I appreciate the info. I know some hotels have Christmas meals if you confirm ahead of time! We may also spend the time with my cousin in Schwedt, but don't know yet!

Heck, if we have to eat Oscar Mayer bologna, it won't be my first time!(LOL) We may buy some things we can pack and drive the countryside and eat on our own and see the views!

The hard part for us is being away from our Grandchildren. I love all 6 and it will be hard on us, but we know we are not getting any younger and this may be our last chance to go back to Germany and Austria and we plan on a few days in Rome earlier!

I love the Christmas Markets and almost wish we wouldn't have decided to go to Rome first. But the Wife has never been and we are Catholic and it's like a pilgrimage to us!(SMILE)

I'm not so sure about your picknick plans as a) it will be dark at 4 p.m. and b) surely the weather and temperature will not be inviting.

Either check out the hotel restaurants, or stay in an apartment where you can prepare your own meals.

Do your food shopping in the morning of Dec 24, after 2 p.m. you will not find any shops open until the morning of Dec 27.

Kind of strange visiting Italy and Germany in the order you do. I would think that the pre-Christmas markets in Germany would be good, with then celebrating Christmas with the Pope at the Vatican in St. Peter's Square.

"Kind of strange visiting Italy and Germany in the order you do. I would think that the pre-Christmas markets in Germany would be good, with then celebrating Christmas with the Pope at the Vatican in St. Peter's Square."

The OP asked for advice here about if they should go to Munich or Rome first, but not sure if they had already booked the tickets by the time they asked.

Actually, to tell the truth, we planned on going to Rome first so we could go to midnight mass in St Peter's. I wrote our Cardinal and got the tickets. Then finding out there are a mere 60,000 plus people there not including those outside! I'm not much into crowds. Italy and especially Rome to me, is intense. Plenty to see, and crowded.

The Wife and I love Austria and Bavaria. We also barely saw one Christmas Market in Frankfurt when we were there last time. We left the end of November after a stay of a month. We loved what we saw and it was just wonderful. We know Munich's, Salzburg, Nurnberg, Regensburg and maybe Dresden's will be great, so we plan to see what we can, plus sites we loved last time!

I asked the Wife if she felt better spending Christmas in Italy or Germany....the answer was Germany and the same for me. It just feels right to us. I also have a German Cousin that lives at Schwedt. NE of Berlin. We may visit him if he offers on Christmas.

I rarely use a travel guide, but did this time and have regretted it! I told her I wanted to leave as early as possible on the 13'th. Wanted to go earlier date wise, but the Wife teaches nursing and they have finals. GRRR!(GRIN)

When we got the tickets she booked us on United and the flight leaves late. Makes a stop in Munich and then to Rome! Crazy isn't it! What kills me is, we waste all day Saturday and don't get to Rome till the next day around 4. Two days shot to hell. Checked other flights on my own and several got their Sunday morning which would have been fine and we wanted to go to mass in St Peter's. Oh well, that is shot to hell!.

Then it gets better, to get back to Munich, she was going to have us ride a train for 10 hours with a change in Verona. We would lose that day. I also noticed there was a night train, so we could leave the evening the day before and 10 hours later be in Munich early! Crazy when we flew through there! There is Veuling with cheap tickets, but they run you through like cattle. I found a solution on my own through Lufthansa which I really like and at less price than the night train sleeper would cost us!

Live and learn! This will probably be our last trip to Europe, so I want it to be special for the wife. She has never been to Rome so it will be a first for her, and we love Austria and Munich!

Have a good one!

Dan

Please explain when you will be where. Midnight mass in Rome (on Cheristmas Eve?) and being in Germany on Christmas means you'll be at two places at the same time. You got me confused.

We decided against Christmas eve and Midnight mass. Too many people! Plus our decision was to spend it in Germany which we love. Nothing against Italy, but southern Germany is our favorite followed by Austria.

So we have to fend on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Munich. So we need to find things to do and places to eat. If my cousin invites us to Schwedt for those two days we are covered, if not I need to plan accordingly.

I wonder how hard it is to get Diesel on those days if we try to ride around, or are we better served riding a train to someplace and back?

If by any chance you have a US Department of Defense identification card, you could visit the government facility in Garmisch and have Christmas dinner there.

I know many of the nicer hotels in Munich do have Christmas Eve dinners. The following is a list of hotels which I know have done elegant dinners. Many of their websites currently still show what kind of menu they had for Christmas Eve 2013. I would contact a few of these hotels to get the information for 2014 or at least get the confirmation that they will do a similar dinner in 2014.

Hotel Bayrischer Hof

The Charles Hotel – Restaurant Davvero

The Sheraton Arabella Hotel

The Grand Westin

Hotel München Palace (this is a smaller Boutique Hotel)

And the following is a list of restaurants which served Christmas Eve Dinners in the past. I would contact them to find out, if they will also for 2014.:

Mangostin (http://www.mangostin.de)

Lenbach (http://www.lenbach.de)

Leib und Seele (http://www.restaurant-leibundseele.de)

Schlossrestaurant Bellevue in Oberschleissheim, just outside of Munich (http://www.schlossrestaurant-bellevue.de)

Brenner (http://www.brennergrill.de)

Masters Home (http://www.mastershome-muenchen.de)

Restaurant am Chinesischen Turm (http://www.chinaturm.de)

Leon’s Wirtshaus (http://www.leons-wirtshaus.de)

Schapeau (http://www.schapeau.de)

Wirtshaus zur Brezn (http://www.zurbrezn.de)

I am sure there are many more restaurants which do Chistmas Eve Dinners, I just haven't heard anything about them. You could also search on the TA Restaurant list for Munich and contact any restraurants which look appealing to you.

Or if you can’t find anything you like in Munich or if you would like the atmosphere of Christmas in the Alps try to find a place in Garmisch, Oberammergau, Mittenwald or Berchtesgaden. You may even have snow there (maybe). Since these are locations where even Germans go for a Christmas vacation I am sure you will find a hotel that serves dinner on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day it should not be a problem at all to find an open restaurant, since even some Germans go out for Lunch or Dinner.

Enjoy you trip!