More walking around! (English Gardens and Schleissheim Palace Gardens)

The tree at Marienplatz

The last few weeks have been pretty quiet. We finally got our Visas sorted out and Sarah managed to trade in her (cough..old..) Virginia driver's license for a German one. That's a story for another time, but it's quite entertaining. Everyone here in Germany is pretty much done with their Christmas shopping and now they are all enjoying the Christmas markets, otherwise known as Christkindlmarkt or Weinachtsmarkt. We haven't been out to them together, but Sarah's casually strolled through a few. For a rather large, fairly liberal city, Munich has very traditional and conservative roots regarding Christmas traditions. Advent is on everyone's minds, and Advent calendars are actually sold in almost every store. You can get them in all kinds of themes and there's also a culture of those who "only use homemade" Advent calendars. These take a bit of time and effort to put together, but they're impressive.

A booth at the Viktualienmarkt, like a farmer's market, with Christmas decorations

We went out to visit the Palace at Schleißheim, but it was foggy and rainy, so it wasn't as stunning as it may normally seem. We were also duped by Google, who told us it was open for touring, but then when we got there, they were closed earlier due to Winter hours. We should have researched that a bit more thoroughly, but it was still a nice outing.

The Palace! The dirt pit in the foreground is a fountain that's been drained for winter. 

Part of the gardens of the Palace

Sarah's still job hunting. And because of that, we haven't decorated or started Christmas shopping at all! We feel a bit behind from the Germans, but we'll get there. We just want to make sure we're being smart while we're still a one income household. Coming soon will be Sarah's account of her adventures with the unemployment office, which is vastly different than it is in the USA. But that's for another time. Here are some pictures of life around Munich the last few weeks, and an album of pictures of our visit to the Palace. Thanks for checking in!!

Spelling Christesen, a
worldwide problem. 

Sarah did a bike tour with some other women and it was
tacky sweater themed. Found this at one of the
department stores here and thought, "Why not?"

From a Sunday stroll through the English Gardens