The cabins in Venice had an issue with hot water, so nobody got a hot shower that day. I did somehow manage to get the water to stop being ice cold temporarily, but that was the best I could do. I was lucky that I had no sense of smell anyway, so if other people were stinky I would have had no idea.
It had been sad to leave France after being there for several days, and I felt the same leaving Italy. Both of those countries had been dreams of mine for so long and I was so thankful and excited to finally see them. Leaving them behind me is kind of like finishing the last chapter of a great book - but hopefully someday I'll return for a sequel. The good part about leaving Italy was that we were going to Germany! We first drove through Austria which was really, really pretty. We didn't actually stop there but I got a few pictures from the bus.
My heritage is mostly German - my grandpa on my mom's side is 100% German, my grandma on that side is 50% German, and my dad's parents both had some German heritage too. Despite not having any strong German traditions growing up, it's always been a country I thought I should visit since it's really where most of my ancestors lived. It's also a culture that enjoys beer and being loud and strong willed - all things I also appreciate. I knew I was going to like Germany and chose this particular itinerary in part because of the stop in Munich.
We arrived in Munich late afternoon and checked into our hostel - the only hostel on the trip, but it seemed more like a hotel or at least not any less nice than the other budget hotels we stayed in! We were sharing a room with Alyssa and Kayleigh again, and we just had a short time to get ready to leave for our bike tour.
We went into Munich and walked to a place called Mike's Bikes for our tour. Our tour guide was actually from NYC originally and had a ton of energy - he was really fun. Our bikes were kind of crazy - they were like old lady bikes and only had one hand brake so you actually had to pedal backwards to stop, like you would on a kid's bike. They were also a strange shape and I felt really wobbly on mine initially because it was so different from riding my mountain bike at home.
Our guide took us through town and we had a couple of quick stops, one of which was at a beautiful church. We went inside for a couple of minutes, but I didn't take pictures because there was a service going on and it felt disrespectful to take pictures of it. The bike ride was at a very easy pace and while it was a little chilly out, it was a great way to see the city and very enjoyable to ride. I always forget how much I love riding bikes until I get on one!
Next we rode through the English Gardens. It was overcast and even a bit drizzly that day but the gardens were still really pretty.
While we were in the English Gardens, we stopped at a beer garden for a stein of beer. I think we were initially supposed to get food there too, but the place was just about out of food (I think it was an odd time of day we were there?). So we just had drinks and the tour guide bought a couple of giant pretzels with cheese for us to sample.
My beer was huge - they had 2 sizes and of course I had to get the larger one. I guess it was 38 ounces which is quite a lot of beer. I chose a Hefeweizen, which was a great choice - it had very good flavor.
My 38oz Hefeweizen.... yummy!
Danielle and I sampling our beers
Cheers to German beer! (of course I'm the only one in the picture with the giant beer!)
We were there maybe an hour - not a long time to drink such a big beer! When we left a few of us were feeling pretty tipsy and it was interesting getting back on bikes. We did a little more riding around, including a stop at a river where there were some surfers riding a pretty harsh current. We ended up back in the city at the bike shop, then walked over to the Hofbrauhaus to have another beer and dinner.
The Hofbrauhaus is a huge beer hall and is very well known - it's one of those "must see" destinations in Munich. I found it to be very big and crowded and not quite what I expected - there were servers carrying many large steins of beer at once, but I didn't see as much of the traditional costumes on the women and while it was noisy, there wasn't as much singing and cheering as I had kind of thought there would be. I don't know if my expectations were just really weird or what! It was a neat place to check out, though. Our group ended up in two different areas since it was so crowded, but I managed to sit with my usual friends.
We ordered more giant beers in steins - I didn't like mine as much at the Hofbrauhaus as I did at the other beer garden, but I still managed to drink it. We ordered dinner too - I had a pork knuckle because Sarah had raved about how wonderful it was and how much you just had to try it.
My second - and last - huge beer at the Hofbrauhaus
Pork knuckle, dumpling, and my beer - very German
I honestly don't know what I was thinking ordering pork knuckle - I don't really like pork much of the time, and it was so much meat for someone who is a semi-vegetarian. I will say it was tasty, but only for a few bites. At that point it started to kind of turn my stomach because it was just so much meat, and not really the kind of meat I prefer. The dumpling was ok, but not great either. I think if you like that kind of thing, it was probably amazing - but it's not my type of food. A couple of other people got other things - I think Phil had some kind of veal and Kris got some kind of sausage. I don't like those either, so I guess my problem was German food and too much meat. There were really no options without meat.
I do love salt and pretzels, though, so I picked one of them up before we left. Thankfully I managed to convince several people to tear off a chunk because it was huge.
You don't often get to eat a pretzel bigger than your head!
The coach was heading back to the hostel relatively early - I want to say it was around 9:30 or 10. That seemed like a waste to go to bed so early, but after 2 giant beers and still getting over being sick, it seemed like a good idea to head back. I think about half the tour group did the same, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on a big night out or anything.
Final thoughts on Munich:
We were not there long enough. I think we were actually in the city probably no more than 5-6 hours, and while I really enjoyed those hours I felt like there must be so much we missed! I thought it was a neat place and it was nice to experience the beer hall culture. I definitely want to go back to Germany and hope to return to Munich when I do - I would like to get a chance to spend more time exploring and seeing the city in more depth.
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