It was a late morning. We didn’t have anything time critical, so we simply got up when we awoke. This turned out to be around 9:00. It was probably a good thing to let Kyle sleep until he wanted to get up as he was fairly well behaved today. Once we got going, we hopped the tram and the S-Bahn to the Deutsches Museum. This is a very large science and technology museum. Our first stop was the recreations of the a few types of mines. Kyle really enjoyed this as one of the new DVDs we got for the trip was a Mighty Machines about a salt mine, which one of the recreations was. After the mines, we headed to visit the ship section. Kyle really wanted to see the submarine (U-1 – the first German U-boat). Next we headed to the kids section. Kyle loved playing on the real fire truck. He also loved the water play area until he stepped off the edge and ended up ankle deep in water. This wouldn’t have been a big deal in summer, but given the temperature outside was hovering around 30, it wasn’t good. Amazingly, the area has a clothes dryer in the baby changing room as well as extra clothes. After some drying time for his socks and pants and some time under the bathroom hand dryer for his shoe, we managed to salvage the day. (It helped that Suzanne had packed a pair of tights to be worn as long underwear when we went back outside.)

Once we were finished in the kids section, we headed to their cafe for lunch, which wasn’t bad. Next, we headed to the pharmacy/health section. This was brand new in 2000 when Suzanne and I were there before, but was still pretty good. Kyle really loved being able to walk inside a cell. For our trip, Kyle insisted on brining along his “science” kit, which consists of a magnifying glass, a ruler, a notebook, and a pencil. He used it all inside the cell. After the pharmacy exhibit we did a few more sections, but Kyle was getting tired. (He walked for our whole visit, five hours or so.) Another 20 or so minutes in the play area and it was time to go.

After leaving the museum, we headed to the Praterinsel Christmas market, which is on the island just north of Museuminsel, where the Deutsches Museum is located. Getting there involved a nice walk though a snow filled park. The market itself was very small, maybe five or so stalls and another five or so stands inside a building. After leaving here we ended up heading to the market at the Residenz. This turned out to be in a very nice setting, being in the palace courtyard. They also had a series of stalls depicting various fairy tales/Santa scenes with animated figures ala Disney. The only problem with this market is that was very busy as it was evening. Next we headed down past the Rathaus to the second major department store so Suzanne could look for warmer socks and Kyle could take a turn through the toy department. We then headed off to dinner, deciding to check out Steinheil 16 near the apartment, figuring if it wasn’t good, we could stop by the supermarket. It turned out to work well, though luckily we got the the last free table. Kyle ate the noodles we had brought, but both Suzanne and I had had excellent, and huge, Wienerschnitzels. (Total bill for three drinks and two meals was €30.) Then it was back home as we had to finish our laundry and were hoping to get Kyle to bed at a reasonable hour. For tomorrow, we’re not entirely sure what we have planned. We’ll likely hit the Viktualienmarkt and the Middle-Ages Christmas market. Aside from that, who knows.