Gingerbread cookies

Wonderful Christmas festiveness continued at the Brunke residence. The kids were treated with some gingerbread cookie making.

Firstly, instructions were given on what we are making and how we are doing it.

Then the fun began!

Then the most exciting part - decorating the cookies with lots and lots of sweets! 

Luca and Oliver's - can you tell which is which?

The best part was of course trying them - yum yum yum! 

The cookies made the whole house smell so nice and Christmasy. It won't be the same if we try this in Singapore. Great for our kids to experience proper Christmas activities.

Day 4 Ice skating fun

For day 4 one of the options we had was a trip to a lake in the south of Munich. But after a big day at Schloss Neuschwanstein and Christmas market we took it easy. We spent the morning relaxing at home. In the afternoon we drove to a nearby town for iceskating. Something my boys were very keen to try.

Ready for an exciting afternoon - another cute girls' car passengers.

The ice skate rink was only open for an hour and a half so we didn't waste anytime. As soon as we got there everyone got in the gear and off we went.

Ashley was pretty keen but she stayed off the rink...

I am not sure what the boys were expecting but they were pretty annoyed that they couldn't stand up and skate like the others. But they kept going at it. Luckily they had some learning bars available for them to hold on...

I don't know when I last ice skated but I definitely enjoyed it! I am sure the boys will have another go. The kids enjoyed watching the ice machine cleaning the rink afterwords.

Oliver was very happy to be able to see some ice hockey practice too.

We planed to have dinner at the Golden Arches to make it easy for everyone. When leaving the ice skate rink it was still early even for "an early dinner" so we drove to this homestead where Maike and Hans one stayed. They also showed us where they got married.

Next time we visit Munich I would love to stay there. Such amazing surroundings! So beautiful!! We were there at the perfect timing to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

The kids still had lots of energy to run around of course.

Another great day out. We are in love with this beautiful country!

Luca's German Petato

He was given a special petato from Hans during his stay in Germany - a love heart shaped one!

Of course the petato flew back to Singapore with us. Nice and cuddly...

Weihnachtsmarkt - Christmas Market

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Germany in the freezing winter was to visit a Christmas Market. I have seen so many times on Japanese TV about it and I always wanted to visit one. Unfortunately we got there too early this time :( so the one in Munich was not open yet. But guess what?! For a very obsessed Japanese person who didn't stop talking about it, wonderful Maike and Hans spend ages online to find one that opened the earliest in Germany.

All of us were quite tired from the big day at Schloss Neuschwanstein, especially poor Maike and Hans. The drive to the Christmas Market was slightly harder than we thought. Once we got off the highway the road was much narrower and we were driving in the middle of nowhere with no street lights! With some doubt we continued driving. Suddenly we came out onto a field full of parked cars.

Without a doubt with 5 tired kids it was not easy. The walk up to the market was freezing cold and quite steep... But it was so worth it! I was amazed by the beautiful settings.  I didn't realise that the market was inside an old castle courtyard.

We had some gluhwein and some food to warm us up.

Oliver was so cold he was even crying :( he just wanted to stay in the buggy... poor little man.

So I took Luca with me and had a look around the market. To be honest I didn't buy anything. There were lots of pretty things but most of them were not easy to take back home. But I truly enjoyed the atmosphere. 

We even met St Nicolas! Luca remembers him as "a person who gave him treats".

Oliver in the end came out of the buggy. I took him to the inside stalls, which I should have done to start with as the inside was much much warmer, He wanted to get something - he didn't know what but he had to get something (must be my DNA...) From an old lady's stall he got a little handmade mouse with a nut in the bag. He was very pleased to have something for his girlfriend back in Singapore.

Ah... I just love Christmas festiveness!

THANK YOU so much again Maike and Hans for taking us there. We will always remember this wonderful day we had together.