Munich

We've landed! Par-tay in the airport!

Munich

Looking down onto Marienplatz

Back from Munich last weekend. With so much beer drinking there, it was 2 rough nights! I left with my coworkers Yvonne and Anja. Though I only saw them briefly on the trip, it was nice to travel with someone for once! We landed in the evening and took the S-baun into town. They were meeting a friend for the weekend, and I was just there to enjoy the city. They pointed me in the direction of my hostel and off I went again!

I stayed at the Euro Youth Hostel in an 18 bed room! I was skeptical doing this at first, but I figured I'd meet a lot of people this way, and I did! Right after I checked in, I met a lot of Canadians in the room, a few Americans and 2 traveling Koreans. The beds were clean and so was the room, so not that bad. That night it was too late to try to explore the city, so I stayed in the hostel bar all night! It was prolly the best idea ever because Jagermeister had a promotion and a group of promoters came and started serving everyone free shots of Jager! I ended up taking 5 that night before they headed out. I also met 2 other Americans named Graham and Anne who were traveling for 3 weeks after graduating from college in Chicago. I ended up hanging with them the following night as well, but I'll get to that soon! After many rounds of Augustiner beer, one of Germany's most popular, I had to call it a night, but only after getting a ham and cheese sandwich for 2 EUR from the bar! Mmmmm

The next day I woke at 9:30am only to realize the walking tour of the city started at 10am, so I rushed to shower and was in the lobby before 10am. The next 4 hours I saw Munich. I met an American girl named Iyellit who was from NY and was there traveling abroad for a few weeks. She became my walking buddy. Our group met at the Marienplatz which is just a large square with lots of shopping all around. We watched the Glockenspiel which was like an over-sized wind up musical which you'd see in a snow globe or something. It was just awful, but it supposedly depicts a medieval dance and the wedding of Duke William V and Renata von Lothringen (I had to look this up). After, we walked around and saw the Residenz, Hofbrauhaus, Odeonsplatz and of course the beautiful English Garden where I met up with Yvonne finally!

Nymphenburg Gardens

Yvonne invited me along with her friends to see the Nymphenburg gardens which were beautiful too! I think Germans love their gardens and drinking in them. I was more keen on the food! It was hilarious to order food the first time. During our tour we broke for lunch and everyone had recommended eating leberkaese which literally translates into "liver cheese"! It is similar to a meatloaf sandwich I guess. Most Germans speak English, but the place I went to the ladies didn't speak a lick. With much pointing and smiling, I managed to order my liver cheese sandwich and of course a bratwurst which they understood just fine! I loaded up on the mustard and proceeded to stuff my face! MmmmMmmmmm!

HAHA Forever 18???

I returned to the hostel for a quick rest then made my way out to par-tay! I went with the friends I met at the hostel to Marienplatz again. This time the square was packed with people wearing red because Munich had just won the national football title over Berlin that night! Woohoo! We stood for almost 2 hours, sober, waiting to see these football guys flash their trophies. Cool I guess, hahaha! Finally Anne, Graham and I broke off from the others because we wanted to get food and beer at the Hofbrauhaus. This is a renowned drinking hall in Munich and just insane once you walk inside. There are big wooden benches throughout this large building and you just find a seat, then hail a waitress and they serve you as much sausage and beer as you want! Oh, and the beer only came in 1 liter glasses too. Pretty awesome! While working on my 2nd liter, I had to use the toilet. I walked in and to the left were 2 big rooms each filled with about 15 urinals and to my right was a large metal sink with a faucet hovering above it. As our walking tour guide mentioned before, this was the throw up sink, not to be confused with the regular sinks that were straight ahead. I have to say, this was the coolest bathroom I had been in in a long time!

We were finally kicked out of the Hofbrauhaus since it closed at 12am. Then we made our way to this spanish bar where a local had told us about. We actually saw our hostel bartender there, so we knew it was a good local hangout ;) After a drink there, we headed back to the hostel bar to finish the night with a few Augustiners and of course more 2 EUR ham and cheese's!

The next morning I roamed around until I had to leave for the airport in the afternoon. Danke schön Munich!