Day 3 - Tuesday 25 November

The hotel provides a greater range of complimentary items than most - toothbrush and toothpaste for each guest plus a comb ....

And even a sewing kit, a shoe shine kit and a shoe horn!

Provisions in the shower

A Tour Around the Breakfast Buffet

There is a pretty comprehensive offering at breakfast including for those with food intolerances and for vegetarians and vegans ....

.... including vegan churros

Finally we're out and about and they're getting the pavement snow clearers ready.  There could be snow here on the day we return home - Thursday.

A slightly later breakfast today, followed by a gentle walk to the Residenz via Munich cathedral. 

We went into the Frauenkirche Cathedral which had been quite badly destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt. 

There we saw the "devil's footprint", a mark on the floor at the entrance. It is famous due to a legend that the devil stamped his foot there in anger after being tricked by the church's builder.

The legend claims the builder made a deal with the devil that the Cathedral would have no windows in exchange for financing it but tricked him by building the church with columns that obscured the windows from a specific spot in the foyer, making the devil think he had won.

We then walked to the Residenz where there was another nice small market and then back to Marienplatz with a quick drink stop on the way. By now it was starting to rain so we decided to head back to the hotel for a pit stop.

The Residenz is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach family of Bavaria. For more about it, click here.

Pigeons having a meeting

I was banned from taking these pics yesterday but decided today that I wouldn't be controlled!

One thing's always been true of the Germans - they know how to work hard and play hard. I'll leave that there.

What significance the boar has I don't know.

I then wanted a photo of me sitting on Santa's knee, but the photographer flatly refused!

Happy Christmas from the Munich Residenz

We did discover that Kinderpunsch, the children's version of Glühwein is made of apple, carrot and grape juices.

AI says that Glühbier is a German mulled beer, a warm, spiced beverage made by gently heating dark or malty beer with ingredients like cinnamon, cloves, citrus peel, and sugar or honey. It is a festive and warming alternative to mulled wine, often sold at Central European Christmas markets. The drink is kept hot but must not be boiled to avoid a bitter taste.

The view from today's Kaffee und Kuchen stop