A Beautiful Sight

This year marked our fourth year spent overseas at Christmas.  While it is hard to be away from our families at the holidays, we know that we have to take advantage of the opportunity to spend Christmas in Europe.  This year, we were lucky enough to have friends, Marina and her mom, Vija, come and visit and all four of us headed to Munich for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

The weather was gorgeous and it turns out, it actually set a record for the warmest Christmas Eve EVER!  We left the morning of Christmas Eve and spent the day strolling around Munich checking out the Christmas Markets.  That night we had dinner at Hofbräuhaus and I got to partake on the drinking festivities with a non-alcoholic beer.  We decided earlier in the day that we would try to get to mass that night and we made it in time to the Frauenkirche, but there were no seats.  After about an hour of standing, my ankles (which were swollen and felt like they were going to blow up) couldn't take it any longer so we all headed back to the hotel. 

Christmas morning we woke up to another bright, sunny day.  We had breakfast at a nice, little cafe down the street from our hotel and then headed to Dachau.  Most everything was closed (obviously) so we didn't have a lot of options, but our friends had never been so it was a perfect opportunity to go.  We spent a few hours there before heading back to Vipiteno (we did make a quick pit stop in Innsbruck for pictures), where the weather was 30 degrees colder than it had been in Munich.  So, in a sense, we really did have a white Christmas!

Glühwein and Punch break for Marina and me.

To set the record straight, Marina and Vija were really drinking wine...they just borrowed our beers for the picture. 

Bagel sandwiches for Christmas breakfast.

Yesterday, Marina and Vija flew home.  Kevin had to work so I took advantage of my day alone by napping and catching up on my DVR.  It also gave me a chance to elevate my legs and I woke up this morning to a beautiful sight...my normal ankles.