白色圣诞 Dec 2013 - Munich Walking Tour

This is the third time that we joined "Free Walking Tour" - We liked to participate in the tour as it gave us a flavor of the sites and history in the eyes of a "local tour". Initially, we have difficulties logging in and registering our names to join the tour and luckily there was an iMac in the B&B which solved the problem. We chose on Christmas Eve and it was a huge group. As we have registered, we were allowed to have a group photo taken by the guide. 

Different guides have different personalties and stories to share and our Munich guide was one who liked to "beer" and share "beer stories". I rem him saying that he was a musician in Jazz and decided to quit to be a guide. Not a bad choice considering that he is fulfilling his dreams? The walking tour was about 3 hours and we should have taken some notes to jot down interesting things else could not rem all the interesting stuff.


We assembled very near to our B&B at Marienplatz and the guide told us to standby at 1100hrs to listen to the famous Glockenspiel.  Every day at a few designated time slots, people will stand still and listen to the 15 minutes music ~ the guide said we could go youtube to see the close-up. Not sure why but I liked it a lot and found it to be a cute historical toy. So, I also "video" it just like any other tourists. After the "show", we went down to the toy museum and passed by "juliet" statue. The guide jokingly said that many singles would buy flowers from the florist shop nearby and present them to "juliet" for improvement in their relationship. He said that many people would also touch the statue for blessing and he asked us to guess where most people would touch. 

After a short stop outsides the Toy Museum, first thing that I rem was the "canon ball" that was stuck in a church all. My wife didn't notice it or I have to take a photo to show it to her. I couldn't rem if it was deposited there due to WWII? As usual, my concentration span was limited and I wondered around to see if I could take interesting photos.   Next was a walk down to the Virtual Market that was selling a lot of grocery and it has a beer garden.  Guide said he would pop by the beer garden later and encouraged us to do so too. We went down to Hofbrauhaus - a very famous beer hall. According to the guide, you won't be able to catch the attention of the waiters or waitresses there as they would be too bz to entertain you. Got to try let?  The guide stopped here to share the history of how the toilets was designed and created in the beer hall. Spare the details but I was very curious about what the guide said that there was a special area in the toilet where it allowed people to vomit. So we did go back to check but I couldn't really find it. 

Along the way we were introduced to a very famous local beer and I asked my wife why wasn't it exported? She smartly told me that it was without preservatives just like the Abashiri beer so it couldn't be exported. Make sense.  And well, I found my HRC ~ a tee in each new city I visited and this time would not be an exception unless all shops closed during Christmas?  From here, we ventured into the street that housed lot of branded boutiques and the guide asked us to see the rich and famous around the streets.   

Then there was some history lessons about the Nazi regime and I could not remember the details as usual.  I only remembered that the locals were still buying christmas trees and rushing back to celebrate the Christmas and we were then wondering if all the shops were closed on the eve. Luckily, we already made reservation for Christmas eve dinner. We rushed back trying to catch our lunch but many shops were closed or closing. There was a Jap restaurant but my wife wasn't interested so we decided to try our luck at Virtual Market - Oops closed except the beer garden.  We ended up queuing at Starbucks near our B&B and have cake and coffee for lunch at our "balcony".  Very different in lifestyle ~ Back home, many shops would be opened for business during Christmas but in Munich, it is really a holiday season for all.  

圣诞前夕，本来想晚上去教堂，但没去，也没有倒数。我们静静地逛街，看看橱窗地摆设。街道比较少人，大家应该是在团圆吃火鸡吧？ 想想，平静地度过圣诞，也是很开心的事。难得能自由自在。