Munich

Off to Munich!!

We had an early start, and it was a long drive from Frankfurt to Munich. There was road works which made the traffic worse.

All said, we only had an hour an a half in Munich. Not enough time to do justice to this very busy and interesting place.

A quick orientation of the place by our tour guide, and we were off climbing the church tower for a bird's eye view of Munich. Get those legs working after sitting on the bus for five hours. Great view from the top, as per the photos. After working off some energy we went in search of food. The Hofbraushaus had been recommended by the tour guide Kyle. It is a big beer hall capable of seating 1800 people on a busy night. If you include the upper levels which is not normally open, it can seat 3500 people in this 3 story high building. Pretty amazing. The inside was decked out in typical German style, serving the mandatory wursts and saurkraut, among other things on the menu. People were deep into their cups, even though it was only lunch time. Beer gets served in 1 litre glasses (steins), being drunk like it was water. You have to be there to truly appreciate the atmosphere. During Oktoberfest, these beer halls are packed full, with more tents being set up for people to pile into and drink more beer!

So we ordered our bratwurst and saurkraut meal, accompanied by a small glass of 0.5L of beer ( shared between Jesse and me ). I don't know how those people can down a whole litre and more of beer!! It was extremely busy and we had trouble getting the attention of the waiters. A local guy sat down and shared our table, and got chatting to him. He helped us out by flagging the waiter, and we got our orders in quick, as we were running short on time. Apparently bratwurst must be eaten with mustard, so we got some mustard to go with it, and I must stay it did taste better.

Quick lunch then it was back on the bus to Austria. Crossing the border from Germany, the landscape changes from flat to quite mountainous. We stopped at a little town named Innsbruck in Austria for a wander around. The local must trys are Sacher-torte (a decadent chocolate cake, some flavoured with a little bit of ru), schnapps (burns down the throat, purportedly useful in curing a sore throat, or any ailments for that matter! :), and apple strudel and a visit to Swarovski crystal ( largest store ).

We stayed at a quaint little hotel up in the hills, and were served local fare of Turkey Schnitzel and apple strudel for dinner.... yummmmmm.......

- YM