(Bayern) Munich

Munich is one of the places at which we really wish we had more time. There is so much to see! We had a hard time deciding between day trips to Dachau concentration camp or Neuschwanstein castle. We decided on the castle since we had been to Auschwitz and we had heard several times that Neuschwantstein was the most beautiful castle in the world. See next post for castle pics/details.

We arrived in Munich Tuesday night and decided to go to the world famous brewery and beer hall, Hofbrauhaus. On the way there we walked through the lovely old city and centre square, Marienplatz. I love how most cities in Europe have large pedestrian only streets in the centre of the city so you don't have to worry about cars on the narrow roads.

Hofbrauhaus is several hundred years old, and was always the King's personal brewery. The place was jam-packed with tourists so we grabbed two spots at a table with four others. Our table-mates were an older German couple who had been regulars there for decades, and a German guy doing international development in Kosovo and his fiancée from Ethiopia. The younger German guy, Christoph, was the only one who spoke English well, but we had a great chat with him about everything from food, to German culture, to politics.

The crazy thing about this place was that they only sold beer in 1 liter mugs. So we were there for about three hours slowly finishing off our buckets. The atmosphere was really cool. Despite the large mugs, most people, aside from a few tourists, could either hold their alcohol really well, or were responsible drinkers. There was a traditional German band playing as well.

 

The second night was one of our favourite of the whole trip because we got to meet some of our German family! My dad's cousin, Wolfgang, his wife Maria, and their son Thomas met us to go out to a beer garden (their daughter, Christina, was at a science fair, so unfortunately we could not meet her). They were all so nice, it was so great to meet them. They were so kind to meet us on the night of their daughter's science fair and take us out to the Augustiner brew house, also very famous. It was so natural to chat with them about life in Germany, and vice versa. Maria is from Malta, a tiny island of 400,000 people off of Italy, and the two of them combined speak 7 languages! Thomas is only in 5th grade but speaks English very well. We hope we can meet with them again in the future! You guys are always welcome to our place in Canada!

 

- Andy