Our Second favorite place in Europe............München!

So Toni and Warren have spent the last couple Memorial Days in München (or Munich to us Americans), so they decided to turn it into a yearly tradition.  We were also lucky that they asked us to join them on their yearly pilgrimage.  They claim that Munich is their favorite city in Europe, and I can now understand why they think that.  Munich is filled with many things that we all really like to do.  There are lots of really cool old buildings to check out, some awesome gardens to wander around and explore, and it just so happens to have the biggest bier gartens in the whole world!  I was still a little jet lagged from my trip back to the US for Ian's graduation, but I snapped out of it once we got there.

We left Kaiserslautern after work on Friday, and made it to Munich around 9:30.  Fortunately, we still had time to head out for a drink.  We decided to do the really touristy place first and headed to Hofbrau Haus for our first liter of the trip.   Unfortunately, the bier halls and bier gartens all close at 11:00PM so we only had time for 1 drink and then called it a night. 

First Beer in Munich!  

Inside Hofbrau Haus......they even had an Oompa Band!

Saturday was a busy day.  We started out our day wandering around Marienplatz and the surrounding area checking out all of the cool buildings.  Marienplatz is the central square in downtown Munich and is home to the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall).  Construction started on this building in 1867 and was finished in 1908.  This building draws huge crowds several times throughout the day when the glockenspiel plays.  It’s a great time to people watch! 

Neues Rathaus

Glockenspiel in the tower or the Rathaus

Right before lunch, we hopped on the train and headed out of town for a little bit.  We were headed to Kloster Andechs.  Andechs is a monastery that brews some of the best beer in the world (in opinion).  We enjoyed our time at Andechs drinking some beer and chowing down on some delicious food.  I had schwienshaxen (roasted pig knuckle) and Andrea had pork roast with beer gravy……..both were delicious.  We also enjoyed our time practicing our German.  The only seats we could find were at a table with an older German couple.  They knew about as much English as we know German, so it was fun for both of us to practice our skills.  We headed back to Munich when it started to rain. 

Delicious food and the Doppel boch Bier!

Chapel at Andechs

The alter inside the Chapel

We kind of lucked out on the timing of our trip.  FC Bayern München (Munich’s soccer team) just happened to be playing in the European Championship match (their version of the Super Bowl) on Saturday night.  The city was buzzing with excitement.  We went to the Augustiner Bier Garten to watch the game.  Turns out that it was a little bit too cold to sit outside and watch the game, so we made our way on over the a place called Andechser Am Dom.  They had seating outside, but they had heat lamps, so it was bearable.  München ended up winning the game, so the city just erupted.  It was really cool to be there and witness the madness that is European soccer first hand. 

At Augustiner.....too cold for us, but it would have been cool to watch it on the big screen that they set up.

Packed subway station after the big "W'

Trains that we were trying to squeeze on to.

Video #1 of the madness

Video # 2

We kinda took it easy on Sunday.  We slept in and then found a really good Indian restaurant to eat at.  After our delicious lunch, we spent the afternoon indoors because the weather wasn’t very nice.  We visited the Deutches Museum, which is a museum and science and industry.   After spending the afternoon in the museum, we met up with one of my brother’s friends from high school, Matt Knoll.  He and a group of college friends just happened to be passing through Munich on vacation.  It was really good to see a familiar face and hang out with him for a while. 

Well, now we’re to Monday.  Our train didn’t leave until late afternoon, so we headed out to Schloss Nymphenburg.  Nymphenburg was the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria.  It was a beautiful palace with some huge gardens.  We wandered around there for a couple hours and got some really good pictures.  We even had some run-ins with some wildlife.

The view from the front of the Schloss

The main ballroom

Ceiling of the ballroom

View from the back balcony

Us on the balcony

We found Sasquatch!

Mallards!

See the ears in the distance?

Close up

Thought this one was cool!

After all was said and done, I would have to say that that we really loved Munich.  We’ll always have a soft place in our heart for Dublin, and the country of Ireland as a whole, but München is right up there.  I see München as a place that we will visit many times throughout the year.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it!