3 days in Munich! What a city! Admittedly, we knew very little about Munich before arriving here. And we would argue we still know very little, but we can only speak about it from our own experience. It’s a very beautiful city rich with Bavarian culture. The people are friendly and the other tourists are too. We ended up spending time with people from Germany, Sweden, England, and Italy all who mostly spoke English, but more importantly enjoyed talking to new people (Mike in heaven). The buildings, both old and more modern, really give the city its own identity. They have a robust train system as well including electric trolleys in the street.
Upon arrival in the airport, we wound up surprised as we exited the plane and seemed like we were in the main terminal. Our usual experience with airports is the international wing is quarantined off and you pass through customs before you reach any other gate. It was so simple and easy going that we became uncomfortable (Americans…what can you do?) We ended up finding the exit anyway and got our passports stamped and we were off!
The train to the city was pretty straightforward and after getting off at the main train station, which we would later use for our day trip to Nueschwanstein and our train to Venice, we walked to Hotel Europa. After a quick shower and brief unpack, we hit the town and ended up at the closest beer garden of Löwenbräu. We ordered beers, sausage, bratwurst, potato salad, fries, and a pretzel. Erica loved the German style potato salad! Without looking up the recipe, the main difference seemed to be less creamy from mayo or mustard and more like a smashed scalloped potato salad. Anyway, this was our first real experience with German and we looked up some key phrases to try to acclimate ourselves.
Let’s just put it out there…we do not speak German…and although we both have German in our background, it is of no use when you’re American. Worse is if you may look a little German and you say a couple phrases and then the people respond in German (“yeah, I don’t know anything else”). The most common phrases used was “Hallo (or Guten Tag)” followed by “Sprechen sie Englisch?”, then “Danke” or “Dankeschön” and occasionally “Bitte”. That’s it. One time, Mike asked someone where the bathroom was in German “Wo ist toilette?”, but was quickly corrected by our friends at Oktoberfest and answered in English. Almost everyone we met spoke a little English, but I don’t know if we can do justice to the embarrassment we felt regarding not being able to speak the native language. The good news is, we can mostly sound out words since we use the same alphabet, but imagine how we’ll feel in Asia. Also we were told that the letter ß is really a double S. So Straße is really strasse.
Our previous knowledge of Munich really centers around Oktoberfest, which we already posted about our experience there. However, after trying to go back a second night and finding it more difficult to find a seat, we realize how fortunate we were the first night to find such a nice group to accommodate our touristy desire. The most surprising thing about Munich and Oktoberfest was realizing that tons of people actually wear lederhosen around town as well as for the festival. Mike asked if lederhosen are worn other times of year, but received conflicting answers so the jury is still out… Another thing we learned was that the festival itself originated as a celebration of a wedding, not because of the love for the month of October – mind blowing, right? Regardless, it was as advertised in that many and very large beers were consumed, songs sang, dances danced, and people being carried out.
Our second day in town was our only “Munich” day, which we hit the town a little later than expected due to sleep. We missed our hotel breakfast, which we learned on the last day was a mistake (free mimosas, beer, cappuccinos, etc. – quite the spread), but walked down the street for a croissant and coffee.
Afterwards we decided to head toward downtown as that was listed as the top thing to do in Munich, visit the Marienplatz. Additional items to do, which we did not do include the visiting the Zoo, Hunting and Fishing Museum, English Gardens, BMW Museum, catch an FC Bayern match, and Olympic Park or Village (where there was a Star Wars exhibit – sigh from Mike). However, as we walked the streets and passed what seemed to be important buildings, the realization that we had no idea what we were seeing or what relevance anything had set in. We faced a choice of hopping on a double decker bus for some education or buying a book. Since the book came with a map, which Mike loves, as well as written info and not to mention was only €5.50 and could be read while consuming beer, we went with the book.
Views from around the city:
The book gave us some background about the city, people, and culture which we found very enlightening. For example, the locals are pretty easy going, but occasionally are affected by the “Föhn” or warm wind and is usually used to “excuse any kind of nonsense”. Additionally, the over easy going pace of the town has earned it the nickname ‘Italy’s northernmost city’ by some folks. The Marienplatz is really the main square with a column and statue of Mary on top in the middle surrounded by buildings with extraordinary architecture and stone work. The detail of the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) was the highlight along with the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is a carillon that has moving parts and tells a story of two events in the city’s history. It moves at 11am, 12pm (noon), and 5pm. Unfortunately, we did not get to see it in action as we were there too late and left too early. However, in the square we found a nice little restaurant where we grabbed some beers, pretzels, and sausages while we enjoyed the atmosphere and the Bavarian music being played by a duo. A street performer / comedian also entertained us while messing with passersby in the square.
After hanging (and swaying to the Bavarian music) with a group of English speaking Swedes and one very nice Italian-German waiter, we were guided to the Hofbräuhaus to enjoy Munich’s most famous beer hall. It was huge inside with massive tables and beautifully painted and decorated ceilings. We sat outside and enjoyed a liter of beer and were fortunate again to be surrounded by Italians so Mike could practice listening. Mike did speak to one guy briefly explaining that he understood Italian and is studying it.
After a beer we headed toward Oktoberfest to see if we could see or do more than the night before, but first a quick stop for a clothing purchase and wardrobe change. We bought lederhosen, a shirt, and socks for Mike and a top for Erica then hit the fest, which took the rest of our second day. Alcohol and credit cards are a dangerous combo…
On our third day, we woke up late again and took the train out to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen. That trip is covered in detail in secondary post, but is further part of our experience with Munich. 
Upon our arrival back from Füssen we discovered that many beer halls and restaurants were either closed or no longer serving food and closing soon. This was unfortunate given how hungry we were from our poorly planned trip to the Castles and lack of dining options. We stumbled across a Greek restaurant named Kreta Psiloritis II not far from our hotel and had delicious meal and extremely accommodating Greek waiter who even gave us two desserts on the house. It was a surprising accidental find and we looked up later, turned out to receive decent reviews…what luck!
All in all, we really enjoyed Munich, seeing part of Germany, and experiencing the Bavarian culture, especially the beer, pretzels, and sausages. We say this of most places we travel to, but we wouldn’t mind revisiting the area again. Our next stop is Venice, which we will be taking a six-hour train through the Alps and Austria. We look forward to sharing more.
“Danke” for reading.
Cheers and Love,
Mike and Erica
Wanderlust with M+E 