Day 39: Munich
Munich's weather just won't cooperate with my visions of spending warm summer evenings in crowded biergartens, eating large pretzels and enjoying Munich's finest beers.
The morning weather was ok, but the forecast was for rain showers to return in the evening. I took advantage of the morning weather to take a walking tour of the city. The first highlight was at the New Town Hall clock-tower, or Glockenspiel, where at certain hours the clock bells ring, followed by a cuckoo -clock like performance commemorating a royal wedding. The mechanical show involves a Bavarian horseman jousting against a French knight as part of a wedding festival (guess who wins), followed by cheerful beer barrel makers dancing to ward off the plague. I've seen snow-globes with more intricate performances, but the sudden fall of the French knight invariably draws a happy, collective "ahhhhhh" from the onlooking mass of tourists.
The new town hall
The other tour highlight was a trip to the Viktualienmarkt, which is Munich's collection of outdoor food stands and shops.
After the tour, I wandered towards the English Gardens, Munich's famous 1,000-acre park. The two highlights I found were the surfers that ride the waves in one of the canals- see photos below - and the biergarten at the Chinese tower. There are a few biergartens within the park, but the one at Chinesischer Turm is the largest. I arrived and found that the place was nearly empty due to the cold weather, but decided to go ahead and have my first bier at a Munich biergarten. I ordered the summer brew in the standard Munich size - an entire liter - and sat down to watch the other tourists around me (since the locals were probably smart enough to drink inside during the cold weather). I think the summer brew may have been particularly strong, because finishing the entire liter was much harder than I expected, and by the time I was done I was feeling a little more than "biergartened." Thinking a nap would be a good idea, I headed back towards the hostel as the forecasted rain was starting.
The famous Surf 1 site.
Surf's up!
The very empty Chinese tower.
This beer is as big as my head!
The walk back was lengthy, and notable for only one reason. I've had a lot of fun Blue Oval spotting on this trip, but yesterday was my first Bain & Co spotting. I have to say, the Munich office is in a nice spot. I made a mental note to be careful while wearing my Bain fleece (which I was wearing at that moment) in Munich's biergartens.
Can I get anyone a cup of coffee? Pretzel?
I felt better by the time I reached my hostel, but I killed some time with photos and blogging. I decided to do the touristy thing for the evening, and headed to the Hofbräuhaus, the former official brewhouse of the Bavarian royals, and arguably Munich's most famous bierhall. Hofbräuhaus is kind of a tourist tap, but it was cold outside, and the hall also offers live Oompah band entertainment. So I thought I'd at least try having one beer there.
When I got to the hall, I found it was packed. After wandering around for a while, a group of older men and women beckoned over to me to take an empty chair at their table. Given that they had one of the best band-viewing tables in the place, their offer was hard to turn down. The group members were friendly Munich locals, but spoke little English and had clearly been at Hofbräuhaus for a while. The only size beer that Hofbräuhaus offers for its original beer is the one liter, so I ordered my second liter of the day. The original was a little easier to drink, and the music was fun (although the band appeared to play half the time and drink beer for the other half). My group of locals were highly entertaining, particularly the older gentleman that read my palm and then kept repeating, "young Frau...so powerful." I hope this was a sign of good fortune but I'll never be certain. He seemed disappointed when an English-speaking Swiss couple that joined the table were able to explain that I was not a Pisces (his guess), but actually a Libra. The table next to us also included a very nice, young couple from LA, and we spent a while exchanging travel stories and advice. After my liter of beer it was time for me to go...
The band on a beer break
Me, trying to roll with the locals.
Here's a shot of Munich at night. One more day in Munich, then off to Istanbul for Ozge's wedding!
The morning weather was ok, but the forecast was for rain showers to return in the evening. I took advantage of the morning weather to take a walking tour of the city. The first highlight was at the New Town Hall clock-tower, or Glockenspiel, where at certain hours the clock bells ring, followed by a cuckoo -clock like performance commemorating a royal wedding. The mechanical show involves a Bavarian horseman jousting against a French knight as part of a wedding festival (guess who wins), followed by cheerful beer barrel makers dancing to ward off the plague. I've seen snow-globes with more intricate performances, but the sudden fall of the French knight invariably draws a happy, collective "ahhhhhh" from the onlooking mass of tourists.
The other tour highlight was a trip to the Viktualienmarkt, which is Munich's collection of outdoor food stands and shops.
After the tour, I wandered towards the English Gardens, Munich's famous 1,000-acre park. The two highlights I found were the surfers that ride the waves in one of the canals- see photos below - and the biergarten at the Chinese tower. There are a few biergartens within the park, but the one at Chinesischer Turm is the largest. I arrived and found that the place was nearly empty due to the cold weather, but decided to go ahead and have my first bier at a Munich biergarten. I ordered the summer brew in the standard Munich size - an entire liter - and sat down to watch the other tourists around me (since the locals were probably smart enough to drink inside during the cold weather). I think the summer brew may have been particularly strong, because finishing the entire liter was much harder than I expected, and by the time I was done I was feeling a little more than "biergartened." Thinking a nap would be a good idea, I headed back towards the hostel as the forecasted rain was starting.
The walk back was lengthy, and notable for only one reason. I've had a lot of fun Blue Oval spotting on this trip, but yesterday was my first Bain & Co spotting. I have to say, the Munich office is in a nice spot. I made a mental note to be careful while wearing my Bain fleece (which I was wearing at that moment) in Munich's biergartens.
I felt better by the time I reached my hostel, but I killed some time with photos and blogging. I decided to do the touristy thing for the evening, and headed to the Hofbräuhaus, the former official brewhouse of the Bavarian royals, and arguably Munich's most famous bierhall. Hofbräuhaus is kind of a tourist tap, but it was cold outside, and the hall also offers live Oompah band entertainment. So I thought I'd at least try having one beer there.
When I got to the hall, I found it was packed. After wandering around for a while, a group of older men and women beckoned over to me to take an empty chair at their table. Given that they had one of the best band-viewing tables in the place, their offer was hard to turn down. The group members were friendly Munich locals, but spoke little English and had clearly been at Hofbräuhaus for a while. The only size beer that Hofbräuhaus offers for its original beer is the one liter, so I ordered my second liter of the day. The original was a little easier to drink, and the music was fun (although the band appeared to play half the time and drink beer for the other half). My group of locals were highly entertaining, particularly the older gentleman that read my palm and then kept repeating, "young Frau...so powerful." I hope this was a sign of good fortune but I'll never be certain. He seemed disappointed when an English-speaking Swiss couple that joined the table were able to explain that I was not a Pisces (his guess), but actually a Libra. The table next to us also included a very nice, young couple from LA, and we spent a while exchanging travel stories and advice. After my liter of beer it was time for me to go...
Here's a shot of Munich at night. One more day in Munich, then off to Istanbul for Ozge's wedding!
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