! On our way to the hotel we went to the rooftop of the Hotel Stein which offered a spectacular vista of the old city at night, then  a quick bite to eat before retiring. Our hotel was on FurbergerStrasse (!!), the Germanic names being a constant source of childish humour to us - I've never seen the word 'fahrt' displayed in public so much!!!

Mozart

The Dom and Xmas markt

Mozartkugels galore

....and gluhwein...

Nutcrackers

 

Salzburg glockenspiel

  

The Aldstadt from the Hotel Stein roof

  Saturday and we're on our way to the mighty Hohensalzburg Fortress, which dominates the whole city. We pass through St Peter's cemetery (where the climactic flight scenes for the movie were filmed) and it was amazing. The snow covering the graves gave it a surreal and peaceful appearance - I've not seen a cemetery quite like it before (oddly enough, I've visited a few...). Once we got out of the cable car at the fortress, we were greeted by breathtaking views of the alps. We hovered around for an hour or so, nibbling, drinking (gluwein again!), looking at the spectacular vistas of the city, the alps and Mount Untersberg (where Maria sings the title song), and then visiting the fantastic marionette museum.

Buzzy meets Mozart

 

Inside for a quick choccy and coffee

This is meant to be a latte!!! I'm over it....

  

St Peter's cathedral

 

Is that a clock? No it's a sundial - talk about pedantic

St Peter's cemetery

This is where the von Trapps hid

Looking down on the Dom and the Aldstadt

  

Can you tell it's cold?

The executioner's cottage - obviously didn't have too many friends

 

The Untersberg with Nonnberg Abbey in the foreground

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3

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Told you it was freezing

Dunno what they were, but they were.....

 

REVOLTING!!!

 

Marionetting

 

The von LegsyBoys

 

Aimster crossing the Mozart Bridge, just like the movie.

 

Time for us to head back and we arrived at our Munich hotel at 7:00pm, in time to pop around the corner for a traditional Bavarian dinner at Weisse's Brauhaus. We went for the light meal menu, which was straight out of Monty Python where you could have anything you like as long it's sausage! Still, if wurst comes to wurst...it was great though. Phew, another big day. Tomorrow it's back to Marienplatz to get some treats.

Weisse's Brauhaus

 

The menu

......aaah, gluhwein...

 

And that's what we did. In the Christkindl Post Office we were served by a fraulein with wings and halo, and then checked out the historical manger in the Town Hall's Court Of Ceremonies and created by Reinhold Zellner in 1953 - I'm not religious but it was beautiful. We stocked up on some truly exquisite decorations and gingerbread, stollen, fruit bread and assorted goodies before grabbing a last bite to eat at Woerner's Café (first opened in 1865). Soon enough it was that time. Travel to the airport by metro and checking in was a doddle, the LegsyBoys finally arriving home at 10:00pm.

Christkindl Post Office

Angelic staff

Court Of Ceremonies

Nativity

.....aah, gluhwein...

 It was 4 days of splendour far above what we expected or could have hoped for. I know we say it all the time, that all our trips are special - because they are - but this one was SPECIAL. More than anything, you just can't help noticing the constant smile on Dulcinea's face - it brought back memories of a childhood trip (although not at this time of year) and especially of her mum's love of Christmas. We've now had a taste of a real White Christmas and the children have got a very memorable tale to tell (as do we). If you want me to spill the beans on the myths around the SOM then just ask, but better to find out for yourself. The hills really were alive with the sound of...The LegsyBoys!!!

 

Has anyone seen my reindeer????