Beer and Sausages in Munich

J had to make a quick trip out to Munich for work so I decided to take advantage of the free hotel room and tag along. He was staying for less than twenty four hours, but I decided to extend my trip to three days so that I could make a proper visit of the city.

We both had very early flights, and I discovered that it's all business people flying first thing on a Tuesday morning. Of course, I lucked out sitting next to the only two kids on the entire flight. They were adorable, but a bit too loud for me to get the nap I was planning on. Them's the breaks.

J's work is pretty awesome, and they arranged a ride for me to the hotel, and I prayed that the room would be ready so I could take a nap. Nope. J and his colleagues had gone straight to the office from the airport, and we decided to meet up at the world famous Hofbräuhaus for lunch.



I arrived before they did and got hassled by a very sweet three year old boy who decided to latch on to me. He wouldn't leave me alone despite his parents' pleading, and I very awkwardly extricated myself before he decided I was suitable for climbing. I decided to slip inside and explore the building. The beer hall is on the ground floor with a posh restaurant on the first floor. The top floor is a giant dining hall, complete with long trestle tables and a stage for an oompa band or two.  I don't think I was actually supposed to enter the hall on the top floor, but the people using it were Asian and I guess I fit in? In any case, no one said anything as I walked around and took a gander or two.

The main beer hall on the ground floor was beyond chaotic! We couldn't find each other, and the place was boiling hot from all the heaving bodies.

We decided to meet up at the restaurant across the street, the Bayern Ayinger, and it was a good thing we did. The food was fantastic, albeit meat intensive, and we all got treated to the requisite pretzel basket. I tried a Radler, a beer mixed with lemon soda, which was better than I expected!

J and co left for the office, and I began my work as a tourist. The weather was a bit chilly, but I warmed up as I made my way to the heart of the city at Marienplatz. You can see the New Town Hall, the Old Town Hall, and St. Peter's Church all from one spot. Munich was bombed during the war, so there is a slightly jarring juxtaposition between the old and new. Fortunately, Munich decided to rebuild much of its city in the old style so the city retains much of its original flair and flavour.

The Rathaus (New Town Hall) was pretty stellar to look at!

The Old Town Hall isn't bad to look at either. My guidebook described it as Disney-esque, but I'm not sure I agree.



I especially liked the detail on the zodiac clock mounted on the tower! It's aries o'clock!

The weather made good on its threats of rain, so I ducked into St. Peter's Church to check out the interior.



There was very fanciful and pretty art installation of white paper birds floating over the pews. You don't often see art installations in churches, but I found out that Munich is a very artsy city, and there's loads of such installations dotting the city streets and plazas.

I walked a short distance to the nearby Viktualienmarket, a local outdoor food market, and I had a great time browsing the stalls. The pole with the figures is located in the centre of the market represents the different market stalls, including the beer, of course.

I had never seen so much white asparagus in my whole life! Pretty much every fruit and veg stall was selling it.

It began to rain in earnest and since my umbrella was stowed away in my luggage back at the hotel, I decided to pack it in and finally take that nap I had been lusting after. 

It took a bit of wandering about, but I finally found myself back at the hotel. I peeled off my soaking wet clothes and passed out for an hour or so. I felt loads better after my nap and my clothes had dried, so I decided to head back out into the city, even though most of the sights and shops had closed for the day. 

I ended up walking around the major shopping streets just to see what the fuss was all about, and it didn't matter that the stores were shut since Chanel isn't exactly in my budget! The kind of terrible thing about globalisation is that shopping abroad is so boring because it's just like shopping at home. It's the same chain stores selling the same things, the only thing that's different is the currency.

I made my way to the Odeonplatz, which was the site of Hitler's beer hall putsch, and Hitler had put up a monument there for his first joiners when he came into power.



Everyone was required to salute the monument so the clever citizens used a nearby street, Viscardigasse, to detour around the monument. That's a pretty good reason for a street to exist.

There wasn't much else to look at and it started to get dark so I decided to return to the hotel. I popped into a grocery store on the way and picked up some snacks for the following day. One of my favourite things to do in a foreign city is to check out the grocery stores and pharmacies. I know it's weird, but I love seeing all the different packaging and food items and what the locals really buy on a daily basis.

Anyway, I showered and relaxed until J finally returned to the hotel late in the evening. He had spent all day at the office followed by a client dinner. The poor thing had to be up at five in the morning to catch the first flight back to London for more work, so he pretty much zonked. I woke up for a quick second to kiss him goodbye and give him the breakfast snacks I bought for him at the grocery store in case everything at the airport was closed. Then it was back to sleep for a few more precious hours before I had to get up early to start my castle touring!