Breakfast and Beer in Bavaria

Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Just got back last night from absolutely the final part of my 40th Birthday adventures. A trip with BFF to a snowy Munich for the Christmas Markets. We had an absolutely amazing time. Eating, Shopping, Drinking, Shopping, Sight-seeing, Shopping, Ice Skating, Shopping. Tis the season to shop. We flew with Easyjet from Edinburgh and stayed at the Brunnenhof Hotel which was centrally located with clean spacious rooms, served a fantastic breakfast and suited our requirements perfectly. 
The typically continental breakfast offered a great choice of fresh bread rolls, cheeses, cold meats, pate, hard and soft boiled eggs, smoked salmon, roe, pickles and sauces. Chocolate cake was on offer too if you like that kind of thing of a morning. Plenty of fruit juices, cereals, tea and coffee. They also made their own jam which was like nothing I have come across before. It was described as "cold stirred". There was a summer berry flavour and a strawberry flavour.  Almost a whipped consistency and vivid in colour it was a bit like a very thick sweet smoothie. The strawberry was too sickly for me but the berry was much more tart and tasty. Most unusual.
I couldn't miss out on a traditional pretzel on a trip to Germany. Delicious dark brown crispy crust topped with large salt crystals and a soft doughy inside. Great topped with philly, smoked salmon and roe. Our hearty breakfasts certainly set us up for the busy day ahead.
The temperature during our stay was cold. Very cold. As such a lot of hot drinks were required and that of choice was predominantly Gluhwein. Practically every second stall sells it and its smell fills the air. If you want you can get an added Schuss (shot) of Rum, Brandy or Schnapps to warm you up even further.The perfect festive spirit. There is alcohol free Kinderpunsch widely available but surprisingly we never tried it.
Each gluhwein stall has its own style of serving cup or glass which you pay a deposit (Pfand) on and can only be returned to that stall. Or if you like you can forgo the deposit and keep it as a souvenir. There was also hot chocolate on offer with a variety of additions to warm the cockles of your heart. I think I'm going to have to add some Amaretto to my Christmas shopping grocery list. Amazing good in hot chocolate.
A step up from Gluewein is the Feuerzagen Bowle. This is where the alcohol soaked sugar is set alight and drips in to sweeten the mulled punch. My German friend C had served us this when we went for Kaffee and Kuchen. We visited the worlds largest Burnt Punch Bowl and were fortuitous enough to actually see it ablaze. We also had our own individual Feurzangenbowles from a stall at the Mittelater Markt. Fantastic terracotta goblets with a lip for a rum soaked sugar cube which is set alight and slowly drips into your drink.
And so to beer. Despite Munich being the home of the famous Oktoberfest we didn't actually sample very much of it preferring to stick to the hot drinks. However it would have been rude not to have indulged in a glass with our evening meal each night. We stuck to the lighter pale beers and also Russ which is basically a Weissbier (wheat beer) shandy with lemonade.
So that was the brekkie and drinks.  Much more to come by way of street food, main meals and foodie shopping. Such a fantastic trip which I would recommend to anyone. Couple of gratuitous non foodie photos below.  Meantime - Prost!

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