Tags
bavarian, beer, germany, glockenspiel, Hofbräuhaus, hostel, munich, music, prost, ratskeller, travel
After a sleepless night on the train we were incredibly excited to get into Munich and find that our hostel was a mere 500 meters from the train station. Like zombies we walked over to Wombats Hostel in hopes that by some miracle our rooms would be ready. Sadly, not quite… It was apparently a busy weekend in Munich and our room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm that day, which gave us a whooping 8 hours to kill until we could drift blissfully off to sleep.
We wandered around the hostel to find a couple nice couches in the common room that we could relax on for a bit. And by relax, I obviously mean sleep. We both fell asleep almost instantly, only to wake up in the middle of a room full of 16 year olds reciting their homework in German. We awkwardly got up and snuck back out to the reception area.
Not quite sure how to waste more time we decided to sign up for the Dachau tour that was leaving the hostel at 10am. A few minutes before the tour was set to start I decided to make a last minute trip to fill up our water bottles. I had barely open the first one when Danyka runs into the kitchen and tells me that the tour is leaving… Now.
Apparently our tour guide didn’t want to wait even a minute. We got back to reception and everyone was gone. We ran outside and looked both ways down the street but couldn’t see our guide or any of the 12 other people who had signed up. It was like they disappeared into thin air.
After realizing we were left behind we decided to wander out in search of some food. We made a wrong turn on the corner of sketchy and depressing and ended up completely lost and no where near any food. Feeling hangry (definition: grumpy due to intense hunger) we got in a cab and asked him to take us to the city centre.
This was more like it. Restaurants on every corner, cool buildings and neat little shops. After checking out one too many German restaurants without finding anything appealing (or that we could understand) we decided to have lunch at The HardRock Cafe. Now, most people would probably judge us. But sometimes, when you’re so far from home, you just want something that you know. And we didn’t regret it.
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. We watched the Glockenspiel ring at noon, where all the little dancers come out of the clock (honestly, it was more creepy than anything). Then we went to the top of the Ratskeller, which had some amazing views of the city. Finally we wandered back to our hostel for a much needed nap.
Getting out of bed that evening was almost impossible. But we did it, it was a miracle! We headed back to city centre, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then set off for the famous Hofbräuhaus – an unreal beer hall in the centre of Munich.
After ordering our huge stein’s of beer we just sat an observed everything going on. It was such a cool place. Long picnic tables lined the whole place and everyone mixed and mingled with one another while the servers (dressed as Bavarian folk) came around selling giant pretzels. I really liked this place.
One thing you should know before visiting Germany is how to say ‘cheers’ in German. When our server brought over our huge stein’s we shouted “Prost”, clinked our glasses and took a sip. Now I have to say, those steins are heavy. Who needs to lift weights when you can carry one of those around all night? I don’t know how the servers carried whole trays of them – it was nuts!
After finishing our first beer we decided to switch locations to sit closer to the traditional band that was playing in the other part of the room. We found a little booth behind them and sat down when the owner of the Hofbräuhaus and a few of the musicians not playing sat down and joined us. To say there was a communication gap would be a bit of an understatement… We couldn’t really figure out what anyone was saying so we just nodded and smiled. All in good fun, right?
That concluded our first day in Munich. To be honest, our lack of sleep probably affected our feelings towards the city that day. It wasn’t one of our favourites but it was definitely an experience.
On the agenda for tomorrow, the Bavarian countryside and the Neuschwanstein Castle. I couldn’t be more excited!
With Love,
CW
With Love, CW 
Munchen is an interesting city having visited it a couple of times…
I would love to visit Hofbräuhaus on our trip, it looks so fun! Not judging on the Hard Rock, sometimes you just need to eat food you know!
Where are you planning on heading for your trip? If you’re heading to Munich you definitely need to check it out! There’s also another beer hall on the adjacent corner that I can’t remember the name of but that’s also supposed to be really good as well.