Alsace & Munich

Ok I'm a little behind on my blogging here!  Two weeks ago my Mom came into town for a very short one week visit!  I picked her up at the airport and we spent the first day in Reims, so she could picture my house and where I am living.  There's not much to do here, so we saw the most important thing first, which is the champagne cellars.  The one we decided to visit was Mumm.  We had a nice tour and got to taste THREE different champagnes, a rosé, and two grand crus. After that we visited the cathedral, had dinner, and met up with my friends, who were very excited to meet this Carol Ann that they'd been hearing about!  That just about sums up Reims, not the most exciting city around...

From Reims we headed to Turckheim where we spent two nights with Thibaut's parents, who were awesome hosts as usual.  We visited some of my favorite villages in the region, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr and Eguisheim.  Thibaut was able to come for one of the nights too, so we all had dinner together in Colmar. We were very lucky with the weather, the sun was shining the entire time we were there! 

Kaysersberg 

From Alsace we moved onto Munich.  I had visited Munich a few years back with Shannon for Oktoberfest, but I didn't feel like I really saw the real city since it was during such a crazy time. We stayed in a really nice hotel close to the station, with a HUGE breakfast buffet so obviously I was in heaven.
The first day we shopped and walked around the city, had an amazing lunch at one of the local restaurants (Rick Steves recommendation of course) and just hung out. At night we went to dinner at this awesome little hole in the wall restaurant with an accordion player.  He apparently was hilarious, but unfortunately we had no idea what he was saying!  It was fun anyway and a great atmosphere.

The next day, we had our own personal tour guide, Maryvonne, who is Thibaut's Mom's best friend.  She met us in the morning and showed us her favorite thing in Munich, she's French but has lived there for over ten years.  It was really cool to walk around with someone from there, we got to see different neighborhoods, stores and places that we never would have known to go!  We kind of got more of a feel for the city and were able to decide where we wanted to spend more time over the next few days That night we went to the HOFBRAUHAUS, a must-see for anyone visiting Munich.  So fun. We sat next to some young german guys, and after a few biersteins they of course got brave with their English and started talking to us.  It was funny at first but after their 3rd or 4th liter of beer Mom and I thought that was the right moment to leave!

The next day we decided to get out of town and take a little day trip, and we ended up choosing a town on the border of Austria, called Mittenwald.  It was a few hour train ride away but the scenery was nice and we really didn't have much else to do! It was nice to have a more relaxing day. We arrived in Mittenwald around lunchtime and found our way to the cable car up the mountain to catch a view of the surroundings.  Unfortunately we missed the memo to wear hiking shoes, whoops.  Once we got up the cable car, you needed to climb a little higher to see the view, it was a little difficult to climb up the snow in my converse shoes and Mom couldn't make it at all!  We still enjoyed some views from the top of the mountain and soaked up the 70+ degree sun.  I could have worn a bathing suit and been happy!  It was soo hot. Aftewards we went down the mountain and walked around the charming town of Mitenwald, with painted buildings and a very Bavarian feel.  We got some dessert- apple streudel of course- and hopped on the train back to Munich.  This night we decided to try another brewery, called the Augustiner, great food and a little bit calmer atmosphere than the Hofbrauhaus!

On our last day we decided to go back to visit a few places in Munich that we had seen during our visit with Maryvonne.  The place I was the most intrigued by was the outdoor market, called the Viktualienmarkt, where we saw tons of people outside drinking beer and enjoying the sunshine. We walked around the market, made some cheese and sausage purchases, and enjoyed a sausage and beer lunch outside with all the locals.  I could have stayed there forever just people watching! Afterwards we visited the palace in the city, did some shopping, and eventually ended back up at the market for another beer. That night we decided to go back to the hofbrauhaus, which was a MUCH different atmosphere than a thursday night.  It was so crowded and hot!  The guys next to us were so drunk I almost had a heart attack laughing at them.  

The best part about it all was the excellent company it was nice to spend some mom and daughter time, thanks for visiting Mom!! xoxo

brave man surfing on the river! must be freezing

the town hall

Maryvonne

hofbrauhaus

cable car wayyyy up the mountain

Mittenwald

the outdoor market