Two Nights in Munich: The City of Biergartens & Surfers

Munich provided a great side trip for a weekday adventure. Voted as the city that most Germans would love to live in,  it is so modern, with fashionable stores, great transportation, and endless restaurants, but is also very traditional with its bier gartens, thriving Viktualienmarkt and lively Marienplatz. We stayed in Munich for two nights and about 2.5 days. Without going to the museums, we had plenty of time to explore the city, its well-known treasures and the endless green space of the Englischer Garten.

Abby and I took the 8am train from Zwingenberg to Munich on Tuesday morning. We had to change trains one time, in Darmstadt, and arrived in Munich around lunchtime. We stayed at a Rick Steve's recommended pension in the heart of the city- Pension Linder, and although there was much construction right out our window, it was a great stay with a delicious breakfast and a lovely host.

Our room at the pension. We had our own shower but shared a toilet.

On Tuesday we strolled around the city, stopping at the famous and eye-appealing Viktualienmarkt market and its beer garden for a famed Munchen beer. We walked among the fruit, vegetable, honey, meat, cheese and flower stands and marveled at the wide variety of produce sold. I've read that this market, located on prime real estate, has been alive for so long and is such a tradition of Munich that the store owners only pay a small part of their profits to the city. We even walked past the market another day around 10:30am and there were several locals enjoying a beer- I guess it's never too early for beer in Bavaria!

The very popular  Viktualienmarkt 

We spent the rest of Tuesday exploring the streets of Munich by climbing the tower at St.Peter's church (only 2 Euro), visiting the famed Marienplatz, home to the Glockenspiel, and walking to the Englischer Garten, the largest urban park in Europe. We passed the large meadow, called the Schönfeldwiese, filled with students throwing Frisbee, dogs playing fetch and nude sun bathers flaunting their stuff. Yes, it's legal. We stopped for dinner at the Chineseischer Turm, a famous bier garten next to the large Chinese Pagoda resembling the original built in the late 1700's but burnt down during the war. Here we tried curry wurst, potato salad and a gigantic pretzel. One thing I love about the bier gartens in Munich is the way that you order your food. You go to the beer counter and pick up the beer you would like to drink, usually served in .5L or 1L mugs, and then you choose any food you want to eat. You take your entire selection to the Kasse (cash register) and pay for your meal. Now I'm not the world's biggest beer lover and neither is Abby (at all!), but when you are visiting a city of beer, you must join in. After our dinner and meeting some people from Indianapolis, we made our way to the city center for some ice cream of course. This became a daily event while in Munich.

Abby overlooking Munich from the tower at St. Peter's church

Picking up our beer at the  Viktualienmarkt bier garten

Green space in the Englischer Garten

Beer, potato salad, pretzel and curry wurst (Note: We split this meal)

Sunset in the park

Maypole in the  Viktualienmarkt - it displays all the local brews being served

Beautiful church at sunset in Odeonplatz

Standing in Odeonplatz

With our bikes at Nymphenburg Palace

 On Wednesday, we awoke early and went to Mike's Bike Shop where we rented matching pink bike cruisers. To me, biking is usually the best way to see a large city. You can cover so much more ground than walking, and for 15 Euro, we rented bikes for the entire day. Out first destination was 30 minutes away: The Nymphenburg palace. This was a pretty palace and was the summer home of a royal family. We didn't explore it too much, but just walked the grounds a bit. Then we headed to Olympia Park, featuring all of the sport arenas and tower from the 1972 Olympic games. The park seemed nice, but it wasn't overly interesting. We then biked about one hour to the Englischer Gartens to a resting point at the Hirshau bier garten. Then I led us in a giant circle detour before finding the lake within the gardens. We snacked on some pommes frites and biked to the Eichbach stream where a wave in the river allows surfers to actually surf in the city. It was so neat to see! The surfers would take turns surfing; when one would fall into the river, another would take their place surfing the wave. There were about 8-10 guys in wet suits waiting their turn to get in. I'd say that this aspect of the city helps define it's laid back, enjoy-life type of feeling. After watching the surfers, we biked back to the bike shop and returned our bikes. It was definitely a great day and a wonderful way of exploring the outer regions of Munich. That night we visited the world-famous Hofbrau Haus, a famous beer hall filled with many tourists. It was definitely not my favorite atmosphere, especially since two different people approached us trying to sell us something. But, it was a good experience. We ended up sitting next to a retired couple from South America who live in New Jersey. We had great conversation with them and it was nice to meet friendly people!

Nymphenburg Palace

Abby at the palace lake

The beautiful Hofgarten

Olympia Park

Famous beer hall

Lake in the Englischer Gartens

Abby biking in the Hofgarten

Surfer at the Eisbach

Surfers catching the wave at the Eisbach river

For dinner, we found a cute restaurant showing the Euro Cup game of Spain & Portugal. We both ordered pasta, but Abby's contained spicy sausage, so of course, I had to switch our dinners. After getting ice cream, we returned to our hotel and finished watching the game. Before heading home on Thursday, we wondered the streets a bit more and made it the Marienplatz at 11am to watch the Glockenspiel dance. It lasted about 8 minutes and we enjoyed watching it come to life with the other hundreds of people in the plaza. During summer, the Glockenspiel performs at 11am, 12am and 5pm. It showcases almost life-size characters dancing in a wedding and wine celebration from long ago.

The Glockenspiel Performing

Overall, it was a great 2.5 days and definitely enough time to explore the city, taste several types of beer and take in the beauty of Munich. I look forward to taking my parents back to the city for a night in September- it contains many beautiful must-sees and must-dos.