Munich

We still have lots of posts to do about our trip to Europe, so they'll be coming from time to time, mixed in with recent Guatemalan happenings. But with the Olympics going on right now, we thought it would be fun to write about Munich since we visited their Olympic park while there.



Munich hosted the 1972 games, Germany's second time hosting following the 1936 games. The grounds were really impressive, and I can only imagine how edgy the design of it was back then.




Right next to the park was the BMW Museum, which looked new and also sported a unique design. Sadly, I didn't have time to tour it as we had to catch a train back to Giessen.


Munich is high on our list of favorite cities we visited. I might even rank it #2 behind Ghent, Belgium. Before coming to Germany, this is how I imagined cities to be. We were both so charmed by it's old buildings, especially at Marienplatz, the main square in the city. The old town hall on the square, Rathaus, was one of the most ornate buildings I've had the pleasure to
view.


In addition, it features a giant clock, the Glockenspiel, that has life-sized statues that come out, move about, and twirl around to music at certain hours of the day. The square swarms with eager tourists before the appointed times.

Marienplatz looks great at night, too, so we came back and enjoyed a beer at one of the many cafes lining the square before calling it a night. It was a memorable moment!


We were only in Munich for one night, so our second day there was spent trekking around taking pictures, visiting the Olympic Park, exploring two Pinakothek museums (Beth saw the newer stuff, I saw the older stuff), and, of course, visiting the Hofbrauhaus, maybe Germany's most famous beer hall. (Actually, we stopped in the Hofbrauhaus the first night, but I had been feeling slightly ill that day and could not handle the mass of raucous drinkers.) Visiting the Hofbrauhaus in the afternoon was more our style as it was not yet populated with tourists looking to drain liter mug after liter mug.


The place was spacious and had lots of character, with wall and ceiling paintings, beer and pretzel wenches (can I call them that?), an oompah band, old guys wearing lederhosen, and, best of all, good beer! Beth enjoyed a liter of their radler, which is a mixture of lemonade and their house beer; I had half a liter of their dunkel, which is their dark, slightly sweet beer, and a half liter of their summer beer, which was light but flavorful and hoppy!


We have so many more pictures to show of Munich, so we'll try and get them uploaded to our Picasa page soon. If any of you are planning a trip to Europe, don't miss Munich!