Munich
We got on the train to Munich - it was packed. The ride was really cool, we went through the snow covered Black Forest and saw a shepherd with his dog herding his sheep and lots of cross country skiers and kids sledding down small hills. After a couple of stops, we got to Munich, where it took a while to find a good map and luckily we found out that our hostel is only a block from the train station.
We stayed in a 40-bed dorm room. It’s a huge room with 20 bunk beds and 40 luggage lockers, one for each bed. Most of the beds are empty so it’s really quiet. We went out with someone we met at the hostel, a Canadian girl Charlie’s age who took a year off from school to work in Scotland. We walked down the main pedestrian street to the big square, Merienplatz and found our way to the world famous beer garden, the Höfbrahaus. It was HUGE. There were tons of long tables full of people drinking huge mugs of beer and having a good time. There was a polka band – a bunch of old guys wearing lederhosens. The place was packed, we walked around forever until we found a table. The three of us shared a table with some people we didn’t know – a young German couple and an older woman from New York. We each picked a beer, not knowing what we were getting exactly. I ended up getting a dark beer and Charlie had a dark beer with lemonade, which tasted more like Sprite than beer. All the beers at the Höfbrahaus are one liter and are served in huge mugs. The beer was really really good too. The Höfbrahaus is beer heaven. The place was so lively and fun. The old woman sitting at our table ate 1/3 of her liver soup and only drank half of her beer. She didn’t like either one so she ordered a bratwurst and a different type of beer. She didn’t finish that beer either, so when she left, we took the beers… and the rest of her bratwurst. The free beer was a sweet deal… so after drinking all of it, we went back out into the frigid night and got subs at a little grocery store nearby and ate and watched TV in the hostel. Wow -- Munich is a fun place.
On Saturday morning, December 31st, we went to the Viktualienmarkt where lots of little stands were selling meat, cheese, bread, pastries, fruits and vegetables. One huge stand had tons of big barrels full of different types of olives and they had lots of olive salads. We got one salad with huge pitted green olives, garlic, olive oil and feta cheese. We also bought a huge round flat-bread. On the way back down the big shopping street, Kaufingerstrasse, we stopped at a supermarket near the hostel to buy cheese, sandwhich meat, granola bars and a bottle of Spanish red wine for New Years. We stuffed ourselves at the hostel and then went to the otherside of the Isar River where we got lost in suburb before we found our way to the river and went to the Deutsches Museum, a science and technology museum that we were excited to see, only to find out that it was closed on the 31st and on January 1st. Most museums and other attractions were closed both of those days. So we walked along the river and got a glimpse of the University and the Max Planck plaza (one of Charlie’s physics idols) and then walked down Maximilianstrasse which was full of really expensive stores. We saw another plaza, an old government building and then went inside the Neues Rathaus (late 19th century neo-Gothic cathedral) and the Gothic Dom (another cathedral). We had walked a ton so we went back and rested for a hour or so at the hostel. The hostel was packed the second night and everyone was really excited for New Years. We snacked some more and then went to a bar down the street with a bunch of young people from the hostel. Most of the them were college students traveling over their winter break like us - two were studying in the Netherlands, two were studying in Rome, a few were studying in Munich and a few came from the United States. We took the S-bahn to Ostbahnhof, a big nightspot were old warehouse buildings have been converted into bars and clubs. We went into a club in a huge building just before midnight. There was a laser light show that did the countdown and everyone chanted along: “fünf…fier…drei…wei…einz…PROSIT NEUJAHR!!!”
I tried to call Martha and a couple other people but I my phone was out of money. I did get text messages to work and got a reply from Martha and Nina. They did another countdown at 1 am when the UK entered 2006. We were there for a while, got onto a packed S-bahn, got some sleep and then checked out at 10 the next morning. Hardly anything was open the next day because it was a Sunday and it was a holiday. We walked around, went to the gift shop in the Höfbrahaus and went to an internet café and played cards in the hostel lobby.
We stayed in a 40-bed dorm room. It’s a huge room with 20 bunk beds and 40 luggage lockers, one for each bed. Most of the beds are empty so it’s really quiet. We went out with someone we met at the hostel, a Canadian girl Charlie’s age who took a year off from school to work in Scotland. We walked down the main pedestrian street to the big square, Merienplatz and found our way to the world famous beer garden, the Höfbrahaus. It was HUGE. There were tons of long tables full of people drinking huge mugs of beer and having a good time. There was a polka band – a bunch of old guys wearing lederhosens. The place was packed, we walked around forever until we found a table. The three of us shared a table with some people we didn’t know – a young German couple and an older woman from New York. We each picked a beer, not knowing what we were getting exactly. I ended up getting a dark beer and Charlie had a dark beer with lemonade, which tasted more like Sprite than beer. All the beers at the Höfbrahaus are one liter and are served in huge mugs. The beer was really really good too. The Höfbrahaus is beer heaven. The place was so lively and fun. The old woman sitting at our table ate 1/3 of her liver soup and only drank half of her beer. She didn’t like either one so she ordered a bratwurst and a different type of beer. She didn’t finish that beer either, so when she left, we took the beers… and the rest of her bratwurst. The free beer was a sweet deal… so after drinking all of it, we went back out into the frigid night and got subs at a little grocery store nearby and ate and watched TV in the hostel. Wow -- Munich is a fun place.
On Saturday morning, December 31st, we went to the Viktualienmarkt where lots of little stands were selling meat, cheese, bread, pastries, fruits and vegetables. One huge stand had tons of big barrels full of different types of olives and they had lots of olive salads. We got one salad with huge pitted green olives, garlic, olive oil and feta cheese. We also bought a huge round flat-bread. On the way back down the big shopping street, Kaufingerstrasse, we stopped at a supermarket near the hostel to buy cheese, sandwhich meat, granola bars and a bottle of Spanish red wine for New Years. We stuffed ourselves at the hostel and then went to the otherside of the Isar River where we got lost in suburb before we found our way to the river and went to the Deutsches Museum, a science and technology museum that we were excited to see, only to find out that it was closed on the 31st and on January 1st. Most museums and other attractions were closed both of those days. So we walked along the river and got a glimpse of the University and the Max Planck plaza (one of Charlie’s physics idols) and then walked down Maximilianstrasse which was full of really expensive stores. We saw another plaza, an old government building and then went inside the Neues Rathaus (late 19th century neo-Gothic cathedral) and the Gothic Dom (another cathedral). We had walked a ton so we went back and rested for a hour or so at the hostel. The hostel was packed the second night and everyone was really excited for New Years. We snacked some more and then went to a bar down the street with a bunch of young people from the hostel. Most of the them were college students traveling over their winter break like us - two were studying in the Netherlands, two were studying in Rome, a few were studying in Munich and a few came from the United States. We took the S-bahn to Ostbahnhof, a big nightspot were old warehouse buildings have been converted into bars and clubs. We went into a club in a huge building just before midnight. There was a laser light show that did the countdown and everyone chanted along: “fünf…fier…drei…wei…einz…PROSIT NEUJAHR!!!”
I tried to call Martha and a couple other people but I my phone was out of money. I did get text messages to work and got a reply from Martha and Nina. They did another countdown at 1 am when the UK entered 2006. We were there for a while, got onto a packed S-bahn, got some sleep and then checked out at 10 the next morning. Hardly anything was open the next day because it was a Sunday and it was a holiday. We walked around, went to the gift shop in the Höfbrahaus and went to an internet café and played cards in the hostel lobby.
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