Munich

Was exactly the way I imagined it! Right when we got the end of the first block I suddenly felt very "Catholic". Took me a minute to figure out why, there was a great big church with statues all over celebrating Mass right then. In less then 5 min walk we entered two other BEAUTIFUL Catholic Churches. One of them had a tall bell tower we were allowed to climb all the way to the top. The view was magnificent! Ben and I counted at least 8 clock towers from just one vantage point, who knows how many we would have found if we had counted all the way around.

The center of the city square looks just like it does in the movies. I was half expecting, all the way HOPING, to see Jason Bourne go running though center. No such luck, only the regular tourists. There were a lot of tourists, especially considering we were there on a Sunday and not a single store was opened. The only things open were cafes and bars.

We went to the famous beer hall in the center of town. We had pretzels, bread, and cheese... and BEER. (I am the only one who had beer.) It was so much fun with the band playing and everyone crowded in. Have I mentioned yet that I really enjoy the grown up men in Germany. They are full size there! Almost all were taller than I am, it was great.

Altomünster

Went down to Altomünster to visit Dachau and Munich. The drive there and back was fun, it was only about 2.5hrs. Oscar, Monica's GPS devise, took us on a couple of scenic detours but always got us were we wanted to go. I am constantly amazed by the number of Catholic Churches there are around Germany, small, large, simple, or ornate. It is wonderful to ask where the nearest Mass will be held and they point across the street! Almost as frequent as the Churches are the number of hops fields there are- we were apparently traveling through the "Beer Mug" of Germany. (Yes there are lots of pictures of fields, but there are other things too!)

Christmas Eve & Day

Christmas Eve Mass was beautiful! The church was so old and cold but so amazingly beautiful. The service ended they turned out all the lights so only the candles on the trees & alter were lit. Then we sang Silent Night, they sang in German but I quietly sang along in English. I love the Catholic Mass, no matter where I am in the world I can go and understand exactly what is happening.