Day 3 St Goar to Munich Tuesday 24th December 2013: Christmas Eve!

This morning after a good night sleep feeling rested the group headed to the dining room at 6am for our included breakfast at the hotel.

When we finished breakfast we checked out of our hotel rooms, before taking our bags to the coach at 6:30am.

As I had a little bit of time before we were departing I went for a short walk in St Goar.

On my walk I discovered the largest cuckoo clock in Europe Rebecca had mentioned the day before!

Before boarding the coach I noticed that there was an amazing sunrise over the Rhine River and decided that would be an amazing photo with St Goar in the background!

We then made our way onto the coach and departed St Goar and made our way towards Munich at 6:45am.

On our way to our first rest stop our Trip Manager Rebecca told us that a tradition on Christmas Contiki trips is doing a Secret Santa.

Which we all agreed would be such a special way to celebrate Christmas away from all our friends and families in Europe!

Rebecca then organised some Christmas shopping time for when we arrived in Munich.

This morning we travelled for 3 hours before arriving at a service stop at 10 am.

We had a 20 minute rest stop at service stop,where we purchased coffee and snacks for the journey towards Munich.

After our rest stop we boarded the coach and made our way towards Munich while Rebecca gave us a history lesson about Munich and suggested some great places to see in our free time in Munich.

When we were getting close to arriving in Munich Rebecca explained our itinerary for Munich which included:

Free time for Christmas shopping and sightseeing, a included walking tour of Munich, checking into our hotel before having a free night to explore Munich.

Rebecca had organised a walkabout dinner at the Hofbräuhaus München

Rebecca gave us the option to visit Club Rafael after dinner to celebrate Christmas at midnight!

We arrived in Munich at 4pm where the coach dropped us off in the centre of Munich and saw the Glockenspiel before having free time to wander the Marienplatz until our walking tour at 5pm

We explored the Marienplatz during our free time.

The group met up for our walking tour run by a hilarious guide Mike who had such a great knowledge of everything Munich history, culture and Bayern Munich football team!

We walked through Munich seeing so many amazing sights including The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan it was such a great way to learn all about Munich.

When our walking tour had concluded we made our way to the coach and made our way to our hotel for the night.

Rebecca then made her way up the coach to ask if we had any questions or queries about our night in Munich.

We arrived at our hotel Holiday Inn Munich South at 6:30 pm

When we arrived Rebecca checked us into our hotel rooms.

We had 45 minutes to relax and get changed for the night in Munich:

All of us going to the Hofbräuhaus München met Rebecca in the lobby of the hotel and boarded the coach and made our way to the Hofbräuhaus at 7:30pm.

Before we entered Rebecca told us to meet out the front at 10pm if we wanted to take taxis to Club RAFAEL and have a few drinks to celebrate Christmas.

The Hofbräuhaus München is a traditional beer hall most famous for where Oktoberfest is held every year!

We walked into the Hofbräuhaus as a group and found some spare tables I sat with Luana and KT two South African friends I had gotten chatting to on the journey from St Goar to Munich.

For dinner I ordered pork knuckle with potato dumplings which was so delicious trying something new for the first time in Munich on Christmas Eve!

Over dinner I got to know Luana and KT how different life was in South Africa and what they had enjoyed about Contiki so far.

After an amazing evening of amazing food and drinking at the Hofbräuhaus the group met our Trip Manager Rebecca out the front and we caught taxis to Club RAFAEL a popular nightclub in Munich.

When we arrived at the club Rebecca organised a shot of Jägermeister to start the partying off.

We had a great time drinking and dancing and at midnight Rebecca gave out Santa hats as it was officially Christmas!

As we celebrated Christmas in a brand new country such a long way away from home we had some photos taken by a Club Photographer to remind us of such a great night in Munich.

A handy tip for nightclubs in Europe when you arrive they have a coatroom to keep your coats while your dancing and give you a ticket to get your coat on your way out.

DON’T lose this ticket or they will not return your coat!

After such an amazing night in Munich we caught taxis home to the hotel at 2am to try and get some sleep before making our way to Innsbruck Austria for our White Christmas at 6:30am!

This night in Munich celebrating with all my new friends was everything I had hoped and dreamed to experience when I booked Contiki!

Safe Travels!

Campbell 🙂