Episode 16 - Toasting Christmas

Hello and welcome back to the three hamster boys podcast. Today we've got a very special episode, but a quick introduction. I will be your host this episode and basically every episode. I'm Alexander. To my right, if you're watching on YouTube, is my brother Nick. He is the mixologist, so any of the drinks that we are drinking, especially if they're Well, if they're mixed drinks, Nick has made them and has done a little bit of the legwork for looking up those recipes.

And he also has the smoothest and beautiful voice.

Oh. So smooth.

And then to my left is our father, Jeff, who brings the old man wisdom to the podcast.

And today I'm even older than normal.

Yeah. Today you are even older than normal because it is your birthday.

It is actually my birthday. You won't see it on my birthday, but it is my birthday today and I turned 60.

Yeah. Very exciting. We had a big party over the weekend. Lots of family and friends coming over. It was fun and abnormal to say the least because we don't really celebrate your birthday ever.

Yeah. So my wife and I, we never celebrate. We don't like, we don't exchange gifts, we never have. It's never been anything really big for us. The the the best part about the birthday though was is a lot of people from literally 30 or forty years up to today were there. And then kind of going into this episode, we had all German food.

Yep. We had a big German spread.

So we had you know red cabbage, sauerkraut, bratwurst, currywurst, pretzels, pretzel rolls. It was just Strudel. Strudel. Yeah. It was it was quite the quite the German spread. So tell us what we're doing today.

Yeah. Well, was supposed say I'm glad we like German food because we will be eating those leftovers for the next week and a half. Yeah. But yeah, at the end of twenty twenty four, we took a family vacation to Germany with the express purpose of hitting up as many of the Christmas markets as possible.

That was part of it. No no no.

No no no. Hold on.

Your whole itinerary was everyone asks you what you wanna do and you said, I just wanna do Christmas markets.

So yeah. So

And that's it.

In in general, I have very full agendas whenever we go to Germany. And when they were younger, we went very often but we have not gone No. For quite a while. And so my wife is actually from Germany. She immigrated when she was 10 years old.

Yeah. Yeah. We we Nick and I went for a wedding. Yeah.

But now they're all married. They all have children. So it was very different.

Child. Child. Yeah. At least a child. I'll be remembering all this. These numbers will be on the pop quiz

for the end. That's right.

This is all a build up to say that we went over and his entire goal, there was no plan, he just wanted to hit every Christmas market we could.

And the good part about it is we were staying in Munich, which has 24 individual Christmas festivals in Munich.

And I will say, we did a good number on that. Does anyone know the

the I think the total was 12.

We hit 12? Yeah.

12 was good.

But 10 were in Munich and two were outside of Munich. Yeah. So.

Yep. Right. Before we talk about maybe some of the kind of like traditional what a Christmas market is, I don't want our drink to get cold because yes, we have hot drinks today. Nick, what are we drinking?

Well, in the spirit of Christmas markets, if you're not aware, a very common drink that you'll see basically anywhere in a Christmas market is Gluvine, which is a mulled spiced hot wine. It's very very common over there. They are known for their signature mugs and cups that they give out. It's very It will be always on the wind if you're walking around, you will recognize the smell

of it. Yeah.

So, in full spirit of it, and trying to really capture it, I made Gluvine and all of our drinks, which is pretty pretty easy for the most part. Gluhwein, this recipe that was given to me, is slightly less than a cup of simple syrup. Okay. Some orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, red wine.

That's about it. That's about it.

And then, was just simmered and and let to to stew. Nice.

There you go. So, this is a traditional red wine one.

Yeah. Mean, while you're in these Christmas markets, you can find all different types of gluh vines. Yeah. There's red, there's white, there's some with like

It's rose.

Yeah. Yeah. Rose, some. And then, you know, we saw other drinks. Well, a lot of The goal is to get you a warm drink while you're walking around in kind of a cold Christmas y environment. It warms you up. Yeah. I think one drink that we had that we're not drinking today is spiked hot chocolate. Unless you slipped in some spiked hot chocolate. Oh. Because we did

We partook.

Yeah. We we partook. It it was very fun.

But, I mean, I mean, I know what glue line tastes like, and that's like pretty glue vine y. Wow. Yeah.

It is really good.

Man, that is tasty. Glue vine glue vine is tasty. It's nice to know that I can just make it to honestly, whenever.

I was about to say, and it doesn't sound too hard to make. Like, this is delicious.

Common ingredients only.

Yeah. It's the time we've tried making this.

So Yeah. Otherwise, like, I mean, in the past, when we're like, oh, we want Glu We would just buy a bottle of Glu Line.

And then heat it up. Yep.

I I think the thing with this is that it cuts down, obviously, on the red wine taste. It's not as as strong of a flavor as you normally would get. It's nice and warm so when you drink it, you just kinda feel it warming you up.

I I also think that the cinnamon cloves gives it a warminess warmness to it also.

I I also agree. Like anything The goal of the experience is And it's too bad. It's kinda warm here. It's not like super warm right now, but when it's really cold, I love to feel like that.

When you drink it and then you exhale, and then you just have like a foggy cloud Mhmm. You know, come out. And and you're dressed for the Yeah. Non winter.

Yeah. For for those of you who are maybe just listening via podcast and not watching the video, I've got a scarf and my Bayern Munich headband on, making sure I'm dressed for the occasion. Of course, I would have put on like a warmer jacket or something, but it's just warm.

It gets warm in here.

It's gonna get so hot. Yeah.

But we we got kind of caught up in one of the Bayern Munich games also.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, because we were right in the heart of Munich. Yeah. And so, were definitely There was one time in particular when we were coming back of the the U Bahn, the metro system that they have, and we're like, oh, there's a sea of people in red jerseys. I got The only time

we got split. Right. Yeah. So

But, yeah. So, let's talk about the kinda traditional Christmas market experience. I think we hit a couple of like very

Well, the one Yeah. I mean, one of the ones we went to was the Nornberger one.

Mhmm. Well, can we talk about what a Christmas market

Oh, yes. Sure.

I know we were like jumping in with everyone like, we need to set a foundation

on what we're talking about. So I'm not sure how much how you would describe it. But Yeah. From from my standpoint, the the reason Christmas markets were were set up was so that people could go buy ornaments and have all of their Christmas stuff ready to go. In Germany, there's a tradition that on Christmas Eve, the you you don't set up your Christmas tree at all until Christmas Eve.

Real candles on real trees.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And so the Christmas market actually ends Christmas Eve usually early in the day. And basically you're going there to buy your ornaments or we'll talk about this a little bit later. Everyone has a nativity scene. Yep. And the nativity scene is you build out these pieces and and it's for generations. We were we have one that we got from my wife's parents.

Yep. So Yeah.

And basically, the Christmas market experience is it's a bunch of stalls outside. And yeah, like you said, it's a bunch of like trinkets and souvenirs. I think it's kind of more of what it evolved to now. Right. But like a lot of ornaments, food.

Lots of food.

Yeah. Glue behind.

So much food. Yeah. And you basically it's the whole family's out. It it it happens all day but really the big crowds are after work. After work everyone's going there. You're walking around. You're you're eating a a a a You're talking to people. You're arm in arm. It's very funny because we were very We wanted to go to all these places but our relatives were like, yeah, we go one or two nights and that's it. It's just too cold to be out there all

Well, they were like, yeah, we don't really go.

The novelty, if you're If you live there, is probably not as as wondrous if you're visiting.

And I I think that that's where these, bigger, kind of more traditional You were talking about Nuremberg. That for me is like the stereotypical Christmas market, where it's like very picturesque but also like very touristy.

I think that if if you go and someone says Christmas market, that's one of the ones that was created. Yeah. It's it's where everyone goes. It's it was very traditional, but for us it was the one. And I don't think it was as appealing as some of the other ones that we went to.

I think it was a good baseline. Right.

I'm glad

we went there, but I think yeah. The the thing is is like it was There were a lot of people and it didn't really There was something really unique about it in the fact that it was very traditional.

The identity of it was, we are traditional. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean and I thought some of the coolest things was is when you walk in there, you're walking past the walls of the city that we went that little pathway where those stores were. That was kind of cool. When we walked back, we were going by the history museum museum and we saw some modern artwork that was there with the constitutional amendments on the polls and everything. I think that there's a lot with the city.

Yeah. Yeah. I I would I would agree with that. Yeah. I I think it it was I'm glad we did that 1.

Right.

Because I think we would not have gotten the same experience if we had done it later.

Because, you know, as you'll, as we go, you'll see that there are some that we just were really captivated with.

Mhmm. I think another one that we liked a little bit more but still was kind of traditional was the Salzburg one.

Yeah. I liked I loved the Salzburg one. And I think the the reason for that was because it was less touristy. Yes. You know? Now, it was

it was Oh, That one was really touristy.

It was a lot of touristy, but it didn't feel

Yeah. I kinda Crowded. I feel like the the Nuremberg one felt a little claustrophobic. It felt like there are a lot of people. It was kinda like being

Maybe that's maybe that's the difference. It's because Salisbury had really wide

Yeah. Like

lanes between the the There weren't as many booths. Mhmm. But it was wider and they had that pretzel place. With all the different flavor of pretzels that we'd Yeah. But that was

that was at a different one.

So that was So basically that was across street from their advent market which was outside the church. So as we were walking to the main main Christmas market.

Yeah. So I think the the big one The big thing about Salisburg is that we had to walk to the market which was like three to five kilometers.

Yeah. Like 27,000 steps.

Yeah. It was it was a big walk over there because obviously, Salzburg is in Austria, not Germany. We weren't necessarily as prepared to travel. The bus was a little complicated and we weren't able to get We weren't able to use like cash to get tickets and like the the bus ticketing system wasn't really working, we were like, I will just walk it. And as we were walking to the main Christmas market that we wanted to, we passed another smaller one that was definitely more of a community kind of one.

And and that's where we saw the was it the Grampus? Grampus?

Oh, Krampus?

Krampus races were there.

Well, we Nick and I kinda knew what like what we were looking out for because we were on the train to Austria and we were talking with another American family and they were saying like, hey, we're This is like the One of the times where they're doing the running with Krampus, which is where people dress up in Krampus outfits and scare people.

Right.

We didn't actually get to see any of the actual We didn't to see running happen.

It was just us running.

Yeah. Was just us running around. But yeah. We've seen videos of it and and the family they were talking to had videos of a different one that they that they had seen.

We also got to walk through the castle which was

Yeah.

Pretty cool. But yeah. I thought I think Salzburg was much more enjoyable to me than Nuremberg.

Yeah. I I agree.

And then the last one that was traditional is the actual Munich one, which was the and the main what they call Marine Platz. Oh, Marine Platz. Yeah. Which is the the downtown area which is really the traditional one. Now, there's a lot more off of that and whatever but that's more of it and that is very touristy.

Yeah. Well, I I mean, I think the Marine Platz in general is just a bit touristy as well. Like, all the shops there are very very touristy. They have like the big clock tower with the

With the dancers.

Yeah. I was gonna say, didn't wanna use the word dancing, but they have

Dancing figurines.

Yeah, yeah. Figurines that come out when the clock chimes at certain times.

Yeah.

Which I think is very fun. But, yeah. That one, I also, yeah, I think it also very traditional, like there's not anything very crazy or stand out about it. It's just, it is a perfect place to get some ornaments. I got a weird little like gnome figurine there, Which I still have. I didn't give it to anyone actually.

And you you got to take pictures?

Yeah. You got to take pictures. Wait, I mean we we took so many pictures.

So many pictures. But people asking you to take pictures. But yeah.

I feel like they ask Nick to take pictures anywhere he goes.

It's true.

And then Liebkuchen, we

got So the yeah. We've got the Liebkuchen and the the fruit bread in Nuremberg. Because remember though there was a there was a guy that was like, this is Nurembergger Liebkuchen, which is basically a type of gingerbread that has a chocolate coating on it or some other flavors on it that was particular to Nuremberg that we got to taste, was very good, the chocolate covered one.

Yeah. I think the the big notes here is that we didn't really go to buy a whole lot of things. We just came to drink and eat a lot of food. Yep. So, at all these locations, we were looking for things like Gluhvine or unique or interesting Gluhvine to try, and then unique and interesting food to try.

And I don't think there was anything really interesting to eat in those three places. We had the good pretzel in Salzburg. Mhmm. We had

we had Leibkogen from both Marine Platz and in Nornburg.

I love the fruit bread, but that is definitely an acquired taste because I like fruitcake also.

Yeah. It's not the same but it is definitely an acquired taste for sure. And I think we also got some roasted nuts in Nuremberg as well.

Right. But yeah. And I think that's more from a, you know, nostalgia for your mom. Yeah. You know? Because she she's used to walking in marine pots and chestnuts roasting and and doing that. But yeah. I I think that those those were pretty much the 3 places we went to. Mhmm. And I think that they were kind of we went to the Munshan and Fryhat which we'll talk about next. But we went there once and then we went back a couple times.

Yeah. Well Well, Zander and I went a lot

of times. Yeah. We went we

I was gonna say, Nick and I went all the time. Yeah. Not necessarily because it's the market just because it was like the place.

Like, it

was like the square near us.

Yeah. Nearest us.

And I think that that's, you know, the the the more traditional ones were much more touristy. Yeah. It it with the exception of Tollwood, which was touristy in a different way. But it was also I I think that if you're going there for the time and seeing Christmas markets, I think that that's both good and bad because I think it's good because you get to see what it's about, but it's bad because there's so many tourists around there. And what I would say is if you go to a Christmas market, go to one of these bigger ones just to see what it's like and then try to go to some of the smaller ones that have some unique aspects to it.

Yeah. I think that, seeing the kind of more traditional ones is fun. And then I think if you're like us, appreciate the less traditional ones more.

Because I mean, think we went to some really really unique and cool places that I think really made our trip much more fulfilling.

Yeah. Well, because talking to mom and the Germany family, they're like, you're gonna get sick of these real quick. And having the variety of of a lot of these places was very enjoyable. Alright. Yeah. Let's let's get to another drink.

We're at the bottom of our cup.

At the bottom of my Gluhwein and I want another hot drink. Alright. So after this, we'll be right back and we'll talk

about some more Christmas markets. Alright. Thanks.

And, we are back. We've got some new drinks in front of us. It's kinda hard for you, the camera, to see because we wanted to put them in these cute little mugs. But, Nick, what are we drinking now?

It does I will say it does feel a little bad that it's not transparent glass I know. Right now. Like, you would be like, oh, what? Oh, a new color.

Right? Yeah. But these are hot drinks. Oh, you know what? I I think we did a poor job of explaining Gluhwein. It looks like darker red wine. Yeah. This drink that I'm looking at right here is kind of a a tan brown kind of color. I would say a dark cider describe it.

I think that is fairly accurate. So what you're looking at is Glu Gin. Okay.

Which we had never heard of until we went to this this market and saw it. It's true. Because we were we were taken aback by how many different drinks there were.

I think we got that at Marine Yeah. Got it

at Marine Plots. Yeah.

The recipe that we found was apple juice, orange juice Okay. Gin Yeah. And then our fun spices.

Okay. So that actually does really explain this color then.

Yeah. It's just

the apple juice and the orange juice.

Yeah. Apple juice and orange juice is the only color. The gin is Well, this gin actually had a little bit of color to it. Because it was a gin that was aged in oak barrels.

I never get to see these alcohols.

Well, we might we might use them. If we wanna do another gin episode.

Hey, we like the last gin episode. Yeah.

Well, yeah.

Alright. Alright. Yeah. Cheers to Served hot. Served hot. Yeah. This is hot. It's cooled down a little bit so it's a bit warm. But again, you want that feeling of warming up especially with that stronger alcohol like gin coursing through your system.

And the best part about this is it it doesn't have that Well, not the best part, but the different part about this is it doesn't have that tannin wine kind of taste to it.

It's true. I would say it it tastes way more like a apple cider, like a hot apple cider. Because it has the apple juice and the cinnamon sticks.

What I will say is, the last drink tasted almost just like the glue vine that we had here. I don't think this has hit that that same glue gin No. That I had.

I think I

haven't been I I don't know. I didn't get enough of the glue gin Yeah. To be able to really taste it out.

I I think, like, this is a very delicious drink. You can taste the apple juice and the orange juice. Like, it's a a warm fruit drink basically. Like you said, it tastes closer to a cider. When we had the glue gin, you got hit with the gin.

Yeah. Yeah. Was definitely the gin.

Maybe I should have put more gin

in it.

Maybe. Which is a rarity. I didn't add enough alcohol then.

Yeah. Think it's very cinnamon strong.

It is very cinnamon strong. I might have put

too many I'm not opposed to that.

No. Too many cinnamon sticks maybe.

Maybe. Maybe. But also it may have been the recipe as well Yeah.

Itself. I'm sure I mean, we we can talk about this. Every A a lot of the traditional ones that we just talked about have like They boast their personal recipes flavors to it. Right? We talked about the Liebkuchen. But also Nuremberg's like, we have We're home to the best glue the most traditional glue vine. Yeah. Yeah. Or we our Marine Plots, I think, was boasting the the white glue vine

Yeah.

And stuff like that. And I think all of them sell. They all sell

it. Almost the same. Yeah.

Well, yeah, because like we also saw the apple whiskey somewhere.

Yeah. It's true. True true true. And the apple whiskey was, I mean, self explanatory, but they they love selling alcohol in all of these weird and very delicious hot ways. Yes. So if if we throw out, I don't know, a terminology like, oh, it's just boozy hot chocolate. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's just it's just one of their ways of of finding a hot drink to be more Warming. More warming. More warming.

I think if you look at these, so we we were going to these markets from 11AM until nine or 10PM. And we were going to different places but

It's a full time job.

Yeah. But I think that and if they were going during the day, then they were getting supplies. But when they were going at night, it just seemed more like a an outdoor party, I guess.

I would I would say the the atmosphere switches up from the day to evening to night of of of I would say every single one of these

And some of them didn't open till five.

It's true. Right.

Yeah. There was there was a couple of the festivals that they weren't open every day. They only opened up on weekends or they didn't open till five. And those places were not for, I'm gonna go there to buy fruits and breads and stuff like that. They were there so you could drink and hang out with people and all that stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. So let's let's begin talking about some of our other favorite additions to the Christmas markets. As we just said, basically the three, we had some interspersed of those. But we can talk about more traditional, or less traditional, and more atmospheric, or cozy, or just added a new spice to the what what is already in the formula?

I mean, I really thought that the was it the Munchen Bazaar? The the ferry market Yeah. Outside of the Marten. Marten. What? Outside of the or at in the Olympic Park

Yeah.

Was a smaller market comparatively to like Nuremberg, but had a lot of great food. Literally we walked in and there were four or five food stalls there.

All different parts of the world.

Yeah. Because there is a Japanese Oh my god, I'm gonna get this word wrong. Okonomiyaki. Oh, Okonomiyaki. Yep. Thank you. I was trying to think of how the word was spelled and then my tongue just did not wanna fall off.

Well, yeah. Mean, because you had that on the right. Then next to it you had the and this is where mom gives me her tongue. The luxe Oh. Which was the salmon Oh.

On the boards. They had these fancy like fires going and they like they like sandwich these fish on these boards.

Cedar boards.

And they just let them grill on this open flame and then they either put them in a sandwich or just give it to you.

That was just fantastic. And then on the left they had the oxtail.

They had the oxtail and I think tongue. And tongue. Because I think that's the sandwich that we had.

Yep. Yep. And then the next one over was the African place. Oh my gosh.

So good.

And then the next one over was the rice place.

It's the noodle place.

The noodle place. They had noodle place.

Oh, It was German noodles. German noodles.

I don't think had soup? Yeah. Oh, I think by the time we got there, we had already eaten at the last four places That's last four

And we still went to the burger place of which was over

There was a vegan burger place. Yeah.

So we we really wanted to taste some different foods.

And I would say that is a This was an interesting one because we showed up like five minutes after it opened. Right as they opened. Maybe, like, the stall was like, I'm still like cooking things up. Know, and we're like, hey, you know, take your time. And then, It's also I think as a Christmas market, it was the smallest Christmas market.

You know what, so here's what it reminded me of. It reminded me of, and if you live in rural US, this reminded me of the traveling county fairs.

Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. I think that that's a better way of describing it because I think if you look at the traditional ones, if you if you take Nuremberg or the Marienplatz, it's like very regimented, very for one. Yeah, very uniform. There are specific places that these stalls can be. There are straight lines and alleyways that need to be in a certain place and like the walkway needs to be a certain like size. When you come here to the ferry market, it's kind of like a weird oval shape.

It's like a bunch of food trucks lined up.

Yeah. A bunch of food trucks with these big tents set up. Yeah.

And the tents each of them had like a different feel to it because like one of them had just hot tea there that you could Yeah.

More than hot

tea. Yeah. But And so you you would go into these places, into the tents and you would see For this one it was like, it was not so much There were stalls there, but it was more about entertainment inside the tent.

I would Yeah. There there was a definite like The tent that we went to had a more like performer atmosphere. Was a stage there.

I would say it had the like old school carnival vibe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that was kind of the aesthetic that it was going for with like the big pole. There was a little stage. The the I the decorations that they had picked out, even the wood that they had chosen was kind of old older style.

I I to me, it reminded me of like a traveling gypsy show, you know, where you had all these there's like there's fortune tellers and there were things like that that were there that were kind of made it feel very not permanent, more traveling entertainers and stuff.

Yeah. And I think that's an interesting way of describing it because we know that all of these Christmas markets are non permanent.

Well, so this that group travels the rest of the year as just a market.

Sure. Like, just as like a festival. Right.

As a festival moving So that's that's why

So it is like a county fair.

Yeah. That's why it reminded me of a county fair where, you know, they're they're packing up everything and going to the next site. They just happen to be here. Well, we we didn't quite talk about it, but basically, it's the month of December that these markets are set up. Usually, they start about the December 1 and they go till Christmas Eve.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's cold. We'll throw that

out there. This is

not a problem. We sort of implied that. Yeah. Where we're drinking hot drinks. We're in Germany. It's near Christmas It's cold. It's chilly.

However, when we were there

We had a very pleasant. We didn't get a really Yeah.

I don't I don't think There was there was probably one night where it was really below freezing. But most of the nights, it was right at freezing. It really wasn't, you know.

It got it got chilly.

It's cold for some people.

Yeah.

But, I think I also wanna mention for the the ferry market. Yeah. Where not only did they have these like performer tents, they also had these other tents that were just filled like a actual bazaar. Right? Yeah. Where it was just crampacked of vendors. And like local artisans or creators or like maybe more specific food vendors as well.

Yeah. And and we were kind of talking about this between this is that although we can say that there were unique vendors in this, really there's vendors in all of these Christmas markets. We don't wanna downplay the idea that. So some of them are selling pre made items, a lot of the people there are, look, here's all of my baked goods. Here's all of the things I've made with wood or these are all of the things I've made like there were just so many different crafts in all of these markets that someone that that were just handcrafted.

Yeah. I I think it's a very similar experience if you've ever been to a Renaissance fair or a county fair where you have people who are selling you

The tissue box holder. Yeah.

Whatever sort of you know odds in an object that they've decided to to offer. Yeah.

Because like the the one place in Salisburg that made the earrings. Yeah. You know? That you talked to that

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

They had I mean, this booth had literally hundreds.

Yeah. So many hundreds of earrings.

And there were like three.

100 earrings and jewelry, but I feel like it was mainly earrings because we were looking through a lot

of You're

definitely showing them off at the front.

Yeah. It was just And it was remarkable, and they were unique, and they were different. Some of them were probably not made by them, but some of them were. It just was such a cool kind of vibe on

that Yeah.

I think a another market that kind of is different than the very structured and more traditional feel is Tollwood. I I kind of I think about the ferry market in Tollwood in a very similar fashion where Tollwood is like the big brother, it feels like of the ferry market.

Yeah. So some context around this. If you if you ever gone to Munich and gone to Oktoberfest, the fairground where Oktoberfest is is Tollwood. And this place has Oktoberfest during the summer. They have a summer summer festival. And during the winter for the basically, they they start a little bit earlier. They're like the November to Christmas Eve. They set up their Christmas market. And this Christmas market is much flashier. Yeah.

I would say that the traditional ones feel more corporate.

Yeah. The the Okay. This one feels more like

don't think any of these feel corporate.

They feel very So the Like community driven.

The Tollwood is probably the least so. And I'll tell you why. Yeah. If you go around the outside of it and the only reason I know this is because I think I've seen their sponsors for it, there's big name sponsors. The company I work for now ABB was a sponsor for Tollwood. Mhmm. And they had signs all around there advertising that they were a sponsor for it. I don't

I come from an industry that's all about sponsors.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, and honestly, like, I would say all these places are getting sponsored by something

Yeah, they're. Or other.

Yeah. So I I don't think it's I think what was interesting was Tollwood was presented as like the cool place.

Yeah. Yeah.

As like the international one.

Yeah. It was like the international one. It was when people were talking about it, they like, oh yeah, that one is like just a fun place to go to.

Tollwood had an interesting mix of some rows of stalls, similar to what you would see in the traditional ones. And then also had several large tent bazaars set up. I believe there

were four Oh, there might

have been more. Or four or more big tents. One of the tents was One or two of the tents were just dedicated to having food vendors in Yeah.

Because there was that one tent that we went to that was all vegetarian.

Yep. There was a vegetarian tent, and then there was real people.

Real food.

Another one of the tents that they had was just dedicated to a bar and a stage for live music. Yeah. And they were having musicians and bands kinda cycle Rotate. Rotate, which

I thought was super cool.

There was also another one that had an ongoing performance that was like a circus performance, a acrobat

think you can say the

Cirque du Soleil show, but I wasn't sure that it was really Cirque du Soleil.

It was.

Which is really pretty cool. They had and I think that the the other the other big tent was had all the vendors in there. Right.

Yeah. There was another like big like Gigantic Yeah. Massive tent. Full of just

So many artists.

Odds and ends. Like we got We were like, did we take a turn here? Like, the other places where we're like, oh, I know which way we've

been. Yeah.

Yep. That tent was the hardest to navigate out of every single one of them.

Because it It would like web off. Yeah. And not only that, but then there would be these food stalls also Mhmm.

Were Interspersed and mixed in.

Because so one of the things that I remember we got there was the candles.

Yep. We got we got candles that looks like

Food or drink.

Yeah. Food or drink. We got one candle that looks like a like a glue vine, like a glass of glue vine, and then another one of my candles which I gave to my friends, looks like

Hot chocolate, right?

Yeah, it looks like hot chocolate.

Hot

chocolate. For the longest

time A pastry.

Yeah, for the longest time, they were like, we can't can't use this. We can't use this candle it looks too nice. And I was like no please I bought it for you. I wanna know if it smells good. Yeah sure it looks good but like does it actually smell good.

Does it serve the purpose that it's

Yeah yeah made for.

But the other thing we saw there was the acorn liqueur that we got there.

Yes. Oh my gosh. I can't believe. Yeah. There was nut liqueurs. We got a hazelnut and an acorn one Yeah. There because we thought it would be really interesting. Did we ever try those?

No. I think we still have them kinda sitting somewhere. We've got it Well, the other thing at Salzburg we got was a six bottle collection

Of fruit liqueurs.

Of fruit liqueurs.

I will say the the thing that we haven't talked a lot about besides a little bit of gluvan and glugin is there's a lot of alcohol that you can buy specifically like flavored liqueurs.

Yeah.

In Salzburg specifically, we went to a shop and bought some, but we also saw a twenty fifteen foot stall that had flavored

Yeah. I mean it was it was basically three rows. One row in the front and two in the back that just lined up with all the different flavors.

And you could taste

And they were just giving us tastes. Yeah.

That was horrible.

Yeah. It's so so bad. But I I think Tollwood kind of had has that mix of like traditional into the non traditional where it's kind of the the meeting of of a Salzburg which is very tourist heavy and also regimented and and I don't wanna say organized because all of these are organized events, and the bazaar, the the ferry market that was kind of like had this this festival fair aesthetic

Yeah. I mean

and with tents.

And I think that like we if you think about as we were as we went in, you guys got the double sausage sandwich.

I forgot about that. We did, yeah. True.

And on the way out, we got the Korean fried chicken.

Yeah. We waited a little too long for that one, actually.

When you think about that, that's that duality of that market.

Duality of man. Hot dogs and I was thinking

Korean fried chicken. We probably drank the most at Yes. Because we had a magic potion. We had ale. We had

we had more like Gluvine like specific. Yeah.

It was That market was just so There were so many different kinds of foods and drinks that it was just so much fun to go to.

It was also one of the places we spent the at.

Yeah.

Yeah. It it was very large. It was very unique. They had string lights and paper lanterns all over the walkways. So as it got later, because again, like you said, we spent a long time there. It was light when we started, it was dark when we left. As we were walking, they were turning on the lights and it kinda just added another another aspect of the market. Yeah.

So one of the things we talked about was Currywurst, which was what we had for my birthday. Well, I'm a vegetarian, so we actually tasted vegetarian No. What we? We we tasted some vegetarian Currywurst while we were in Toowit. Yeah. The sausage, the verse part was okay.

Yeah. The the quote unquote sausage.

But that curry sauce could be good on anything.

Yeah. You can you can put that

I will something that we didn't expect, especially talking to like German relatives, is how accommodating and how easy it was to Not maybe not easy, but easier than expected to find vegetarian options for you. It's true. In Tollwood, like we were saying, there's basically a food cafeteria tent dedicated to just vegetarian options.

Yeah. And it was it was crazy because the tent was African, the next one was Indian, and then you had like an organic tent over there then you had like Mediterranean. Mediterranean and all of it was vegetarian and I was like I couldn't figure out what so I mean I got a sampler plate and samosas from the African place.

Right.

But you could have gotten I mean every one of them just had incredible looking food in it. It was all vegetarian.

Yeah. Yeah. Real quick before we run out of time for this section because I wanna make sure that we're being cognizant of this. Another market that I wanna talk about that was kinda one of our favorites, and also nearby our our hotel was the Munich Freiheit one, which is a a metro stop, and outside of this metro stop was a market that was smaller, but was a lot more community driven. So again, not really that sort of big touristy traditional vibe.

It was like a multi leveled like. Yeah. Just so it's sort of like a line of like angled

Yeah. I mean you you came out of the market going up these stairs and there was food stalls on both sides. Yeah. The other thing that we got there was the flaming gluh vine.

Yes. And and your flaming brute.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So when you get there, you remember the flaming sugar cube?

They they cut a sugar cube on fire. I don't know if that was actually glu vine. It may have just been like whiskey or brandy.

I don't know. I think I think it well, anyways, it's it's a particular drink. My wife tried to tell me it but I told her there was no way

I was gonna No. I'm not gonna remember

that one. Flaming blah blah blah. So yeah. So we talked about badly pronouncing phlegm luxe which is fire grilled salmon.

Yeah. The salmon.

But when you the other thing you get is phlegm kuken or phlegm broth which is basically like a pizza but it's basically the kuken is basically dough that's spread out and tomatoes or vegetables and cheese are done and they put it on a open fire and they cook it. Brot is basically they take a loaf of bread cut it in half and do that. So it's a type of pizza we but we got that there and then we had riba dachi.

Oh gosh. Yeah. Was about to say you're gonna slaughter it.

So basically it's it's two it was two pancakes and in between the pancakes was the the melting cheese that you get in Switzerland and we got that.

I think it is always misleading when people say pancakes. I know what you're going for

That's But they're not pancakes.

They're not American pancakes. Yeah. Well Okay. Yeah. They're not

even like what people know as pancakes anymore.

They're they're considered German pancakes.

Okay. Yeah. But like Okonomiyaki is considered Japanese

Yeah. But I would describe that as pancakes.

So think of think of

German Belgian.

Yeah. Yeah. So think of so the Those

are waffles.

Are waffles. German pancakes are between a crepe and an American ham pancake. Hamburger.

American hamburgers. Sorry. My mind doesn't know what

to think.

I They're dense crepes. All I can say.

Yeah. They're dense. But they're they're they were very delicious.

Yeah. Very good. And again, all vegetarian, all options. But the fun thing about this market was it's around like your like average shops and stalls. And so Nick and I went to a Thai restaurant and we walked through the the Fryheit Christmas market, and there were people just standing outside really becoming like community, not tourists. They were local people who were drinking and enjoying the Christmas market in a more communal community sense by base it's basically like a block party.

Yeah. Mean, that's what that's what it reminded me of is a block party. When we as we were as it's getting later that one night and we were going through there because we went to a restaurant around the corner from there. Mhmm. And we're going through it. And all it is is a bunch of people gathering together. I mean, it wasn't like loud music or whatever playing. It was just all people just talking together and and it like I A block party is probably the best description I've heard for that.

Yeah. Well, it's I feel like we just, as Americans, don't really have a better way of describing it, unfortunately.

But also, when when it was open during the day, I would say it's the most like arts y. Yeah. Yes. Like they The things that they were selling was very like I

don't know.

The person that created it was sitting behind was sitting in the booth. You know, which I thought was And they were very unique.

Oh, that was misleading. I thought you were saying the person that created the this

No. Christmas market

was You're you're saying that

The artisans. You're you're meeting the artisans when you go to these booths.

Yeah. You're meeting the artisans for the other ones too.

Yeah. Fryhair just felt a little more artsy. Yeah. Like And like, the things that they were selling were less ornament wise. And honestly, it felt less Christmas y.

Yeah. It did

You know what? Is not gonna have any relevance to anybody but to us. It felt like the Berkeley Springs saying,

market. That's crazy. Anyway. That's crazy.

But those are those are different vibes that you can catch on a single Christmas market.

I I think you put it into words really well. It didn't feel Christmas y. It's true. Like, I bought a a postcard stand Yeah. Made out of like an old atlas, basically. Yeah. And you bought a wooden Hair pin. Hair pin. Yeah. And that that's kind of like the things that that they had. They were like selling

dog collars and leashes and and maybe more practical.

We're looking at a rock turtle

for like 2,000 Which

I If I could have picked that up I would have done There's

no way you would have gotten it back.

But it was it was just such a cool art piece.

Yeah.

But you're right. It didn't it wasn't Christmas y at all.

It wasn't Christmas y and that was that was the fun part about

it. Yeah.

Alright. My drink is empty. We've got one more section, one more drink. We'll be back in a moment to talk about some some of the markets that we didn't mention. Some honorable mentions. Yep. Alright.

See you

in a Bye. And we are back. We've got some new drinks in front of us. This is black. I don't wanna say it like that.

It's very dark.

But it is super dark like maybe it has more color that I'm not seeing in the light but inky black is what I'm seeing right now.

And and you're getting you can smell tea and red wine.

Yeah. So, this is Jaeger tea. No Jaeger meister, thankfully.

Oh, wait. I thought

No. Uh-oh. Was expecting some Jaggers. This is your classic cinnamon and cloves.

Mhmm.

The spices that we've acquainted with. However, it also has black tea now.

Mhmm.

And with that, it also has wine, like a typical gluhwein. Mhmm. On top of that, it now has a cranberry What is it? Blackberry?

Black raspberry.

Black raspberry liqueur.

Yeah. Oh, okay.

And it has steeped for quite a while. It it recommended potentially rum Okay. And sugar. Oh. So this might be a bitter drink.

But did You didn't add rum

There's not rum nor sugar in this.

Okay. So it might be little bitter. Okay.

And unlike the two which we did taste at the Christmas markets, this is one we saw but did not taste. Did we not try this?

Nope. I don't think I saw.

Man, I thought I thought we tried everything out of this Yeah.

I don't know. It should be interesting nonetheless. Alright. Cheers.

Cheers. Boom. Yeah. We tried so many different drinks. Whether it's spiked hot chocolate, the Rum Toddy's.

I can see why they add sugar to it.

Several iterations of Glu Vine, Glu Gin, both red, white, rose. We we tried as many things. We we Apple whiskey, like we Anything that we saw that was remotely different at any of these. It's true.

And the special potion.

We mentioned that very briefly last segment. We don't know what it was.

We don't know what it was. But it was, if you're familiar with the asterisk and oobliks, which is a I probably butchered that. A popular like old German comic.

Well, it's it's European.

Okay. I'm sorry. European. European. May maybe French?

Is French.

Oh, I got it. Hang.

I was basically, Asterix and Oobliks are Gauls and they're fighting the Romans. So it's turn of the millennium. And

I didn't realize it was that old.

Yeah. That's that's that's what's supposed to depict.

They were coming out

back then. They

were making comics back then.

And And supposedly the way the Gauls fought is they had this special potion Mhmm. That made them stronger and one of the characters, I can't remember whether it's Asterix or Overlyx, when as a baby fell in the special potion so he is oversized.

Nice.

And over strength. So but yeah. So we got the

He's a modern day Achilles.

Yeah. We we had this beautiful flask that we kept from it. Yep. So we we talked about unique cups for all of these. So each one of not your favorite,

Oh, man. It's it's a it's a it's It doesn't go down as easy. Yes. I don't mind it. It's just different than the other two.

Yeah. I think that the black raspberry is much stronger than probably

Intended.

Intended. I I think having a

little sugar, a little rum in here would help. Something to cut it. Because it's also just over steeped tea. I'm gonna be honest. Yeah. I had to over steep the tea in order for it to really absorb the spices. Yep. Which also means it's over steeped tea, so it's just even more bitter.

Yeah. I think you're right. Think a little bit of rum or sugar would have helped.

But what what you're saying is each of the markets had their own individual mugs or serving kind of apparatuses for apparati for the drinks. So for this potion it was in a glass potion vial. Vile. Vile.

With like a leather wrap around it.

With a leather wrap. Was very cool

and fun. And I think it's something that you don't see in I I think especially if you're an American, something that I'd never seen before, but they give you a real mug when you order, and you basically pay €5 extra port. And when you finish, you can either say, well, I like this mug. This is mine now. Which, yeah, which we did for a couple of them, and you pocket the mug, or you say, okay, that was a great drink, I'm a come back, and then they give you your €5 or however much you put down for it.

And and it doesn't just work for mugs. So Yeah. Whenever we got a dish You can keep a fork. Yeah. You could keep a fork if you Why would you? But but like if you got something that required a knife and fork and a plate, you paid a deposit for it then you went back and and returned it, which was I like a lot better. A lot the all of these markets were very sensitive to waste that it was creating and trying to keep it as as low an impact from a a trash standpoint as possible.

Yeah.

You know, which I really liked a lot.

Well, I think we'll talk about the market that you wanna talk about in a here. But kind of going off of that, a mug that we did keep was from the pink market. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was one of the smaller markets. That's why it's in this kind of last section.

We're in like a miscellaneous Yeah. Like honorable like shout outs. Like didn't make like the bigger ones that had like super impact, but like things that we still were really cool like interesting to see.

Were interesting

to see.

And once again, this is one of those ones that opened up at five. It wasn't open during the day. It was really an after hours kind of market.

So yeah, the the pink market is a market that we went to. Nick and I got some spiked hot chocolate. Yeah, we did. And they had these very fun rainbow glass mugs.

And they were like Collins mugs?

Yeah. Yeah.

So they're

like taller. They were taller.

Yeah. Almost like a big shot glass.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which means less hot chocolate, but it's fine.

But it

was a fun looking mug.

Fun to drink out of too.

And this market had three small tents, which had a couple of vendors in them. Not even tents like canopy awnings.

Yeah. It was But it definitely had a party vibe to it.

Yeah. When we talk about Fryheit being a community thing, this The Pink Market is definitely a community vibe of people coming to just sit in this courtyard, drink and hang out.

It was just in a courtyard. Yeah. Yeah. And not a big one. And not a big one.

It was a

small small

courtyard. There was probably what maybe 12 vendors altogether?

Yeah. I don't know. If that might be ambitious.

Four four and four.

Yeah. That that might be right. Maybe. But I don't know.

Yeah. It was I mean, it was small. I mean, basic excuse me, we

basically walked in. We walked one way. Went through and went. Alright.

That's it. That's it. Yeah.

And this was kind of like some Christmas y things. Some of like the traditional Christmas y things that you would find. And then also Nick and I were walking through a section where they had like figurines. Yeah. Like Not even like like nativity kind of figurines. No. They were just kinda like

It's like Barbies and Barbies. They're different.

More of like like anime figurines Yeah. But not anime. Yeah. I I don't necessarily know what the statuettes Yeah.

Like little statuettes.

The thing we got from there was a chocolate covered fruit

Yeah.

In the back before we left.

True. But, yeah. So the I think the pink market was a fun, kinda honorable mention. Yes, they were using like pink and blue lights.

There lot of pinks.

Yeah. There was like, and it was like, it was like under a big tree, it seemed like.

Yeah.

It's like one big tree in the center, and it was like lights and confetti coming off

of Yeah. Illuminated the courtyard a lot.

Yeah. What I will say is, what I really appreciated, there were a lot of people that were dressed up.

Yeah. Yes. There someone dressed up as like Saint

Nick.

Yeah. Like actual Saint Nick.

Yeah. Like it wasn't Santa Claus. Like he had the full like saint like Like

the bishop robes. The full bishop robes.

Okay. Now you say that, but one of the other smaller markets we went to was the Renaissance one.

Right.

And everybody was dressed up there. It was remarkable. The vendors were all like metal and leather. There was everywhere, you know.

I I think So yeah. That that's another one in the honorable mentions, the the medieval market, the the Renaissance one. But that one felt closer to a Renaissance fair than a Christmas

Right. I I totally agree.

Because they were selling like cloaks and capes and Knives and Swords and Leather working.

But the and interspersed in there were Christmas globes and

decorations. It was like a slay your enemies, but also remember the holidays. Yeah. Really good food. Oh my gosh. There was a chili

or something? Yeah. Oh my gosh. There was chili and then there was a pasta dish that we got.

That was one of the colder days.

I was

about to say, I don't know if the food was just really good or it was at the end of a long day where most of us were sick.

Yeah. True.

And we were cold and eating something hot like a hot soup and like hot almost gnocchi kind of style noodles.

Yeah.

And that's where we tried Gluvine plus contro.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Which is an immaculate contro. Yeah. Very good. So tasty.

Rather than just orange juice, it was orange liquor.

Yeah. That's the other thing, like, you add Oh, you have Gluvine. Well, then you can add other liquor to Gluvine.

And that was a fun mug too. It was kind of like a a weirdly shaped clay mug. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That had a little bit of like a chimney top, a kind of round center, and then a wide base. Which is weird I'm sure if you're listening and also watching me make hand motions.

But it was a weird

But it was a looking cup.

Which is which is great. I mean it's on brand.

Yeah.

One of the other honorable mention ones that I I wanna kinda mention. When I went to the Christmas market for the time this is when you were nine months old.

Where was I?

You were barely a twinkle in your mother's eye.

Only in mom's eye.

You knew. Mom knew she wanted two children. But anyways, we went to this section of the Marine Platz Christmas market and basically it is wood carvers from all around Bavaria Mhmm. That come there. And every house has a nativity scene.

I I was about to say some German words are really long but that one is for some reason shorter than the American one. It's ugly.

It's odd.

Yeah. Like like it shouldn't. Yeah.

It should not be. Nativity should be a much bigger word. It's like you know that has Jesus and birth and

all that stuff. Oh yeah.

But we were there there was one guy that was buying a set of three sheep for his nativity scene.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So you you get the baby Jesus you get Mary and Joseph and then you build off of that. And like if you look at our collection we have the three wise men, have one shepherd, we have a sheep, Mary and all that, and we have a manger.

I'm sorry, I cannot, I'm just thinking this whole time we gotta get these people in the war hammer. They're gonna love it. For real.

Because because they were also selling unpainted. You could get a painted or unpainted version of all of these things. And I'm like, man you could go crazy with like some Warhammer paint.

What? They should make a Warhammer Christmas market where you're like, oh that's the Tyranid stall over there.

And it's just a recreation Yeah. Of the nativity scene, but with Tyranids.

But yeah, could also like go there and there's like, oh, there's unpainted or painted Tyranids that I could pick up. Anyways, that's like nerd dumb.

If there is a super nerdy Christmas market that ever pops up, that probably would

be there. Well, the the thing that I thought was remarkable is our nativity scene is at least 60 years old.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's from the sixties or fifties or sixties.

Wow. So like you.

Yes. Like me.

Oh my god.

Well, we were talking about it's your birthday.

It's my sixtieth birthday. But anyways.

You said 50 or 60. Yeah.

You're right.

What was remarkable about it is that while we were there, I found our nativity scene.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so They were like,

how did they how did they bring it back?

So I was like, you know, I could go there and start from now and add pieces to it. That's You

would have two Jesus's and become even stronger.

I think there is something really cool about the idea of like slowly building a collection Because a lot of these pieces can be very intricate and very beautiful, but that also means that they're kind of expensive as well. So the idea of of like slowly like every year going to a Christmas market and just buying like one piece

to

add to

Well, mean, what it is what it symbolizes is that, you know, you hand over the nativity scene from parent to child. Yeah. And then the grandparents are going with their grandchildren to buy new pieces to add on to it. So that you know, you can say, okay, look you added an angel. This is your angel that you've added to this.

Talking about traditions last time. Yeah. Just like the reverse. Yeah. Yeah. For our experiences, I mean.

Yeah. I mean

No, I agree.

There's no way It's very hard to relate to that in The United States, you know. It's true. You know, it's it's I mean I think that we've lived here for you know twenty years now.

Yeah.

And I've never lived anywhere for twenty years. Same. Yes. You've lived here for twenty years. So you do. Anyways, but anyway so but but the the Crippa market just to me was one of those very traditional and it's such a a niche kind of market.

Yeah. But it I think from a craftsman perspective, it's just fun to admire the like identity that all of these crafters put into these. Right? It's like, oh, it's just the nativity scene. But like, you go through and you're like, these are all very very unique.

I was about it. Yeah. Was about it. And like, you

have so much character.

Well It's so interesting to see the different styles.

I mean, you get the the very modern ones that are

Yeah. Just kind of Legos. Yeah.

It was yeah. It was just it was very Now, I still don't get the ones hanging on the rope.

Oh, there was like

a €600 guy. But that was like big like

Yeah. But what do you do with What

do you do with it? You treat them like a mistletoe.

Oh. We're standing under the hanging man. What? Oh. Well, okay. Sorry. That sounds bad. When you say hanging, it's like like a glass cleaner. I don't actually Oh, he's like a lantern.

No. He's like a mountain climber.

Yeah. Yeah.

He's like rappelling. He's got like an ice pick.

Yeah. Yeah.

So But I don't He's one

of the wise men rappelling down to Jesus. I'm coming Jesus.

But he's he's got the well god I'm gonna get this wrong. The Lederhosen on and the Lederhosen.

The singing pants.

The singing pants. Leader. Yeah. But he's got that and I never could figure out why they why why they did that anyways.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

But the very unique I If I were to put together my own nativity scene, I would want to grab Oh, you'd go like mix and match. Yeah. I'd be like, oh, we'll get we'll get Joseph from this one over here. Oh, and that's a big Mary. Okay. You know? Like, I'd like the idea of just like everything misshapen, but also just have each each of them to be like cultivated and have like character.

You you would have the the nativity scenes that you see online where people have built nativity scenes with whatever they have laying around. So like, they don't have a Jesus, so they put in a a Yoda instead. Yeah.

Yeah. And instead of a wise man, it's It's a red power Ranger.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Yes. Alright.

I will I have a little speech for the for the end here, but before we get to the end of this episode, I feel like every time we're rushing, so now we've got a little bit of time. What was the favorite drink of the episode so far? Dad, do you wanna go

I will go and this is gonna be strange. I think the Jaeger tea was definitely the most interesting. And I think and I think it's it's the time we've ever tried to make this.

Can say it about almost every I know that.

It's the time I'm making anything.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. But I mean, it's a this was I think this has potential and I can see a lot of things we can do with it. I am gonna pick this drink.

Woah. For like potential of it?

Not only potential but because it was the most interesting taste. Okay. I mean, I think the Glu Gin was good but like you said, I I preferred the one that we were getting at the Christmas markets And the Gluvine is it's just Gluvine. Yeah. You know, I when we went there, I didn't want the red Gluvine. I wanted to try the white Gluvine because I've never had the the white wine Gluvine. I'm I'm gonna pick this one as the most interesting and probably the one I would like to taste again.

Alright. The drink number three, the Jaeger tea. Nick, what about you? Favorite drink?

I think I'm gonna basically do the opposite and probably something that's atypical of me. I think I'm going to go with the very classic Gluhwein. Yeah. Because I'm I'm very happy that I was basically able to recreate the taste of of a Gluhwein. Yeah. And I think it was very solid.

It was solid.

Okay. It was good. Especially because it was still hot, and that just kinda hits. And like, I hadn't had Gluhwein since Germany, because I could not have drank that,

to be honest.

But drinking it right now, I was like, man, that kinda It's still good. Okay.

So hear hear me out here. I didn't really like this one as much. Right. And I'm not afraid to say that. I definitely would have liked it to be a little bit sweeter, which is interesting because I I'm okay with my tea being a little over brewed. I liked the Gluvine. I think it was very fun. It's It it was almost like one to one. I was like, oh man, we're back here. And I think it was a good good drink to start the episode with.

Yeah.

Yeah. The glue gin tasted like hot cider. It was just Wait

a minute. Is two episodes in a row where we've

Two episodes? I don't think so.

Yeah. Last episode we were Oh, no. The tequila one we

We've done recording. Wow. Yeah. But yeah. I will say the Just split vote. A split vote. I will say the glu gin did not taste of the glu gin that we had in Germany. Nope. But it was really good. It was really And I love hot cider. So, for me

Yeah. Because I

was delicious.

I think your favorite was the apple whiskey. Right?

Yeah. Really liked that one.

That was Well, honestly, that

I mean, my my favorite is a spiked hot chocolate.

Oh yeah. A huge hot chocolate Delicious when you either add a hazelnut liquor or the mint liquor. Yes.

Now, to me, the special potion, that hit the spot so much. I wish I could get the recipe

for I can't describe what it was.

I I was about to say, we keep talking about this, but literally, when you go up and order it, it's just like special potion. That's what it is. Yeah.

And I cannot find the recipe anywhere.

I'm sure they're keeping it trade secret.

Yeah.

I think the Christmas markets were a very fun experience. We saw kind of a spectrum from like bigger tourist, I don't wanna say tourist trap, but like tourist heavy areas where people are going for that more authentic traditional Christmas market experience to some of these smaller Christmas markets that are literally just community driven, a way for people to hang out, drink, and like enjoy each other's company.

So because what we didn't talk about is the residence one had the singing moose in it and it was all the school kids there.

They get unique. Yeah. They are unique.

They they they do get unique. But I think one of the My favorite parts about all of these Christmas markets was the people in them and the the experience that we had talking with people. Yeah. Like when we were in Tollwood, talked with the candle maker for a very long time. When we were in Fryheit, we literally spent like thirty minutes to an hour in front of this wood shop, this woodmaker, wood carver's stall and he came out of his stall to pin Nick's hair up.

Yeah. Pouring down right.

Pouring down right. To to show Nick how to use the different type of of hairpins that he was that he that he had. And I think these are these fun interactions that I love with these live events whether it's a Christmas market or a Renaissance fair or a fairy festival or your your local Kentucky Kentucky Derby, or County Fair.

Yeah.

I think if you had a takeaway from this episode besides us just rambling about our trip to Germany, is that you should go out and experience live events and and these community engagement sort of things Yeah. Like a Ren Faire. Because go play bingo. Yeah. Play bingo.

Go sing karaoke on a Thursday night.

Well I mean we took I mean locally we had an arts festival that we went to just a couple like couple months ago I guess. Yeah. That was just remarkable. Do that. Yeah, you know.

And yet I couldn't get you to go to the veggie fest. I'm upset about that.

But yes, I think that what we found is no matter even though like the person that you bought your thing from did not speak a lot of English. Yeah. We had a great conversation with her. Yeah, that's true. And so I think that these people are passionate about what they're doing.

Yeah.

And they love talking about what their passion is. And I think you find that in all these places, whether it's a Renaissance fair because we went to a Renaissance fair in Germany one summer and they were just many years back. Many years back. But I think in all of them, we got to talk to people that were passionate, that were having fun, and just we just had a great time with it.

Yeah. So if you have a takeaway, get out there, talk to some people, experience live events. We've been the three hamster boys. We'll see you next time.

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You said the thing. Alright. Alright. Bye.