Munich, Germany: The Smallest Big City

I LOVED MUNICH!

It has been almost two weeks since I was there, but I can still remember so much about the city and the two days that we spent there because of how amazing the city was. Munich was the perfect springboard for our Spring Break.

Getting in around 3 PM, we made the quick trek to the YMCA (JVCN in German, our hostel for the weekend). We checked in, dropped off our luggage, got some English maps and headed out to explore.

With no real idea where we were headed or what there was to see, we wandered down some small streets on the way to the Old Town area and what we found were a bunch of quaint small stores and scenic churches along with remnants of the old walled city. Our wandering led us to this market that I find quite difficult to explain, but I can honestly say was probably the highlight of my spring break because it was so unexpected and so different.
_              The market is one big building. Inside the building are different stalls set up by vendors selling different things, which were mainly food. We found fresh bread, meat, cheeses, wines, beer, chocolate, pastries, produce, basically everything. One half of the market was set up like a whole foods (the easiest american explanation). I walked away from the market decided that all I want to do in life is open another one of them in the states (Hillary says they exist all over the San Francisco Bay Area).

Outside the market we found some enormous churches and the highlight of Munich's Old Town: The Old Rathaus (town hall). In the squares between the beautiful buildings was a typical outdoor market, but nearly twice as big as any other one we had found. We had fun wandering the streets between the stalls popping in churches and just observing the culture. With no clear idea of where we were going or what to see, we wandered past the biggest church, the Frauenkirche (under construction) before heading north to the English gardens. I cannot recall the names of all the amazing buildings we saw, their importance, or their locations, but I was so shocked by the clear variance in architectural schemes. The gardens were beautiful, but it was getting dark, so we headed to find dinner. Using the map as a rough guide, we made our way to the largest beer hall in the world: Hofbrauhaus Munchen!

Once the royal beer hall, the hofbrauhaus now serves the public and can seat more than 5000 patrons! After some trouble finding seats, we found some space at a back bench in the corner of the hall next to some German patrons that were clearly regulars. As we conversed with the Germans, they helped us find some food that was suitable and helped calm our fears of ordering "The Original," a 1-Liter beer served in an enormous glass mug. The food (I got goulash) and the beer was amazing! I finished the entire liter, as did Hillary and cleaned my plate feeling completely satisfied.

After dinner, we bough some commemorative mugs (the 1-Liter ones) and walked back to the hostel, though reading the map was not the easiest task in the world (the city gets really dark at night).

The next morning we got up and headed out to explore, ending up walking around the biggest museums in the city. We made our way back through the city and gardens to the market that I loved. Inside, we bought fresh baguettes, fresh salami, two types of cheese, some rosemary and thyme butter, and a bag of chips. For lunch, we wandered the city sitting on benches eating a few bites at a time.

We made our way across the river and got a totally different view of the city from the Maxamilianeum. Dirt paths took us down the river and back across near  some new churches before it started to rain. We ducked inside a couple of shops in the city ending up at a Starbucks. After gathering ourselves, we headed out to a new beerhall next to my beloved market. While the service was poor, my soup and beer was good, a perfect exclamation to a relaxing weekend in Munich.

Sunday morning, we found a cute cafe and got french toast and orange juice before our train took us to Zurich on the way to Lausanne.

Munich really was an amazing city. Unlike Berlin, everything was actually within walking distance and the culture was much more apparent without having to be a native. I loved every minute that I spent in Munich and would go back in a heartbeat.