Munich, Germany: Giant beers and even bigger pretzels!

Note: This post was not sponsored by any of the businesses mentioned. These are my own thoughts. Also, this post was uploaded while backpacking via my ipad. Please excuse the picture quality.

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Welcome to Munich, Germany. This is my first time in this city. I cannot tell you how many times I have said to Mike “I always thought Busch Gardens was just exaggerating! I had no clue they really had ______.” All day long I ran into something else that was so totally German, it was terrific.

We got here last night around 9pm. Sadly, the information office that we rely heavily on when traveling was already closed. Luckily though, before we left Salzburg I was googling the hotel and purposefully left the site open to their directions page (and the iPad turned on)… Pretty sure I will remember to do that in the future for other places.

Anyway, when we got into the city we had no clue where to go. I knew the hotel was close (walking distance) from the train station. But rule number one when traveling in europe: when a European tells you it is a 10 minute walk, it is probably more like 20. (Unless that European is my Swiss uncle, then it is more like 2 hours!)

When we found our way to the hotel (Hotel Monaco) I think we were both pretty excited. The lovely owner met us at the reception desk. She was so nice and welcoming! When she heard we didn’t have a tour book she gave us one to borrow for the few days we would be here!After days of traveling it was wonderful to be greeted and feel “home” at Hotel Monaco. Our room is ginormous and luxurious compared to everything else we have stayed in on this trip! And the breakfast spread… Oh. Em. Geeee! It was amazing. Meats, cheeses, homemade pound cakes, bread, fruit, yogurt, juices, teas, and coffee! It is sadly not included in the cost of the room, but it was so good I didn’t mind paying for it.

The owners really thought of every detail with the rooms! There was even a cute Teddy Bear with a tag that reads “In case you get homesick…” So cute! Definitely thankful we are ending our journey at this hotel!

After breakfast we began our day of exploring. We started at the Leiben Frau Cathedral. We both agreed that it was nothing compared to the cathedral in Salzburg but it was still much nicer than most! For a few euros we decided to go up to the top of the tower so we could see the layout of the entire city from above.

We lucked out because when we got to the bottom of the tower and into the Marienplatz it was 11am, one of the two or three times a day that the glockenspiel plays it’s show of figurines dancing around the clock.

We did a bit more wandering before we decided to head to the famous Hofbrauhaus for some German food and beer!

After lunch we poked around a bit and found up on the second floor was a free educational beer house area! Free is always good.

Next we set out to find the English Gardens. On our way there I saw this monument that i later learned was a war monument. But when I was in German classes in high school, this lion was on the cover of my book, so of course I had to get a photo with him!

Right in the middle of the city is the English Garden. Within the garden is a place for people to surf! So crazy!

We walked, and walked, and walked (only to learn later that we went probably 5 kilometers) until we reached the Seehaus, an outdoor beer garden right by the lake. Mike decided to eat his second lunch and I decided to go all out German and get my giant beer and giant pretzel! The girl who has had no bad carbs for the past couple of months decided she was going to go on a no carb left behind adventure! And so behind the photos of the experience….

Super happy about everything!

Working my way through both of the….

Yep, still drinking…

All done! And started to feel it! For the record, I didn’t eat the whole pretzel. I gave a little less than half of it to a hungry homeless guy who surprisingly could speak decent english…

Instead of walking back all of the miles we had just covered, we decided to spring for a bike guide. The guy had a bike that was attached to two seats for us to ride in. It was great. We really only wanted to do it because we did not want to walk, but in the end, he showed us some stuff we had not seen and made sure we learned a few new things. (below is all of the locals laying out by the cold water, old men nudists were further to the right!)

Touch the face for good luck!

In the end it was a good, long day. We got back with plenty of time to relax at the hotel this evening. Tomorrow our plan is to squeeze in a few more local sites…

Oh! And mike finally bought inserts for his crappy shoes! Hooray! We can walk even more now! 🙂

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad - To view full size photos click on the picture and it will link to the full size version. Real pics will be posted when I return from vacation! Thanks!

Location:Munich, Germany