We love the Christmas Markets!!!We then decided to bring food in from the Mexican restaurant near our flat as Brad had German class and we wanted him to eat with us. Of course my mom wanted to have the bottle of bubbly we purchased at REAL, so to ensure that it would be chilled in time, I placed it on our patio under a bed of snow. I love our huge freezer! Off to the galleria to find Brad some boots as he finally admitted to needing them…I guess he almost slipped four times yesterday.
Wir vermissen dich – die Gauntletts
A view of the Christmas Market from one of the gluhwein outside bars
Brad love the cheese pretzels the best.
Because the snow had recently fallen and the path was slippery, the buses were not running. Therefore, we had to walk up this extremely steep and winding path up to the castle and I quickly realized that I did not wear the proper boots. Also, when we purchased our tour tickets, the cashier told us it was a forty minute walk and we would be unable to enter the castle until our tour. After going to the restroom, we embarked on the journey and after about five minutes my feet were frozen and my mom was taking off her jacket…pretty funny to have the two extremes. About fifteen minutes later, we see a little booth with wasser, gluhwien and bretzeln. We thought we were about half way to the castle, so my mom asks the vendor, “how far is the castle? Are we about half way?” All of a sudden the vendor gets a huge smile on his face and says, “you are two minutes away, look behind you.” Oops, we totally did not even see it, but the castle was pretty much next to us. Then I noticed a little restaurant to the left and suggested we grab something to eat and try to warm up as our tour was not for an hour. My mom and Brad got pea soup and sausage and I went with the hot chocolate. 
Ludwig’s Castle is beautiful and does look similar to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. We learned during our visit that although the castle was designed to look medieval, it had several modern refinements, such as running water, hot air, and automatic flushing toilets. Also, King Ludwig had numerous swan icons throughout the castle as this was his favorite animal and is often known as the Swan King. The castle was actually far from completion when Ludwig passed away and has been open to the public ever since. 
After walking around the grounds and taking photos, we decided to indulge in fresh doughnuts and gluhwien.
After doughnuts and gluhwien, we started down the path to head back to the train. We did stop to take these photos as the scenery was too beautiful to pass up.
Heading to dinner at Löwenbraukeller, hope my mom likes German food and bier. 
After a forty-five minute train ride with one transfer and a two block walk, we arrived at our flat. My mom put her stuff down and immediately began looking around. She thought our place was really nice and very impressed with everything I had done so far with it. We ate some lunch (left-over thanksgiving food since she was on a plane during our family dinner in Chicago) and she too enjoyed the food. We both decided that the marmalade was delicious and that I should make it for Christmas dinner this year. Afterwards, we ventured to Marienplatz as I wanted to show her the famous clock tower, the Galleria and one of the Weihnachtsmarkts. We took the u-bahn to Sendlinger Tor and then transferred to the U3, which takes you right to Marienplatz. After looking at the clock tower, we headed into the Galleria where I took her to the Gourmet Grocery Store, which has a bubble bar (champagne) in the middle and I knew she would love it. After having a few glasses of bubbly, chatting with a German couple, whom spoke perfect English, and purchasing a bottle of Louis Roederer Brut Premier Reim (gold label) Champagne, we went to the American section. My mom thought it was so funny and could not believe what they import here, especially the spray cheese:
On our way out of the store, my mom noticed that some gentlemen were pouring wine, so we decided to stop and taste. We ended up purchasing a bottle of white wine from Chateau Dereszla, Tokaji Dry – Furmint Trocken 2009. Afterwards, we decided to check out the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) and try some of the famous gluhwien. Here we are enjoying our first cup together:
My mom and I also discovered Zartbitter-Schokolade Trauben und Walnüssen (Dark Chocolate covered Grapes and Walnuts), which was absolutely delicious. It is going to be hard to resist these tasty treats. After walking around drinking our hot wine for a while, we decided to return our cups and head back to the flat to see Brad and head to dinner. Since my mom was getting a little tired, we thought it would be best to have dinner in the resturant directly downstairs. This little Italian place is great and so convenient as it is located in our building. We recently found out that we can order food and they will bring it up to our flat as well as take our packages if we are not home. How fantastic is that!?!?! My mom wanted to try their champange; however they only had Rose, which my mom normally despises, but she decided to order it anyways. She ended up really enjoying it and now I must find out what it exactly is. Dinner was really good and now it is time for bed as we have to be up early to catch a train to Neuschwanstein as we are visiting Mad King Ludwig’s Castle.
The appetizers were tasty too: Cheese Tray, mixed nuts, dried fruit, crackers, veggies, eggplants dip and hot apple pie cider.
Here is Brad making the gravy, I cannot believe he did it in his work clothes:
This is Brad and I having our first Thanksgiving dinner: 
Here is the complete menu:
Dessert:
Next was the fruit loop rice crispy treats. A few weeks ago, we were having lunch with the couple who is coming over for dinner and James mentioned that he loves fruit loops, but have been unable to find them in Munich. A few days later, I was in the store and saw them, so I purchased a box for Brad as he loves them too. Then, I got to thinking that there had to be a recipe for some type of fruit loop treat and since I was only planning on serving chocolate chip cookies, this would be perfect. These ended up turning out stickier than I had hoped, but still good. Then, I prepared the brine (sage, rosemary, water, brown sugar, lemons oranges etc) for the turkey breasts and placed it back in the refrigerator. The popcorn was a last minute addition as Brad had made some the night before and, instead of snacking on it, I decided to make it into caramel corn. I added nuts to it and it ended up being quite tasty, but I love all popcorn!
The spiced chickpeas did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but oh well. Everything was coming together and Brad insisted on trying everything when he got home. Brad agreed that the chickpeas were not the best and encouraged that I did not serve them, but I may still put them out…stay tuned. Less than twenty-four hours until our first thanksgiving meal, hope it all goes well.
Stuffing Squares = 22 slices of white bread
Brad at the Allianz Area, which is a free media center
Ashley getting free Kaffee and heiße Schokolade
Photo from the top of the tower – beautiful
After our huge climb, we decided to walk over the Famous Charles Bridge and grab lunch.
Kristin recommended a vegetarian restaurant and I am so glad she did as it was fantastic. Plus, we would have never found it on our own. Afterwards, we headed to the famous clock tower and on the way stopped at the Havelske Trziste Market located in the city center. We arrived at the tower a little before three and did not have to wait long in order to see it chime. However, in the middle of it Brad mentioned that this would be the time to get the video camera out. But by the time I did, it was over. So we decided to walk around and wait until four o’clock. After walking around the square and taking some pictures we decided it was time to grab some beers and warm up. Luckily we found a spot right across the way from the clock and it had heat lamps. While we waited we saw: several vendors coming into the beer tent trying to sell these weird looking bracelets, the “give a hug” people from Munich were there, a round bike with eight people on it and a bride in a horse carriage waving like she was Ms America. It was really fun to watch all of this transpire.