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First of all…apologies for the delay in the uploading of blogs! Had absolutely no luck with wifi in Munich - it existed, but was SO ridiculously slow that it never actually managed to completely load a page…hence the back load!
On Friday Nigel & I left Interlaken early in the morning for Munich. We changed trains in Karlsrhue, but fortunately that was the only time we had to move on the 7 hour journey! We had a lovely packed lunch of salad, thieved bread & jam, as well as a fresh punnet of blueberries. Berries are insanely cheap everywhere I've been so far in Europe (relative to Perth), so I've been taking full advantage of inexpensive, easy access to my favourite fruit while I can get it! :) We also learnt the hard way that it's better not to buy anything from the train bar cars if you can possibly avoid it, as it's a massive rip off (80c for a little sachet of butter to go with our croissant…really??).
When we got into Munich it was drizzling, but our hostel was ideally located just across the road from the train station. We stayed in Wombat's hotel, which was another fantastic experience. The whole place was spacious & clean, with plenty of lovely areas to hang out in. They had a whole atrium in the middle of the building that was dedicated to chillaxing, with hammocks & big comfy couches to crash on at the end of the day. They also had a fantastic bar, where we were given tokens for 5 free "welcome drinks" on our first night in the hostel, & a "happy hour" that went from 6 til 8…and then from 12 til 1!
We settled in & then went down to the bar to unwind & get acquainted with our new home away from home (it's funny, whenever we're out & about in these cities, I always refer to our hostel as home…& I think that's why I like to spend 4 nights or so in each place & actually get somewhat unpacked, because sometimes you just really miss having a home to go to & it's nice to kinda create that feeling in a place, even if only for a few days). We then decided that being in Munich we should probably begin our Munich cultural experience with a trip to the Hofbrauhaus!
The amazing thing about Munich is that you'll see people actually wandering the streets in lederhosen, dirndls, & other traditional dress. Not for any particular occasion, but just because they are very traditional & take great pride in their culture. And this is Bavarian culture, mind you, not German culture. There's a difference (we later learnt), & you won't see young hipsters from Berlin strolling around in leather pants on a Friday night, but in Munich it's not out of the ordinary at all! Now, the Hofbrauhaus may have a reputation for being tourist, but I loved it! And considering that we sat next to a couple of traditional old German blokes, who were rather sloshed & were drinking out of ceramic beer mugs (rather than the typical big glass steins, which means they've been drinking there for at least 25 years…I'll explain later), I figured it's clearly not only a place that's popular with the tourists but also with the locals.
So there we are, sitting at long wooden benches, next to red-faced slurring German men, listening to oom pah pah music played by the lederhosen wearing band, & I'm STARVING, so I grab a 1 euro pretzel off a lady walking by in a dirndl. And it's as big as my head - actually! Awesome :D Nigel orders a stein of beer, & graciously allows me to pose for photographs with the giant 1 litre vessel, knowing there's no way I'd ever be able to consume a litre of liquid in one sitting (& the smallest size you can order is a litre), let alone beer, particularly before dinner. It's actually pretty amazing how much the waitresses can carry. They stride past the tables of flailing limbs with 4 steins in each hand (that's a totally of 8 litres of liquid they're carrying) without spilling a drop. That's talent!
There was no need to look at a menu because Nigel had already decided that he needed to relive his previous pork knuckle experience, & given the Germans' love of everything giant I had no doubt that one meal would easily feed us both…particularly after a head sized pretzel for starters. The waiter plonked the pork knuckle down in front of me & the German man across the table cheered with glee, thinking that I was taking it on singlehandedly. The people from the next table over craned their necks to get a look at the giant, meat-filled plate, also the size of my head…if not larger! Our red-faced German friend helpfully reached across the table to show me how to extract the best parts of the meat from the bone, before I tucked into the delicious crackling. And the potato dumplings - oh! I don't know how something as simple as potato dumplings & gravy could be so SO good!
At one point in the evening a whole marching band came striding through the beer hall, all dressed to the nines & playing their oom pah pah music with gusto. Apparently there's some sort of beer festival going on at the moment…see there's more than just Oktoberfest here in Munich. In fact, most of the year there's some kind of beer festival going on; they just seem to go from one to the next to the next…By this stage I am already feeling quite acquainted with Munich's charms, & can see the appeal of this wonderful Bavarian lifestyle. Just as long as you're not a gluten intolerant, teetotalling vego…in which case you might go hungry!
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