Warm regards from Munich!

Herzlichen Grüssen aus München!

After all this time, we finally made it to Europe! 

It’s still hard to believe, but we arrived in Munich early on Monday morning and earlier today we arrived in Esslingen, Germany, aboard the Intercity Express (ICE) train. The flight was, to be honest, rough. We thought premium economy would be fine for a 7-and-a-half-hour flight, but the seats were tight, the trays were horribly small and hard to operate, and sleep did not come easily. Luckily, the booze was free and we finally had time to watch Nope together. The ICE train to Esslingen, in contrast, was wonderful–if a little fraught at the beginning as we first walked to the wrong station. We had our own 6-person compartment, free Wi-Fi (side note: free Wi-Fi in Germany is not only everywhere, it actually works; America, take note), and a large crossword puzzle to keep us all busy. But we digress; this post will mostly cover Munich, and we’ll have another out shortly for Esslingen! 

From the airport we took a train into the Munich central train station, or Haubtbahnhof, and schlepped our bags to the Hotel Excelsior, prepared to leave them at the front desk until check-in in the afternoon. So imagine our SHOCK and RELIEF to discover our rooms were ready immediately! We crashed for a few hours before heading out to explore the city. We walked to the central plaza, die Marienplatz, where the city’s largest Christmas market, or Christkindlmarkt, was set up for the holiday season. We grabbed some sandwiches to eat as we walked, and drank hot spiced wine–Glühwein–to warm up. This was, and continues to be, Della’s favorite treat of the trip. The weather was cold but clear, so after a beer at the famous Hofbräuhaus, we hopped on the streetcar (Straßen-Bahn) up to the English Gardens and walked past the Chinese Tower. Since that Christmas Market was still being set up, we took the subway down to Sendlinger Tor, the southern city gate of the historic old town in Munich. Nearby was the Pink Christkindlmarkt, the LGBT Christmas Market, in a kleine public square with stalls that sold bratwursts, glühwein in rainbow mugs, a variety of crafts (including incredibly hot mermen ornaments) and slutty Santas hanging overhead. 

Leaving the market, a few of us found ourselves needing to pee. So, upon recommendation from Bart and Ross (who had popped in for the same reason just hours previous), we headed toward a bar called Kennedy’s for a quick drink-and-pee drive-by. 

What started as a pee break turned into hanging out at this bar for three hours. This. Bar. Was. Awesome. 

There was a World Cup football match on - Netherlands vs Senegal - and there was quite a rowdy crowd singing and chanting and watching the game. We shed our coats and took seats at the bar, drinking our bevvys and listening to the chants over the announcer on the screen. A favorite chant against the Netherlands from the group of lads nearby was “You’re shit, but your birds are fit!” …which led to us examining these guys’ accents a bit more closely. Sure enough…a bunch of English boys. Drunk English military boys. And boy did they love Doris and Joel. They bought us some drinks, made us do shots, and gave us a bunch of great recommendations for our time in London. It was the exact kind of random encounter we love while traveling, so hats off to those lads for showing us a good time.

When we finally emerged, we were almost ready to call it a night…but we really wanted to check out the bar next door to our hotel, The Boilerman Bar, for one last nightcap. It was a very cool, low-lit spot with great cocktails, cozy seats and bookcases as decoration. All in all, it was a perfect first day in Munich and we went to bed excited to explore more. 

Yesterday (Tuesday) we slept in a bit, grateful for the German double-beds which give each person their own sheets, down blankets, and mattresses in addition to pillows. Though you can’t cuddle, at least there’s no fighting over whose side is whose. Amanda and Bart had wandered out earlier in the day and accidentally discovered an underground mall across the street, and so they took us on a surprise tour that led us to a maze of underground passageways, which gave a welcome reprieve from the drizzling rain and allowed us to avoid street crossings. It’s a very intelligent solution to pedestrian traffic, and along with the many Füßgängerzone (pedestrian-only zones) and easy-to-navigate public transit, it made Munich an easy and enjoyable city to traverse despite the cold and wet weather. We walked over to the München Residenz, a gigantic palace that once housed the royalty of Bavaria. The rain started to fall as we walked through yet another Christmas market in one of the large courtyards, so we headed into the museum inside. Words barely do justice to the size of this place; the tickets we purchased gave us access to over 100 rooms, each lavishly decorated in gold leaf and ornate artworks. It took us a couple hours to get through, and that was after taking the short route (and accelerating our exit to serve our…biological needs).

Luckily, the rain let up, allowing us to make our way to…you guessed it, another Christmas market. This time, it was the Medieval Christmas Market in Wittelsbacherplatz. We ate a fried dough dessert called Baumstriezel rolled in sugar that’s slightly burnt to a crisp, that you tear off from a cone-shaped spiral like a German churro. We ate salmon smoked in front of us in a giant iron barrel over a wood-burning fire (which was awesome to stand next to as the sun set). We drank more Glühwein and beer, and Bart bought fur insoles for his tennis shoes.

My parents getting photo-bombed by a market worker…at least, we think he was a worker!

After the Christmas market, we walked through another Füßgängerzone and stopped for a few fancy dessert cakes from a local Bäckerei (bakery), Cafe Maelu. After passing back through the market in the Marienplatz, we were…hungry again! Ross found an amazing restaurant, Der Augustiner-Klosterwirt, down an alley off of the main drag - and we all tucked into plates upon platters of sauerkraut, sausages, spaetzle, wienerschnitzel, potato salad, and Schwäbische Zwiebelrostbraten (roast beef with fried onions and dark sauce, one of Ross’s favorite German dishes). Augistiner is the oldest brewery in Munich, dating back to 1328, so if you get a chance to try their beer, we highly recommend taking it. 

From there, we rolled ourselves back to the hotel to commemorate the evening with a bottle of champagne that Bart had been given for free off of the airplane. Doris and Joel put themselves to bed and we went for a bit of late night barhopping with Bart and Amanda, finding a couple of super cool spots with great fancy cocktails–The Jaded Monkey and Squeeze. 

The next day, which I guess is….today? Or, yesterday? (Jet lag is hard) We woke up with a few goals–pack up, exchange some cash for euros, buy a souvenir Christmas ornament, get something to eat, and meet downstairs by 12:15pm.

With checks across the board, we headed off to the station to catch our train for Esslingen. It’s a beautiful little city near Stuttgart…and we’ll tell you all about it in a few days. It’s late and we need to get to sleep! Thanks for reading; more to come. 😉 ✌️