6/8
Monday morning was rough for everyone involved after such a long hot festival weekend. We hadn't gotten home until 2:30AM because when the Deichkind show was over at 1AM, it took us 20min to get to the S-Bahn station, and by that time the last S-Bahn had left.....I was pretty mad at the local public transportation system for not offering extra trains when they know that the festival goes longer than their regular trains.
We started walking towards town with a pit stop at Burger King. I said to Matt, if I have to walk 1h into town being cold then at least I need to be fed.
From Burger King we walked along a big street until about one km later we finally reached a big intersection that had empty cabs coming from the city to the festival. We were lucky to snatch one right away and were finally home and in bed by 2:30AM.
So Monday morning was a bit rough and our train to Munich didn't leave until 4pm. After breakfast with Frauke, she hopped on her train to Hamburg, we checked out and stored our luggage and just walked around town for two hours until it was time to go.
The train ride was only about one hour and our hotel that my mom had booked us as my birthday gift was right in the middle of town in a great location.
After getting settled in the hotel we ventured out into town and looked for a dinner place. We noticed that the Hofbräuhaus was right around the corner from our hotel. It was pouring down rain so we said, oh well, let's just try. We walked straight back out. Between the drunken tourist masses and the loud polka music we couldn't handle it, so we headed straight for the Weisses Bräuhaus, a place Matt had looked up just in case.
Monday morning was rough for everyone involved after such a long hot festival weekend. We hadn't gotten home until 2:30AM because when the Deichkind show was over at 1AM, it took us 20min to get to the S-Bahn station, and by that time the last S-Bahn had left.....I was pretty mad at the local public transportation system for not offering extra trains when they know that the festival goes longer than their regular trains.
We started walking towards town with a pit stop at Burger King. I said to Matt, if I have to walk 1h into town being cold then at least I need to be fed.
From Burger King we walked along a big street until about one km later we finally reached a big intersection that had empty cabs coming from the city to the festival. We were lucky to snatch one right away and were finally home and in bed by 2:30AM.
So Monday morning was a bit rough and our train to Munich didn't leave until 4pm. After breakfast with Frauke, she hopped on her train to Hamburg, we checked out and stored our luggage and just walked around town for two hours until it was time to go.
The train ride was only about one hour and our hotel that my mom had booked us as my birthday gift was right in the middle of town in a great location.
After getting settled in the hotel we ventured out into town and looked for a dinner place. We noticed that the Hofbräuhaus was right around the corner from our hotel. It was pouring down rain so we said, oh well, let's just try. We walked straight back out. Between the drunken tourist masses and the loud polka music we couldn't handle it, so we headed straight for the Weisses Bräuhaus, a place Matt had looked up just in case.
Matt had read about the weird delicacies in Munich and decided he wanted to try the weirdest thing on the menu. When I ordered the Münchner Voressen for him, the waitress asked twice if he was sure.
Münchner Voressen is sort of a stew containing the pig's and calf's lungs, innards and pancreas, all in a sweet/sour sauce, topped with a Semmelknödel, a bread dumpling.
The waitress seemed fairly surprised that Matt finished his entire plate. She also scolded him when he ordered a small Aventinus beer in his second round. He had wanted to try several of their beers so he opted for a small one (0.3l) for the 10%er Aventinus. Apparently that is frowned upon in Munich.
6/9
On our first full day in Munich we started the day by walking around the Marienplatz and Kaufingerstraße to the Karlstor and back, then South towards the river (Isar) and the museum island.
At the Museumsinsel we decided to explore the Deutsches Museum, which was a bit of a change from all the art museums we had previously seen in Paris and Amsterdam as it was dedicated to technology, aviation and naval history.
After the museum we were ready for some food and visited the Viktualienmarkt, a large farmers market that also has small stationary restaurants and a beer garden.
Afterwards we relaxed a bit at the hotel before meeting my friend Vicki (also known as Ms Cookie) for dinner at another great Munich brewery, Augustiner.
When we got back from dinner, it was about 11pm, we decided to give the Hofbräuhaus another shot, just to mark it off the list. The large drunken tourist masses were largely gone so we were able to get a table in the back where it wasn't too loud.
We ordered two Maß, the large German 1 Liter mugs, and were surprised to find out they now serve them in plastic, not glass. They used to be glass and all the other places use glass. I did some research and couldn't find anything online as to why they changed it. I can only imagine that it was because so many got stolen or used in brawls to produce serious injuries.
6/10
We had originally designated one of our three full days in Munich to take a train out to the Austrian city Salzburg. With the weather being not so great and Matt wanting to go to Dachau we decided to ditch Salzburg and spend the afternoon in Dachau instead. We took a quick 25min S-Bahn ride out to the city of Dachau and then jumped on a 15min bus ride to the concentration camp memorial site.
The site is much larger than we anticipated and we ended up spending hours in the museum and on the grounds and never got to see anything else that day.
After we returned from Dachau, we met up with Vicki again as she had invited us to go see the 2nd game of the German basketball finals with her. She's a big fan of the local team Bayern München who won the championship last year.
Towards the end of the 3rd quarter Matt suddenly noticed that the guy who just walked into the arena and sat down in the first row was Dennis Schroeder, the Atlanta Hawks' German player. Bayern Munich dominated the entire first part of the game but disintegrated towards the end and 1 min before the end it was tied at 78. They ended up losing in the last second by two points. Matt said it was Schroeder's fault and that he has brought "Atlanta sports ebola" to Germany.
6/11
For our last day in Munich we decided to catch up on everything we hadn't managed to see during the past two days. We walked from the Marienplatz to the Odeonsplatz and up the Ludwigsstraße to the Siegestor, then backtracked through the Hofgarten and then walked past the US Consulate to the entrance of the English Garden.
We then walked through the Southern part of the huge park and stopped at the beer garden at the "Chinese Tower" for lunch.
After a walk around the lake that was heavily populated with geese and ducks, we made our way back home to the hotel to relax before heading out to another delicious Bavarian dinner.
6/12
We had an 11:45am train to catch to get to Stuttgart, where our friends Anna and Chris live with their almost two year old son Bruno.
The train ride took two hours and wasn't the high speed ICE but an EC train instead. Unfortunately, with the lack of speed came also a lack of good air conditioning. We arrived in Stuttgart after a little over two hours and Christian picked us up at the train station. The hotel we had booked was essentially in the same building complex as their condo, we could even use the garage to transfer from one to another. After freshening up we walked over to their place and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chatting, drinking and eating. Matt also made a new friend.
6/13
We started the day with a long breakfast (Germany style) over at Chris and Anna's and packed up the stroller and Bruno afterwards for a trip through downtown Stuttgart. Anna and I went shopping and left the boys to the beer garden for a while and met up again afterwards.
In the afternoon we finished our stroll at a great burger franchise called Hans im Glück and then each went home to relax for a bit. We met up again for dinner/drinks once the babysitter had arrived and then hit up a garden birthday party for one of their friends whom we'd met before at their wedding in 2011.
Afterwards we relaxed a bit at the hotel before meeting my friend Vicki (also known as Ms Cookie) for dinner at another great Munich brewery, Augustiner.
When we got back from dinner, it was about 11pm, we decided to give the Hofbräuhaus another shot, just to mark it off the list. The large drunken tourist masses were largely gone so we were able to get a table in the back where it wasn't too loud.
We ordered two Maß, the large German 1 Liter mugs, and were surprised to find out they now serve them in plastic, not glass. They used to be glass and all the other places use glass. I did some research and couldn't find anything online as to why they changed it. I can only imagine that it was because so many got stolen or used in brawls to produce serious injuries.
6/10
We had originally designated one of our three full days in Munich to take a train out to the Austrian city Salzburg. With the weather being not so great and Matt wanting to go to Dachau we decided to ditch Salzburg and spend the afternoon in Dachau instead. We took a quick 25min S-Bahn ride out to the city of Dachau and then jumped on a 15min bus ride to the concentration camp memorial site.
The site is much larger than we anticipated and we ended up spending hours in the museum and on the grounds and never got to see anything else that day.
Towards the end of the 3rd quarter Matt suddenly noticed that the guy who just walked into the arena and sat down in the first row was Dennis Schroeder, the Atlanta Hawks' German player. Bayern Munich dominated the entire first part of the game but disintegrated towards the end and 1 min before the end it was tied at 78. They ended up losing in the last second by two points. Matt said it was Schroeder's fault and that he has brought "Atlanta sports ebola" to Germany.
6/11
For our last day in Munich we decided to catch up on everything we hadn't managed to see during the past two days. We walked from the Marienplatz to the Odeonsplatz and up the Ludwigsstraße to the Siegestor, then backtracked through the Hofgarten and then walked past the US Consulate to the entrance of the English Garden.
There at the entrance to the English Garden is a unique stream that moves so fast and creates such a unique current that skilled surfers use to surf on the Fischbach in the middle of Munich, usually surrounded by spectators.
We had an 11:45am train to catch to get to Stuttgart, where our friends Anna and Chris live with their almost two year old son Bruno.
The train ride took two hours and wasn't the high speed ICE but an EC train instead. Unfortunately, with the lack of speed came also a lack of good air conditioning. We arrived in Stuttgart after a little over two hours and Christian picked us up at the train station. The hotel we had booked was essentially in the same building complex as their condo, we could even use the garage to transfer from one to another. After freshening up we walked over to their place and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chatting, drinking and eating. Matt also made a new friend.
We started the day with a long breakfast (Germany style) over at Chris and Anna's and packed up the stroller and Bruno afterwards for a trip through downtown Stuttgart. Anna and I went shopping and left the boys to the beer garden for a while and met up again afterwards.
Wow, Looks like you two had a fantastic journey!
ReplyDeleteIt was great having you here in Stuttgart, see you in Atlanta next spring :-)
Anna + the boys