Viktualien Market, Munich, Germany

Happy Halloween Everyone! Yesterday we visited the Viktuallien Market in the Munich City Centre. What a treat! (no pun intended) Upon entering the market you see a huge maypole that displays what merchants and crafts are doing business that day. As we walked around we saw fresh produce, wines, cheeses, spices, crafts, and other colorful items. We took some great pictures and will attempt to download them later. Julie found some truffle Brie and some Switzerland cheese that was a year and a half old. One of them was pretty stinky so we got quite a few looks carrying them around all day, especially in the elevator. Turns out Trudy, (Melissa's Mom) picked out the "swankiest" hotel in Munich for us to stay in. It's decorated in red and purple and gold, with beautiful fabrics everywhere. It's kind of Jetsony, and upon arrival we felt like we needed to get a good old bloody Mary and admire the view. They even have a spoon for the coffee cup that fits over the lip of the cup. How cool is that? We are about two blocks from the main train station and ten blocks from the Marienplatz (Mary's square) which is the heart of the city. We rode the S-bahn train in yesterday and heard the 11 am playing of the Glockenspiel and saw them joust. We then rode the elevator up to the top of the New Town Hall Spire built in 1867 and got a fantastic city view. Munich is really hip. Lots of great fashion (very hard not to buy some!), neat cars, pedestrian friendly and pretty in the fall. The great and very unusually warm weather remains. Aren't we lucky? Today we are heading to the Deutsches Museum, "the Smithsonian of Germany." Melissa's parents head back to Nashville tomorrow and then we are off to Slovenia. We can't even pronounce the name of the city we are going to - it's the capitol. From there, we plan to venture down the Adriatic coast into Croatia, a place we are really looking forward to seeing. As many of you know, Julie is addicted to the Today Show, and when "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" was aired from Dubrovnik, she was set on going. So, thanks Matt. We are off to breakfast, it's an unbelievable buffet, fresh squeezed juices, salmon lox, eggs, exotic breads, jams and more! Trick or Treat!