Munich ... Day eight

Well, we woke up a little late, given our activities the night before.  The late start didn't stop us from really enjoying our one full day in Munich.  We started by eating breakfast at the hotel and downing a few glasses of coffee.  After that, we were good to go out and brave yet another snowy day.

We ventured back the way we were the night before.  I captured some pictures of buildings and scenery that I was drawn to, but we didn't take the time to figure out what everything actually was. 



We wandered around to three churches, which started with this amazing one.  Don't let the outside fool you, it's nothing less than jaw dropping when you walk inside.

The Church of St. Johann Nepomuk's interior decor is with out a doubt overwhelming.  Floor to ceiling, this church was covered with gold, paintings, statues and art to the extreme, where you felt like you can't comprehend and appreciate everything that's there.  The low lit space that we walked in to, I felt, had an eery sense to it.  Sadly we couldn't go completely into the interior, but it was still quite a view.  

One of the best, most interesting pieces, was the golden skeleton above that's actually cutting the cord (or life) of this person on the left.  I'm pretty sure there is a story that goes along with this, but couldn't recall it. 

It was such a cold day out, but we made it two other churches.  I think we spent more time in them simply to warm back up before our next venture out.  

This was the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, which had grand plans for these two steeples.  During construction, Munich passed a rule that no building in the city center could exceed 99 m.  This lead them to create domes instead of the steeples.  I'm pretty sure they are now consider eye sores, but the interior was simplistic.  These chandeliers that were suspended from the ceiling were gorgeous. 

I'm not actually sure what this piece was called, but this was an area that you could go into under the main church floor.  The lighting dramatically showcased this piece.  I remember D got yelled at in German by this little old man as we entered one church.  I immediately knew he was telling him to take off his hat (which he did), but the whole interaction made me giggle.

We ended up wandering around and looking at the buildings around the main square.  We found this little entrance that had some mention of the Olympic games that took place in Munich. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was braving the ridiculous weather and going to the outdoor market called Viktualienmarkt.  We actually weren't sure that it would be open because of the snow, but it definitely was.  I can't imagine how full and amazing it would be on a nice day. 



This was the center of the space, filled with tables.  The photo below is the Maypole, a famous piece that's displayed all year long.  Most festivals in Germany will have a Maypole displayed during the festival.

The choices for us were overwhelming, we walked around the square at least four times, but we ended up at this popular soup kitchen for lunch. 

This was the menu displayed outside.  It was so popular, they had a window outside that was always 4-5 people long.  You'd essentially get your tray, order your soup and get served right out of the window, cafeteria style.  We were quite intimidated by the line and not knowing what any of the items were.  Plus we couldn't really ask what is was in German.  We stood there pondering what to do for quite some time before I realized that there was a very small inside area that I saw a couple go in.  I decided to go in myself and see if maybe I could get an English menu inside.  That was the right choice, and after much anticipation, we could finally order. 

I got this curry dish on the left and D got the goulash style soup on the right.  They were both heavenly and the perfect combo for the wintery day.

I wanted to buy so many things at the market, but with out a place to store it, we ended up just indulging in some pastries for the train ride the next day and a bag of apple chips.  But seriously, between the cheese display and the pickled items, I wanted it all.

The afternoon lead us to visit the bier-und Oktoberfest museum.  We read about it on a travel site but weren't exactly sure what to expect. 

It pretty much had an assortment of beer items, which included a range of items from how beer was originally made to how it's made now.  They showcased beer stiens and silly cartoons that were made because of Oktoberfest.  I think D was trying to give me a hint with the maiden in the cartoon on the right.

I found it more interesting to hear about how Oktoberfest actually started, which was not originally a beer festival.  Who knew?  It actually started as a wedding of the king to a princess that ended with a horse race and transformed into what it is now.



We ended up watching a video on the whole process of beer, which was only about 10 minutes long, but interesting.  The whole time you are seeing a full floor of displays and slowly making your way up to the top of the building.  At the very end you run into the 'stairway to heaven', which was a staircase characteristic of historical Munich buildings that extended from the ground floor to the attic in a single unbroken line. It was hard to get a good picture, but it was really neat facet of the house.

This stair way also lead us down to the bottom level, where we decided to enjoy a few beers before heading out again.  I loved the rough walls, exposed brick and the wooden beams in this space.

After we left the museum, we didn't have any other plans for the night.  It was really starting to get cold and we both just wanted to sit for a while.  We found the Ayinger bar.  We were one of the first people there, and grabbed a spot at the bar. 

You can read a little about Ayinger above, and how great is the menu?  All of Munich was dog friendly, everywhere from the restaurants to the department stores.  Most of the dogs weren't even on leashes, they just followed right along with their owners.  It was great and really made us miss our pups. 

It didn't take long before the bar started to fill up with locals and tourists.  One of the coolest things we saw was the bartender wheeling out this small wooden barrel and actually tapped it right there in front of us. 

I was pretty impressed and D had to order a glass.  Just making friendly conversation, we ended up chatting with this older gentleman that was sitting next to D.  He actually asked the bartender about purchasing a glass on display and ended up telling us that he asks every time.  Apparently this particular glass was only 1 of 75 that were made by a brewer and given to certain people.  He said one day he hopes that he'll ask one of the servers and with out them knowing what it is, sell it to him.  We are laughing at this point and enjoying our beers.  He's American and come to find out that he is from Chicago.  He has 2 kids our age, but ended up moving here for a job.  He sells the piece in your iPhone that makes a slight clicking sound as you hit the home button.  We end up talking with him for over an hour.  After that many beers, we were starving, and had a chat about what to eat.  He was headed to dinner at what was the oldest pub in Germany, just around the block, and invited us to come along.  I love Germany, everyone is just so friendly, so we went and had an amazing meal.    

Of course we had to start with the pretzel and cheese spread.  Followed by our meals of roast and dumplings, and I got the schnitzel. 

I managed to remember to take a picture before we left.  The meal was actually pretty quick, since we didn't make reservations, they squeezed us in.  That meant that we couldn't have the table forever, which was fine, we eat fast anyways.

Well through our dinner conversation, we chatted about the wooden barrel and how neat it was to see it tapped.  He ends up telling us that there is actually a bar in town that taps a keg about every hour and actually lets people tap it for them.  He said that if I wanted to tap one, that he was sure we could make it happen.  Of course I'm all about it.  Who else can say they were able to tap a keg in Munich?

We end up walking to another bar along the way, which was super crowded.  We had one beer before heading to the final bar.   We are sure to find a seat right by the bar where the tapping happens.  We actually sit there and see the process done by a bartender once more when we first arrived. 

I see the wooden mallet that they used (above) and you can see how hard they have to hit the spout.  After ordering a beer and chatting a little more, an hour goes by and right on schedule that small wooden keg is running out.  We kept talking with the bartender as he came by, just to make sure he'd let me.  I decided I should probably get a handle for the mallet too, right?

So he finally tells me that I can tap the barrel, and I am so excited.  I'm also a little nervous that I'm going to totally miss and beer will go everywhere.  The bartender was nice and helped me out some.  I got to wear an apron, just in case I did make a mess.  He explains where I have to place the spout and how the angle has to be upward in order to get it placed right.  I also have to hit it once and then immediately hit it again.  Oh boy, this was going to be interesting.  I take my first swing, and I didn't actually miss, surprise surprise, but it wasn't dead on.  I end up having to hit it two more times before it was where it needed to be. 

It was one of my favorite things that we did in Munich.  Just something that most don't know about and don't get to experience.  I of course had to end the night enjoying the fruits of my labor.  I sadly don't even remember what style of beer it was that I tapped. 

Did I say I ended with that beer, well let's just say I wanted to.  Apparently in German fashion, a true night out ends with a shot.  Schnaps to be exact, of some flavor.  Our friend (at this point we are friends, right?!?) ordered the hazelnut and, ugh, not the right choice.  We drank them down and then headed back towards the hotel.

Before we all departed, he so kindly took a picture of the two of us.  We don't have many of these, so I was really glad that he offered.  We were right in front of the clock tower.  I think one of the funniest stories he told us that night, before he left, was about Oktoberfest and falling asleep on the train.  I asked what happened if someone did fall asleep and he ended up telling us his experience.  He road for who knows how long and ended up taking a cab, which he fell asleep in too and racked up a 150 Euro cab bill.  Such a fun memorable day in Munich.  I felt that we got to experience some of the real culture, outside of what most tourist see. 

Prague to Munich ... Day Seven

Our last morning in Praha was pretty quick.  We got up nice and early to get packed.  Our train left at 9:15 AM, so we wanted to be early just in case.  Walking to the train station, it starting raining on us.  I was sad to leave Prague, but I'm glad we weren't there when it was cold AND rainy.  It would have been hard to enjoy the city.  We passed this huge building on the way to the station.  We never made it in here, but it was so pretty I had to capture it on camera. 

 

Once we got to the station, we sat at a coffee shop there and waited until our platform number came up on the screen.  We only had a few coins, but it was just enough for us to split a latte.  We broke open the last of our chocolate biscuits and shared the latte. 

Here is a view of the station and then our seats on the train. 

We actually got to have the 4 person space to ourselves for most of the ride, which was amazing.  On the train ride, we were giggling about how him or I would keep trying to steal the strawberry bar.  We had an odd number left, so we were trying to snatch it while the other snoozed.  We also ended up playing Mancala on my phone on the ride, which I totally kicked his butt.  This train ride was interesting because we would stop at stations and our train would actually change direction.  That happened 3 or 4 times through out the ride.  I was able to actually capture some photos on this train that weren't horrible.

These were the most amazing crackers that we had gotten at the store the day before.  They were SUPER addicting!  We ate the whole bag way too quickly.  We also saw this group somewhere along the trip.  I mean, why not take a horse ride through the snow?

After spending most of the day sitting on the train, we were happy to finally make it to Munich.  We walked from the station and found our hotel.  It was more on the 'hostel' style, where we had our room with a sink, but shared a bathroom

We pretty much dropped off our stuff off as quickly as we could and made our way to our first brewery.  D was VERY excited to finally have some tasty beer!

This was the street our hotel was on.  Most of Munich is pretty packed and not a ton of greenery in the heart of the city.  Our first stop was the original brewery location of Augustiner.  We were pretty early in the afternoon, so it was pretty empty when we first arrived.  This original location is actually on the other side of the city from most of the major attractions.

We were thrilled to enjoy a few beers and then ventured to the other side of town before it got too dark.

I was actually surprised when we were walking how fancy the center shopping area was.  Even though it wasn't actually snowing that night, it still was pretty chilly.  How gorgeous was this building we stumbled upon?

We made it through one of the major squares, and after some searching, we ended up finding the Hofbrauhaus.  We came into a packed restaurant and found a tiny little corner for us to enjoy some more beer.     

These huge babies were just the start of our night.  Needless to say, we started to just be silly and take some even sillier pictures...  Don't worry, we did get a basket of bread and pretzels to soak up some of the drinks. 

We had a great time just people watching and enjoyed the live music and the old men there with their legit steins.  Then, because we hadn't had enough, we went across the street to Augustiner for one beer.  By that point I think we were both spent.  It was freezing there, still not snowing, but just a wet cold.  We made it as quickly back to our hotel as we could in search for some yummy kebabs.  Luckily there was one right across the street and it was quite delicious!