Hello all! Hope you all had a good weekend. I was lucky to soak up lots of sunshine and fresh air in Munich, but it seems that Geneva has finally seen summer come to an end (on 3 November!) as today was gloomy and cold. Not the best way to start the week, but I guess it had to happen sometime.
Hofbrauhaus actually kicked us out pretty early - I think it was before midnight? - so we wandered around a bit until we found another bar and stopped in for beers and pretzels. Yum!!
Saturday morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies. We had booked a bike tour with Mike's Bikes that day, so we headed over to meet our group. On our way, we noticed that a lot of shops weren't open yet, but we just figured the Germans might get a late start on the weekends.
We met our tour guide at the Old Town Hall, right by Marienplatz. He pointed out some cute little shops but then informed us that they would be closed all weekend because Saturday was a public holiday (All Saints Day) and Sunday was.. Sunday. So that explains why everything was closed! We were a little bit bummed to find out that the shops would all be closed during our stay, but our guide assured us that we would have plenty to see and eat and drink during our stay. Plus, with the amazing weather, it would be a shame to be cooped up in shops anyway!
I loved our bike tour. I have definitely found that it is well worth it to hire guides to show you things, and more importantly, tell you why they are significant to a place. I felt like I learned a ton about Munich on our tour, and it was fun to ride around the city on bikes!
As I mentioned before, I was able to go meet Stephanie in Munich over the weekend! This trip was just the thing I needed, and I couldn't have been more excited. I count this trip as my first real adventure since moving to Geneva even though I went to London in September (I've already been there before) and did a shopping trip to Italy in October (it was only a day trip). It was my first time in Germany, and I was so glad to be reunited with my old travel buddy.
We got into Munich on Friday night, and after a few minutes of chit chat at the hotel lounge, we headed out to experience what Germany does best - beers!
We headed straight for the famed Hofbrauhaus
Reunited!
Hofbrauhaus actually kicked us out pretty early - I think it was before midnight? - so we wandered around a bit until we found another bar and stopped in for beers and pretzels. Yum!!
Saturday morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies. We had booked a bike tour with Mike's Bikes that day, so we headed over to meet our group. On our way, we noticed that a lot of shops weren't open yet, but we just figured the Germans might get a late start on the weekends.
We met our tour guide at the Old Town Hall, right by Marienplatz. He pointed out some cute little shops but then informed us that they would be closed all weekend because Saturday was a public holiday (All Saints Day) and Sunday was.. Sunday. So that explains why everything was closed! We were a little bit bummed to find out that the shops would all be closed during our stay, but our guide assured us that we would have plenty to see and eat and drink during our stay. Plus, with the amazing weather, it would be a shame to be cooped up in shops anyway!
I loved our bike tour. I have definitely found that it is well worth it to hire guides to show you things, and more importantly, tell you why they are significant to a place. I felt like I learned a ton about Munich on our tour, and it was fun to ride around the city on bikes!
Rubbing the lion for good luck
No visit is to Europe is complete without a church
Two lions.. our guide pointed out that one has his mouth open, while the other has it closed. The one with the open mouth faces the governmental palace, while the one with the closed mouth faces the church.
Government building. The center portion is original - you can see some bomb damage in the columns - and the rest of the building is glass. Our guide told us it was really common to do this after the war because the people wanted to symbolize transparency in the government.
A lovely river runs right through the center of Munich
After the tour, we stopped for some food and watched the football match (Bayern v Dortmund). Funny enough, we ended up watching the game in the lobby of our hotel because we had a hard time finding a pub or bar that had televisions!
Pork knuckle.. this meal made me physically exhausted!
Sunday, we just spent the day wandering around. We explored a museum, a church, and just walked around enjoying the sunshine until it was time to head back to the hotel and onto our next destinations (I headed home, but Stephanie took the train to another city in Germany).
Everyone is outside the (closed) Apple store to mooch the wifi :)
It was a really lovely weekend, and I definitely would come back to Munich. Time spent with friends, fresh air, and a lovely city make for great weekends!
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