Hallo from Munich!

Instead of heading back to the states right away I decided to extend my stay in Europe with a friend by going to Munich for a few days and then to London for a few days. Munich wasn’t exactly what I expected, but nonetheless a nice change from Prague. One of the things we kept saying while there was, “Germany is just so German”, which sounds weird but was so true after seeing men in lederhosen (traditional pant) on a daily basis.

Throughout our stay we visited a few beer gardens and I have to say it was a highlight for me. Beer gardens are equivalent to giant outdoor restaurants, with the feature being liters of beer of course. The food at the beer gardens was amazing, consisting of baked chicken and potato dishes just as large as the beers. The temperature was mild in Munich so eating outside was always ideal. It wasn’t unlikely for men to break out in song randomly at the beer gardens; I saw this happen at least twice. The second to last night we went to one of the most popular beer gardens called Hofbrauhaus, which seats about 400 guests!

Not only were we relieved to see chicken again, meals in Prague consisted mostly of sausage and red meats, but fashion in Munich was an improvement too. Within the first few hours of setting foot in Munich I had already made a purchase. A few hours before our flight out of Munich we found one of the biggest thrift stores I’ve been to, which I also ending up buying clothing from. We packed a lot into our 4 full days in Munich so to keep it short and sweet I’ll list some of our favorite destinations.

-English Gardens: The garden is twice the size of central park and a great place to walk, rest, bike or simply watch the surfers ride the fake wave in the Eisbach river. The Chinese Tower is also located in the gardens next to a beer garden.

-Deutsches Museum: If you like the Franklin Institute or anything semi nerdy/science related, you’ll like this museum. It is the largest museum of technology and science in the world and has exhibits ranging from ceramics to astronomy.

-Hofbrauhaus Beer Garden: Hofbrauhaus is the beer garden of beer gardens in Munich. As I mentioned before, it seats about 400 people and has great food and beer. You can sit outside or inside so you can’t go wrong.

-New Town Hall: The New Town Hall is a beautiful Gothic Revival building set in the center of Munich. Not only does the building provide a beautiful site with a puppet/clock show at certain times of day, but shopping and dining around the hall is also great.

-Maximilian Street: This street is part of Munich’s four royal avenues and is the key to any shopper’s heart. It’s lined with luxurious stores and galleries, and is worth checking out even if you're window-shopping.