der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 20

D R I V I N G A N X 1 I N G E R M A N Y - C H R I S T M A S S H O P P I N G AT T H E C H R I S T K I N D L M A R K T
To us, the Luxembourg
Christmas market was bit of a
disappointment. There were stalls
with local foods (the candied nuts are
a delight), treats (hope you like
gingerbread), and mulled wine, but
most of the merchandise was made in
China. It was fun to walk with the
locals to see how they were enjoying
their annual festival.
The next morning, we visited
Metz. While known for its Gothic
cathedral, it also had a large
Christmas market. It was surprising
how much time we spent touring that
cathedral. As it became late afternoon
and with the weather worsening, we
decided to forgo the opening of the
Christmas market and travel to our
hotel in Lieser.
As I do in the US, I checked the
"shortest route" option on the X1's
navigation system. Little did we know
of the driving delights that were to
come.
When one thinks of driving in
Germany, they probably think of
the Autobahn. These wonderfully
designed, graded, and maintained
roads provide safe high-speed
driving conditioning throughout
Germany. The sections though the
rural parts of Germany still have no
speed limits. And the left lane is used
only for passing (hint, hint). Perhaps
it was a combination of driving an X1,

(Above) Manually adjustable seats!
Oh, to have them again!

(Above) Making the pilgrimage.
the wonderfully maintained roads,
and sharing the roads with skilled
drivers, but we felt quite comfortable
driving the Autobahn in the wet, rainy
conditions. The only moment that
gave us some pause was when we
were alongside a Fiat-badged Dodge
Journey during one of the "nospeed-limit" stretches. To say that
the Dodge Journey is not an ideal
Autobahn burner would be kind.
However, it's the roads off the
Autobahn that allow one to see
the "real" Germany. The navigation
system led us off the Autobahn and
through some villages and forests.
We took a picture of the navigation
screen showing one of the roads we
traveled. Amusingly, some of the
roads we drove on the recommended
routes were not paved, which
surprised some of the locals who
were walking along those roads.
Some of the villages had their
own, small Christmas market. Open
only for a weekend, these markets

were intended to be a township
Christmas gathering and celebration
- something that reflected not only
the true intent of these markets, but
also the true spirit of Christmas.
Our hotel in Lieser was the
Schloss Lieser Marriott. A restored
19th century castle, this hotel had an
old-world charm with modern-day
amenities. Located on the riverbank
of the Moselle Valley, the hotel is
situated in the heart of German wine
country. Known for its Riesling, this
region produces a number of other
outstanding wines, which makes it a
popular stop for river boat cruises.
Seeking a dinner of local
cuisine, the hotel staff referred us to
the nearby quaint medieval town of
Bernkastel-Kues. Not only did we
quickly find a local restraint with
outstanding local cuisine at very
reasonable prices, we found
ourselves in the middle of an
authentic German Christmas market
(Weihnachtsmarket).

Ringed by half-timbered houses
(one of which served as a giant
Advent calendar), the stalls featured
locally made goods, arts, and crafts.
The prices also were extremely
reasonable. Be advised that the stalls
close at 8:00 PM.
The next morning, we began the
360-kilometer drive to Munich.
Driving through the gray, rainy
weather was bit tiring. However, once
we saw the BMW four-cylinder
building, we quickly got our second
wind. There were three "must-see"
sites on our Munich list: the
Christkindlmarket, the RathausGlockenspiel of Munich, and the
BMW Welt.
Once we entered Munich, it was
apparent that the best way to travel
through this city was with the
U-bahn. Not having to deal with
traffic or parking in a strange city was
quite a relief.
We were surprised to learn that
there are several Christmas markets
within Munich. We visited all of them
but found the main one in
Marienplatz most to our liking. The
product stalls had unique locally
made arts, crafts, and products
for sale, while the food selections
were sausages, potato pancakes,
mushrooms, fries (don't say
"French"), currywurst (I don't get it)
chestnuts, almonds, and all sorts
of baked goods. The density of the
German stollen puts the typical
English fruitcake to shame. As for the
drinks, there's glühwein, eirepunsch,
feuerzangenbowle, hot chocolate,
and kinderpunsch. Because of its
unique ability to quickly warm one
up, we developed a particular taste
toward the glühwein.
At 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.,
the most popular location at the
Marienplatz Christkindlmarket was in
front of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel
clock. Built at 1908, it chimes and
reenacts two stories from the 16th
century at 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
It consists of 43 bells and 32 lifesized figures. The top half of the
Glockenspiel tells the story of the
marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V

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der Bayerische July/August 2020

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