<![CDATA[FI TRAVELGUY - Munich, Germany]]>

See my city ranking, non-obvious recommendations, and favorite beer garden below!

Sunday, June 11th, 2017
Weather: 85/55 partly cloudy
Distance: 10,263 steps, 5 miles

I took the train to the city center, checked in at my hostel and headed for Augustiner Braustuben which is a beer hall. They had pretzels on the table and started munchin' on them thinking it was a chips and salsa type situation. It was not. You pay for everyone you ate.. whoops. I also found out that the rumors are true about Germans and their beer - it was the same price as water!

Monday, June 12nd, 2017
Weather 81-65 partly cloudy
Distance- 27,682 steps, 12.5 miles

Before starting my walking tour I snagged breakfast at Schmalznudel. I used Sandemans for my tour and did in every city they offered it. The meeting point was by Mary's column in Marienplatz. At 11am the glockenspiel started which shows the marriage of Duke William the 5th and the Coopers dance. It's basically a dance to show people that there weren’t dragons that came out and gave them the plague.

Mary's Column in Marienplatz.

As you walk around you notice that a lot of the building details are painted on. They estimated 90% of the city was destroyed in World War II. If you look closely on the main picture you can see the painted lines. The Nazi party started in Munich so it was a special to Hitler. He knew there was going to be destruction and would want to rebuild it and had architects take pictures and drawings. Only some were found and the rebuild went quick so line will have to do.

The tour continued by the Viktualienmarkt which was a busy area and had a beer garden. The beer garden was poppin’ even at noon on a Monday! Beer gardens started in Munich and you know it’s a real one if it is under chestnut trees.

Nearby was the Hofbrauhaus. In 1589 Duke William the 5th stopped importing beer and decided to create a brewery for the royal family and this was it. They didn’t opened it to the public until the 1800s. Oktoberfest first started with the marriage of Ludwig the first and now profits around one billion per year. Hofbrauhaus fun fact – Duke William’s son, Maximillian, was the first to use wheat to make a beer and created the mybach beer.

Once the tour was over I grabbed lunch at Ayinger and then headed to changed hostels. As I checked into my room a bunk mate was in there and said she was heading out and I asked if I could tag along and we walked through the English Garden. It is the biggest park within a city in the world - bigger than Central Park in NYC or Hyde park in London. In the park there is an area where people surf which is random!

We went to the Chinesischer Turm beer garden for dinner and then wandered the city which lead to us partially sneaking into the Bavarian State Parliament. It was chained off but there people were in there so we figured it was okay!

We ended up back at Hofbrauhaus. The tables are set up community style and we met a local dude and then a couple from Australia.

Bavarian State Parliament.

Tuesday, June 13th, 2017
Weather: 79/60 partly cloudy
Distance: 16,418 steps, 8.1 miles

The morning began with breakfast at the Fleming's Hotel before heading to the Haubtbahnhof train station to meet up with my guided tour of Neuschwanstien Castle. Which translates into new swan stone. For this tour I used Sandemans again. The castle is a little past Fussen, Germany which is at the foothills of the Alps. On the train there was a group of about 8 of us that were sitting together and hung out. Two of the people were going to be starting their Masters to be Speech Language Pathologists so naturally we became instant best friends. Then once we got there we ate at Koniglicher Imbiss.

The castle has medieval architecture but is also very random and has no consistency since it was King Ludwig II's fantasy. For example, the throne room is suppose to look like a Byzantine church and has a chandelier in the style of a Byzantine crown. He wanted it to represent him being the mediator between heaven and earth

The castle is very iconic and is what the Disney castle is based off. After his death Ludwig wanted the castle to be torn down as it was never for social gatherings but instead just for him. There were some sketchy details about his death and instead it was opened to the public 6 weeks after his death and gets about 7,000 tourists a day. It took about 12 years to recoup $250 Million dollars that Ludwig had accrued in debt.

On the way down I stopped and got Quarkballchen (three donuts) which the guide recommended. I then ran into some of the people from the tour and we headed over to Alpsee lake. When we got back to Munich I headed to Augustiner Keller with a group of girls I had meet on the tour that were from Canada.

Neuschwanstien castle fun fact, the castle was the first in the country to have a flush toilet and phone. No word on whether it was a toilet phone though..

The walk up to the castle.

View from the balcony.

Wednesday, June 14th, 2017
Weather 80-56 partly cloudy
Distance- 20,650 steps, 9.4 miles

I hit up Cafe Kasse before meeting up with my tour of Dachau. No real surprise I used Sandemans for this.

This whole experience was really educational on the rise of Hitler and the horror that happened. The Nazi land is owned by the government so neonazis can't have it. Many Germans aren't very prideful as it can be seen as a negative and feel weird as tourist often come to focus on the bad parts of their history. Walking through the bunker was creepy as it was very cold and felt weird. Outside of Barracks X (which was the gas chamber) there is a statue of the unknown prisoner. It is enscripted with the phrase "To honor the living to warn". There is also a statue of a liberated man as he is wearing a coat, has his hands in his pockets and head up symbolizing he was tortured but not broken.

Entrance into Dachau.

Memorial to the Holocaust in Dachau.

The gate says, "Work sets you free".

Statue of the liberated man.

After the tour I went to Rubenbauer. That evening I went back to Hofbrauhaus, Gelateria Garda, and back to English Gardens to watch the surfers one last time before heading home.

Dianatempel

Munich Thoughts

Getting Around: 10/10
The city is pretty small so it is easy to walk and there is a subway - but I only used that to get to and from the airport.

Things to do: 7/10
The actual city of Munich doesn't have all that much to do. Yes, there are beer gardens, parks and historical landmarks but that seemed to be it. However, it is a hub to do other day trips which made it that much better.

Food: 7/10
They have a lot of classic food that you would think like bratwurst, wiener schnitzel, pretzels, etc. It was all pretty good but I didn't experience a lot of variety while there.

Overall: 7.5/10
Want to check out a city where beer is cheaper than water? You've come to right place! Munich has numerous beer gardens throughout the city and is obviously the home of the biggest beer festival in the world, Oktoberfest! Munich has more to offer than just beer. There is a lot of World War II historical sites to be explored and you can learn about all of them by doing a walking tour. That tour is how I found out that if I wanted to surf there that's an option! Munich is also a great place to do day trips as you can easily check out Neuschwanstein Castle or Dachau and I recommend both. Munich is very walkable and if you are traveling farther out they have public transportation options. I thought the food was good but also some what limited. Then again, I was typically at the beer gardens and bratwurst and pretzels are common. I felt there was a greater sense of Germany (or Bavarian) Culture than when I went to Berlin (which makes sense). You can see where that ranks against the other places I've gone here.

Non Obvious Munich Tips:

I enjoyed, and recommend, all of the tours I went on!
You have to check out the surfers at English Gardens.
Augustine Keller was my favorite beer garden.
Most beers will come in 32 ounces

What To Bring

If you want to see what I bring on my backpacking trips you can see that here.

If you are interested in getting travel insurance I recommend TravelInsurance.com. They are considered one of best in the industry, you can easily compare coverages and get the right one for you.

What To Do

Munich Fun Facts

Our guide also let us know that you can get away with most things in a German conversation by saying "gaknow" which means 'exactly'.
Mary's column was put up in 1638 after Sweden was eradicated.
The new town hall, which was built in 1908, looks older than the old town hall. That is because Petersplatz, which was originally built in 1180, had to be rebuilt after World War II.
Max Jospeh Platz was the first king of Bovaria and then it was King Ludwig the first. He encountered a lot of controversy later in his reign as he raised the price of beer and later left the crown because at 61 he feel in love with Lola Montez a 28 yr old Spanish dancer. She later left him and it was revealed she was actually an Irish prosititute. King Ludwig 3rd was the last one to live in the Royal Palace in 1918. It then became a republic until 1933 when Hitler became chancellor. Germany became a country about 120 years ago
In 1923 the Nazi movement was gaining steam and started a march that went through Munich and ended in Odeonplatz. Hitler had to go into hiding as he was wanted for treason. He was later caught and although the punishment for treason was death the judge was a sympthasizer of the Nazi party and only gave Hitler a 5 year sentence but he only served 9 months and was let out early for good behavior.

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Munich Thoughts

What To Bring

​What To Do

What To Do