Our day started out by exploring the St. Jakobs’ Church, a Lutheran church built between the 14th and 15th century. The inside of the church was beautiful. The altar at the front of the church folded out into a scene suitable for the Christmas season, while the outside of the folds were more suitable for the Easter season. A very large organ with 5,000 pipes stood in the back of the church. The stained glass in the front portrayed scenes from the Bible, along with angels throwing pretzels down from heaven along with manna.The stained glass was put into storage during WWI and WWII – smart planning!
Following the church visit, we were able to explore the city on our own. We had the chance to visit Christmas stores filled with ornaments and traditional German decorations, walk along the fully intact outer wall of the city, climb up in the towers along the wall, and find lunch on our own. We found brats and a bakery where we were able to buy Schneeballs (literally snowballs), a common pastry in the area that resembled a funnel cake mushed into a ball with different toppings such as cinnamon sugar or chocolate.
Year round Christmas Store – Käthe Wohlfahrt
Schneeballen
Around 2:30 we made our way on to Munich. After a two and a half hour drive, we made it to our hotel and then headed to dinner at a traditional German restaurant where we had an option: pork with a potato dumpling or Käsespätzle, similar to macaroni and cheese. After a wonderful meal, we visited the famous Hofbräuhaus and enjoyed the lovely polka music!