We went to Europe over the holidays, and our first stop was Munich for the Christmas markets. We spent about three days there, and it was a fantastic way to start the trip.

Since we mostly wanted to visit the Christmas markets, we got a hotel right nearby and could walk everywhere. I was pretty surprised how legible German is to read (at least if you squint) although we definitely didn’t see a lot of the shopkeepers speaking English or having much English signage.

The Christmas markets are crazy busy. In addition to tons of people in front fo the glockenspeil, they stretch off for blocks in every direction. We also saw the Krampus parade, which was pretty entertaining, and somehow very, very German.

We rounded out the trip with a visit to a few old churches, including the Church of St Peter (including the top of the spire) and the Wittelsbach castle, the Residenz.