Munich, Part 1: Around Munich, BMW museum, Hofbräuhaus

Munich, Germany. March 15-18

I made it back from Italy and Spring Break! Before I start about talking about my adventures in Italy, I thought I would blog more about Munich and Salzburg.
       The cheapest flight we could find to Munich had an overnight layover in Zurich, Switzerland...fun. But it wasn't too bad. We found some comfy chairs to lay on, and I was able to kind of sleep. The good thing about taking this flight was that we got the entire day Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to be in Munich, as we left Madrid Thursday night and got back to Madrid Tuesday morning, so the 2 overnight layovers were worth it! 
Friday March 15
        The first day, we found our hostel and then walked around Munich. There were multiple stores of lederhosen and cute German souvenir shops. I got a pastry for breakfast, apple strudel, or Apfelstrudel, in German. At 12 we stood in the Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square) and waited for the "most underwhelming tourist attraction in Europe", according to Claire's guidebook. What it was referring to was the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, a clock tower that chimes and acts out stories with figures. I thought it was kind of cool, but it lasted for about 20 minutes....so you only needed to watch it for like 5.

The Rauthaus-Glockenspiel, connected to the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall), in Marienplatz

 

Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) built in the 1300's, and has had some reconstruction along the way, including after WWII

New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) built late 1800s

       After walking around in the cold, we went on a free walking tour with the tour group Sandeman, and it was great! Our tour guide Adam was from Australia and he sails professionally when he is not in Munich...he was a pretty interesting guy. We walked all around Munich, and Adam told us about most of the sites, and also about the history of Munich and Germany. He told us, half joking, that Bavaria (region of Germany where Munich is located) is like Texas and Catalonia (region of Spain where Barcelona is located) because they are so different from the rest of the country and want to become their own nation!

Frauenkirche, Cathedral of Our Dear Lady.During WWII, the 2 big towers or steeples of this church were left standing because they were good reference points in the city

The Devil's footprint. When the church was being built, the devil stopped by and saw that there were no windows, and a church has to have windows to reach God. So, the devil made an offer to the builder - he would finance the rest of the church as long as there were no more windows put in. When the devil came back, he found that he was tricked by the builder, as windows had been put in behind the large columns. The church was already consecrated, so the devil couldn't enter it, only the foyer. The devil was so mad, that he stomped his foot (in the foyer area) and it left an imprint in the tile.

The large columns

Monument that now honors the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, which is located outside the hotel he stayed at when he was in Munich.

Feldherrnhalle monument built mid 1800s to honor Bavarian army

Munich Residenz, Royal Palace. They put fake columns on the building to make it look fancier and grander.

Lions outside of Munich Residenz. If you rub the lion's head on the armor, 3 or 4 of them, you will have good luck. There is debate over if you rub 4 of them if you are considered greedy and then will be cursed, or just have extra luck.

Our tour guide Adam pointing out the path people took in WWII to avoid passing Nazi guards and saluting Hitler in front of the Munich Residenz, now commemorated with bronze bricks

A really expensive watch

Bavarian State Theatre

        After our tour of Munich, I got a really big pretzel to eat for a snack, and then we went to the Munich Olympic Park where the 1972 Summer Olympics were held, which was also near the BMW factory and museum. Many people we had talked to and things we had read told us to go visit, but it wasn't really all that great. The architecture of the buildings were cool, but you couldn't go inside of anything. There were quite a few buildings, and some of them looked like they were still in use, like the swimming pool, and the Olympiahalle, for concerts.

The Autobahn and BMW factory

Olympiaturm

Architecture of the Munich Olympic Park

              After looking at some of the Olympic Park, we went to the BMW museum, which was a lot of fun. They had a lot of cars, and some of them you could sit in. 

Cute BMW. Later one of the ladies working drove a little boy around in it, so cute!

Rolls-Royce Phantom....fancy. You couldn't get in this one

This is probably the closest I'll ever get to a Rolls-Royce

 

Electric concept car

Mini-Cooper convertible...I want this one!

            After having fun at the BMW museum, we went back to our hotel and tried to find a place to eat. We found this little German restaurant, and had I Käsespätzle, which is like mac and cheese, but better! It was really filling too. 

Food
     My other post on my trip to Munich will be about Salzburg, Dachau concentration camp, and Neuschwanstein Castle, so I will talk about all the wonderful food I had in this post. I think I had a pretzel almost everyday, and they were so good! And very big...some of them were literally the size of my head, or bigger! I had normal pretzels most of the time, but when we were in Salzburg I had a sweet pretzel, so it was lighter and fluffier and had cinnamon and sugar on it. Most of the time we just had pretzels for lunch, and then had a big dinner. 
      The second night, we tried to go to the Hofbräuhaus, but it was really crowded! Apparently there was a soccer (football) game going on, so everyone was there to drink. So, we found another beer hall that was less rowdy, and it was called Weisses Brauhaus. They had a menu in English and put us in an area with other English-speakers...it was kind of funny. I was hearing people talk, and I was like, everyone is speaking English! But the meal was so good, I had Schneider's Aventinus beer roast, "crisply braised breast of pork, basted with Aventinus, served with sauerkraut and home-made potato pancakes". I was too eager to eat my food that I didn't get a picture of it! But the pork was absolutely amazing...and it was a big portion of meat too. And part of the reason I got the meal was because of the potato cakes, which were also really good. Just thinking about that meal makes me want to go back! I also tried a Radler, which is lemonade and beer...I didn't like it too much.

Radler - Lemonade and beer

          The third night we were there, we got into the Hofbräuhaus! The Hofbräuhaus is a famous beer hall in Munich, and was founded in the late 1500s, and it is quite big. You find a sit at one of the big long tables, and a waiter comes over and takes your order. It was all pretty crazy! Everyone is laughing, joking, and singing...it is a great atmosphere. Since I got pork the night before, I figured I couldn't go to Germany without getting some sort of wurst (sausage), so I got the bockwurst with potato salad. Bockwurst is a smoked sausage and I think it is made of veal and pork. It was pretty good! Oh, and of course you couldn't have that without a basket of bread that had 2 pretzels, a roll, and a slice of bread. I brought one of the pretzels back with me because I was too full to eat it, but I ate the other pretzel and roll!

Bockwurst and potato salad with basket of bread...meat, potatoes and bread seem to be the main food staples in Germany!

Door to Hofbräuhaus

Inside of Hofbräuhaus

       So that was Munich and all of its food! The next post will be about the trips I took from Munich - Salzburg, Dachau, and Neuschwanstein Castle.

•  Bavaria is different from the rest of Germany, but it is picturesque Germany
•  Munich has a lot of history behind it
•  German food is really good, and also really filling
•  So. Many. Pretzels.
•  It was cold...It snowed on our tour of Munich. But when the sun was shining it was better 
• I want to go back to Germany!

  Auf Wiedersehen!