Good Food, Good Beer, a Sky was Clear

And so began day 1 in Munich. I got up and met Corinne downstairs. She gave me complete rule of the kitchen to make my breakfast, which was nice... I made some toast with a dark bread full of seeds and the like, on which I spread some Brie-like french cheese. Onto of that I made a few fried eggs. I will say, the type of cheese used has an enormous impact on the flavor of these breakfast munchies.

So, the next bit of morning was sort of splotchy. I was originally working on reading my way through a guidebook, but every time I began to get into it, I found myself drawn into conversation with a member of the household. Usually, the conversation included what I should do/see while I'm here. So, it all worked towards the same general goal, but it was very jumbled. That said, by the end of the morning I think I had a pretty decent plan.

That said, around 12:30, Victor, Elena and I all headed to the train station to ride into the heart of the city. In this case, I refer to the heart of the city as Marienplatz. We walked out of the train station and as I emerged from underground I was greeted by the sun, and the tall clock tower of one of the old town hall. We took a few minutes for me to gather my bearings. From where we stood we had a great view of the new city town hall, a few churches, and the pillar of St. Mary (whom the square is named after).

Before seeing any of these sites though, we cut straight to the important things. (I bet my brother guesses this without me saying) So we wound our way through some of the alleys around the square to Hofbrähaus. Yes... the brewery (one of the 6 biggest in Munich) and in this case... indoor beer garden. We walked inside and were greater by a room full of large wooden tables and benches, a live band of woodwind instruments, and the employees dressed in traditional (?) German attire. So we took a seat and discovered that there were menus in german and Russian... we all thought that strange.

Anyway, Victor and Elena translated a few things for me, and the Schweinhaxen and Knödel were described as a good traditional Bavarian meal. So, Victor and I each ordered that (and a beer of course) and Elena got a type of pancake-like powdered sugar things. It looked good but I did not try it. As for my meal... it was awesome and just what I wanted. The beer came in that oh so memorable 1.5 liter stein. Meanwhile, the Schweinhaxen was basically a large slab of meat from a pig and the Knödel was some type of sticky potato ball. It was all served with a bit of gravy and was so good!

After lunch we walked through some of the back shopping streets and returned to the main square. Here we went first to St. Peter's Church (Alter Peter?) which is the tallest building in the square. From the top of the tower we could see all across Germany. So, Victor and Elena pointed out what they could. That included the sight of the former Olympics, far on the edge of the city, a nice view down into Marienplatz, and where the Alps should be. Despite having clear skies, we could still not quite see the mountains. So, from there we spent a good amount of time looking down into the square, where we looked at the pillar from above and the old town hall. We spent the most time looking at the new town hall and the Glockenspiel, the clock tower of said town hall. Sadly, we never got to see it in action, but from above the view allowed us to see many of the figures that decorate and move when the clock does chime.

After out time on the tower we continued through the square to Frauenkirche, or the Lady's Church I believe. When we went in we could sadly not do anything. While my details are a hit hazy, the translation I received is that a high ranking church dude was about to give a talk/sermon. So, Victor told me the legend about the devil I think, stamping a footprint into the floor in anger of its beauty. So, outside the church is always windy because the devil is running around it. I feel not so confident on the accuracy of that report... but that's ok.

So we left Marienplatz then and walked a little ways to Odeonsplatz. Here (and with 2 of Victor's friends that we'd met a bit earlier) we sat outside for a bit of a snack and just relaxed. On the walk, and while here I began to notice that there were tons of people sitting and playing the accordion. So many people. I thought of my dear friend Kenny (I hope you're reading this Kenny!). Anyway, as the sun got lower, the air got cooler and we decided it was time to be off.

So, we headed back by train. While on the train I discovered I was far more fatigued then I realized. But, that was ok. We then each hung around the house a bit before dinner of spaghetti and another awesome salad. I need to completely rework my views on salads. They've been so good! And, after dinner, Victor, Elena, Bruno and myself all watched a movie and called it a night.

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