Day 16 - Christmas

We met for breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. A plentiful buffet with eggs cooked to order, accompanied by complimentary Mimosas. (Ron did not partake as he was the driver!)

We set off for Tegernsee about 10:30 AM - about a 40-minute drive. Our first stop was Hotel Post Egerner Hofe - a beautiful Bavarian hotel - to experience our version of the traditional Bavarian "frueshoppen". Years ago it was common for a group of men to congregate on Sundays and holidays after church and before lunch. While the women were at home cooking, the men would gather to have beer and play cards. So, if ever we have a beverage early in the day it is deemed "frueshoppen".

We watched the small army of wait staff as they prepared for the Christmas lunch crowd. It is a 5-star hotel and at least one of their dining rooms has a Michelin star. The staff all wear traditional Bavarian trachten and look very elegant and professional. Beautiful!

As you can see, it was almost a "balmy" day - we had very little snow on the ground and could comfortably walk in light jackets. Most unusual for this time of year!

Ron, Pat & Mike at Park Hotel Egerner Hoefe (Ron's new orange shirt)

Christmas Day in Rottach-Egern

Next we went to the Seehotel Ueberfahrt, another lovely hotel, but this one in a much more modern style. Directly on the lake front, and a beautiful place. 

Ron and Mike ordered a Lagavulin to toast Christmas. Here is Mike's quote of the day - "People watching is an art form. People-watching while drinking Lagavulin is elevating the art form".  We did enjoy seeing people in all kinds of clothing and foot wear - from the sporty to the most fashionable. 

While in this lobby Ron and Mike noticed a couple with two Hungarian Vizla dogs. We had been introduced to this breed on a previous trip to Bavaria, and Ron spoke to the couple. Turns out they are involved in rescuing Vizlas from Hungary, as apparently there are too many of them, and there is a scheme afoot to cull them. They are known to be an extremely intelligent, protective dog, but yet very friendly. One of their dogs was obedient and the other was younger and very playful. The lady told us this dog (below) was a show dog. This breed does not seem very common in the US.

Hungarian Vizla (the show dog)

It was time for lunch, and we proceeded to the hotel's restauarant Il Barcaiolo. Perhaps it is a bit unusual to have Italian food on Christmas Day, but most of the other restaurants in the town were having fixed-menus that were extremely expensive and much more food than any of us wanted. Five courses - no way! 

They presented us with an antipasto plate. Then Ron had lentil soup followed by halibut. Mary had fettucine with truffles. Pat had ravioli with ossobuco ragout, and Mike had a salad with scampi. Finishing up the meal, Mike had a coffee with Sambuca.

Fettucine with Truffles

Lentil Soup

Halibut

Salad with Scampi

Ravioli with ossobuco

Moving on from there, we drove closer to the town and set out walking and looking in all the windows with beautiful displays. 

We ended up in an adorable gasthof, Postillion. Everything was marked with "reserved" signs, but not until later in the evening. So we all sat at the bar and Mike was feeling quite gregarious and we engaged in conversations with German couples on either side of us (pictures taken too - but I don't have those yet). One couple from Cologne, one from Munich - and that fellow had gone to high school in Scottsdale! The people told us if we wanted dinner at the Postillion on December 26 we had to book one year in advance! We enjoyed lots of fun conversation.


We weren't ready to leave, but Ron had to face the drive home in the dark, so it was his call.  

Glad to say he did a great job getting us home safely and finding a spot to park in the very tight and scary underground parking garage! 

We then managed to meet up again in the Executive lounge and sit once again with Ernest and Carol Ann. Pat had a Kiwi fruit she said was the largest she had ever seen.