Hallo From Munich
We are here after a quite comfortable flight… we flew Lufthansa, which is far superior than United. The service is way better and so is the coffee they serve in the morning before you get to your destination.
I had a conversation with an ex-flight attendant about how much she traveled all over the world and how she kept healthy while flying so much. Her secret– keep hydrated and don’t eat the food on the plane! Yup, that is what I try to do. We ate dinner before we left home, and then had some snacks at the lounge… I did have a glass of wine and picked up two 1.5 litres bottles of water. On the plane, I had some crackers and cheese and finished one bottle of water during our journey- the result was quite good. I was tired but didn’t feel like crap once I got out of the plane. I was ready to go out and start the day. I didn’t feel dry and horrible as one often does after a long plane ride.
First thing I did was to buy a delicious pretzel and a cappuccino! I love the pretzels here- they slice them in half and serve them with butter or cream cheese and chives- yum!!! I had the one with cream cheese.
It was a great way to start our vacation in Munich… yum! We made our way to the train to get to city center and hotel. After checking in, unpacking and resting a bit, we ventured out.
So we came out and took a train to Marienplatz which is a main plaza, walking area in Munich. We were really hungry and decided to do an early dinner at a Biergarten… so we went to a popular place called, Hofbrauhaus– a huge place to sit and drink beer and eat traditional German food. We got there and didn’t know what to do as it is not very clear how one sits down… turns out, you sit anywhere and someone comes to get your order. We got roasted pork sausages with saurkraut, Bavarian style suckling pig with potato dumpling and wiener shintzel with cranberry sauce and potato salad…. it was all good but the shintzel was absolutely delicious…
So, I am not a beer drinker- not at all…. My husband, of course was very excited to drink one of his favorite beers- Bavarian! I, on the other hand, ordered a glass of champagne… I know… probably not the best thing to drink in a beer house but it was actually quite good. Our waiter wasn’t too happy with me but who cares… as far as I am convinced the best thing to eat with wiener shnitzel is bubbly!!
As I mentioned before, we took a train from the train station to the center of town. We are staying at Le Meridien– very conveniently located close to the main train station. We do quite a bit of research to find a hotel in a great location where we can catch public transportation easily or everything is walking distance. In this case, we are able to catch a train to the main plaza- Marienplatz… or we can walk- 15-20 minutes. Staying in the right location makes the stay a lot more easier.
We finished day 1 by taking an evening stroll in the main area and stopping at a cafe for some dessert. We chose a delicious vanilla cake covered with a layer of yummy berries. I ate it with a glass of Prosecco- I love how cafes in Europe serve alcohol and coffee.
All in all it was a good day. Tomorrow will be a lot of walking and looking around.
We woke up around 9 am…walked out to get some breakfast and brought it back to the room…got dressed and ventured out. Turns out, one can buy an all day ticket that can be used for traveling on subways, buses and trams- it was very convenient as we went all around using different forms of transportation. We went to some museums, some cathedrals, walked to the top of a bell tower to get a view of the entire city. We then sat down for a light lunch/snack at Maelu, as breakfast was kind of late… I enjoyed a bit of a prawn sandwich and the most delicious passion fruit pastry- with a layer of coconut and hazelnuts at the bottom… yum! I washed it down with some Prosecco- yup.. it seems that is what I will be drinking on this trip and why not… life is too short not to enjoy bubbly everyday!!
After some more walking and exploring, we came back to the room to rest a bit and buy tickets for tomorrow’s adventure- we will be visiting the famous castle- Neuschwanstein!
We walked out for dinner and decided to go to a place called Opatija which is a Balkan, German and Italian restaurant. We decided to give it a try as it had pretty high ratings on Trip Advisor. It was pretty good- they had big portions so we shared a few things including some salad and a combination platter that included a variety of traditional Balkan grilled meats, rice, coleslaw and some yummy sauces- overall, it was quite good.
We finished the night off with a delicious gelato and took the tram back to our room.
Can’t wait to explore tomorrow!
It looks lovely – I enjoy being there in spirit. Make sure to try the huge variety of Broetchen you can get at the bakeries.