<p>It’s two days before Christmas, and my family and I are in Munich. We got here on a red-eye the morning prior, and remain barely functional thanks to jet lag. But we didn’t fly all this way just to sleep, no matter how badly all of us want to do so. And if there’s any city that demands you keep your eyes wide open, it’s Munich in all of its Christmastime splendor.</p>
<p>We arrive at the Marienplatz, where the outdoor Christmas markets are already bustling. I don’t know where to look; everything is so beautiful. The famed Glockenspiel dominates the square, but today it has aesthetic competition from the light-strewn evergreens, the handmade sausages sizzling out on open griddles, the pop-up ornament shops with their eaves lined by boughs and flocking, and a life-sized Erzgebirge Pyramid.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://lede-admin.defector.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2026/03/pyramid.jpg?w=710" alt="a large erzgebirge pyramid." class="wp-image-218122" /></figure>