The next destination on my tour of Europe is the German city
of Munich. Munich is one of the destinations I had been looking forward to the
most and it did not disappoint. When people think of stereotypical touristy
Germany, Munich is the place that should come to mind. Munich is the capital of
Bavaria, and the home to large quantities of beer, people playing accordion
music and wearing lederhosen, and clock towers with glockenspiels that go
around and around. Munich was pretty close to how I was hoping it would be.
It appeared that the heat from Berlin followed us south. All
four days that we were in Munich the high was over 90 degrees. My main problem
with heat like that is that Germany (and probably most of Europe) does not seem
to embrace the AC as much as America does. So when it’s 90 outside, it’s pretty
sweltering inside too. None of our accommodations in Berlin or Munich had AC,
so I didn’t get the best sleep with the heat. The heat also encouraged me to
slow down a little in Munich, as sightseeing can get tiring in the heat.
On top of this, my non-stop lifestyle of the past 5 weeks
seemed to have finally caught up to me in Munich. I woke up Monday with my head
feeling very congested and a sore throat. I lost some of my voice, and I never
recuperated it in Munich. I think what put me over the edge was the full day of
sightseeing I did in the hot sun in Berlin on about 5 hours of sleep. Maybe not
my best idea. Anyways, I tried to pretend that I wasn’t sick, and I think that
made my illness worse. I should have rested the first day I felt bad and gone
to bed super early, but I didn’t want to do that on vacation. So instead I kept
going and my cold got worse. I was sick when I arrived in Munich and I was
actually feeling worse when I left Munich four days later. But I didn’t let
that ruin my vacation!
On Monday (8/10/2015) we had a 10:40am train out of Berlin.
We packed up the apartment, and Kyle, Kurt, Annie and I headed for the train
station for our train south. Kyle and I decided to pay the extra 4.50 euro to
reserve seats for the 6.5 hour train ride. It was a good thing we did because
the train was very crowded. We had a direct trip to Munich, and it was pretty
uneventful. I slept for about an hour total and I watched the scenery for a
while. Looking at a map, we traveled quite a distance across Germany. Berlin is
in the northeast near Poland and Munich is in the southeast near Austria.
We arrive in Munich around 5:15 and headed to the Airbnb. It
was a short trip on the tram to our apartment from the train station. The
apartment was pretty nice. It was above a beer garden, which I though was
pretty great for being in Munich. The host of the apartment must have been a
world traveler, because every inch of space was full with some trinket or item.
I was impressed with how much stuff he had.
After dropping off our bags, we headed into the city center
of Munich for dinner. The city was hopping! There were people everywhere and
all of the businesses were very crowded. August must be a popular time for tourism
in Munich.
Old Town Hall and Clock Tower near the center of the city. The original building was destroyed in WWII, so this is a recreation. Most of Munich was destroyed in the war, but the city decided to rebuild as closely as they could to what was there before. It's actually impressive how most of the buildings were built in the 1900's, but were designed to look like they were much older. Apparently when the Nazis knew that bombing was imminent, they went around and took photos of every building and street in the city. This way the city was able to successfully rebuild like they did.
The City Hall tower over the Marienplatz
The giant maypole over the market area. Don't they know it's not 2012 anymore?
Annie in front of a beer garden we found. This one we did not stop at, though! Dinner comes first.
Typical Munich side street.
We got dinner at a restaurant behind the old cathedral. We
sat outside, which I think we might have done for almost every meal in Germany.
I got the spicy sausage in a skillet with vegetables. After dinner we walked
around some more and headed to the Hofbrauhaus for a drink and an introduction
to our first beer garden in Munich. The Hofbrauhaus is most touristy beer
garden and beer hall in Munich, so we felt that would be a good one to go to
first. I really like ordering beer in Munich. It was very simple. The only size
option was a 1 liter mug, and our only choice was Weiss (wheat) or Dunkel
(dark). No needing to decide between dozens of different beer brands. After the
smoky bar scene in Berlin, I liked the change of pace to the Munich beer garden
scene.
Outside of the Hofbrauhaus (Royal Brew House in English). This is one of the most famous beer halls/gardens in the city and it seats over 5,000. This is a continuation of the brewery that was specifically used only by the royal family hundreds of years ago. Apparently it's the same recipe that has been used for hundreds of years!
Outside area of the Hofbrauhaus. It was a beautiful night to sit outside.
Traditional beer steins on the walls of the beer hall
Kurt, Annie, Kyle, and I all got our one liter beers. Kurt felt the need to be different and get the dark beer on the left.
Me and my 1 liter beer.
Annie and I enjoying Munich
Kyle and Kurt saying "Prost" to Munich.
Tueday (8/11/2015) I woke up and I was still feeling sick,
but ready to go! Our main activity today was a 3.5 hour bike tour of the city.
We met our tour guide at 11:30 in the city center. Funny enough, our tour guide
was from Maine! What a coincidence that I met one of the few other Mainers in
the City of Munich. The tour guide went to UMaine, but spent summers in Munich
because his father lived there.
The tour was interesting and a great way to see the city.
And it was nice to be back on a bike again. It’s such an efficient way to move
around! We saw much more than we would have on a walking tour. We got some of
the history near the city center and traveled to the English Garden in the
city. The English Garden is the largest urban park in the world! Fun Fact! We
had an hour stop for lunch at the Chinese Tower in the Garden, and then
finished up the tour. Well worth the 20 euro.
Our staring point at the Marienplatz
Statue of a person sitting. Probably someone royal or something. I can't remember. This is what happens when I wait a month to blog, I forget these super important details!!
Facade of the old royal residence. Looking closely you can see how it's actually one flat wall with the details sketched on the side. A lot of the buildings were rebuilt like this after the war because it was a lot cheaper.
Feldherrnhalle. It's the Bavarian Army Monument. I didn't remember what this statue actually was so Google told me this. This was near the spot of Hitler's failed coup in the 1920's that sent him to jail.
Only the building in the center is original. The glass wings on the left and the right were added after the war. This is one building that was not rebuilt exactly as it was before.
The Chinese Tower in the English Garden. Our site for lunch. Apparently this is one of the world's largest beer gardens with seats for over 9,000!
My lunch of spaetzel and beer.
View of the Chinese Garden.
Kyle, Annie, Kurt, and I at the Chinese Tower.
They had a surfing spot in the English Garden! This was a surprise to find in a city hundreds of miles from the ocean.
Looks like fun!
View of a bridge over the Isar River.
View down the Isar River. Very still today.
After the tour, we walked around the city some more and I
bought some obligatory souvenirs. I really wanted to buy a 1 liter beer mug or
stein, but I thought I would have trouble transporting it for the next few
weeks and flying back home with it. Next time!
At 5PM, we gathered in the Marienplatz (the central square
in the city) to watch the glockenspiel go off on the clock tower. The
glockenspiel does its show three times a day, and tourists line up each time to
watch the 15 minute show. I thought it was pretty entertaining.
More City streets in Munich.
Outside of the Hofbrauhaus again.
People strolling down the street.
Everyone lined up to watch the glockenspiel go off. So many tourists!
The tower with the Glockenspiel.
The Glockenspiel itself. Two full levels of German fun!
The top level on display. Apparently this is displaying the wedding of Prince Ludwig I to Princess Therese in 1810 (thanks Google) that is now regarded as the first Oktoberfest.
The bottom level on display. This level shows how people responded after the Plague left the city. People are dancing on barrels to celebrate.
After watching the glockenspiel (what a great word) we went
back to the apartment before dinner. At this point we met up with Tyler from
our program, who needed a place to sleep one night in Munich before he met his
family. For dinner, we also met up with some other people from the dialogue. We
had dinner with Sarah, Garrett, and Garrett’s family who had joined them on
their European travels. I love how all of us have our own trips and how we just
randomly can meet up in places like Munich or Berlin. It makes it much more fun.
For dinner we went to the Augustiner-Keller Beer Garden.
This beer garden was by far my favorite. It seemed much larger than the others,
and it was nearly full on a Tuesday night. There were trees and lights
everywhere, and it just seemed like a great environment. I got the roast pork
for dinner with a potato dumpling. The dinner was good, and I really liked the
potato dumpling. I could get used to this German food. After dinner we stayed
and had another beer in the garden in the garden. Tyler got a pretzel and it was
larger than his head! I was impressed.
When we first arrived at the Augustiner-Keller Beer Garden. There were so many tables!
Now night is beginning to fall. I can't believe how crowded it is on a Tuesday evening.
Why is everyone trying to feed me pretzel?
This is a horrible photo of me but I wanted to show how large the pretzel was. This is just one piece of the pretzel. Although I guess the photo does show how tired and sick I was actually looking.
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