Travel Blog - Muenchen Tag Zwei

Day two was a wet one, after we had purchased our tickets to Berlin we explored the outskirts of Muenchen. We began with a trip to a Bier Garten, as it was 9am and raining it wasn’t open but it was nice to walk around without being “bothered”.  I can imagine that during Oktoberfest it would be a great place to go.  My favourite part is the sign that says they will no longer allow stag/hen parties, oh how the British manage to ruin everything.

All of the BierKeller's have Stamm Tische which are tables that regulars buy/reserve.  Most are just normal tables, but at this Bier Garten they were decorated with personalised murals and quite a few had the symbol for Muenchen, the lion.  We hadn't really noticed this to begin with but once you know you can not help but see lions all over the city.  So began our Lion spotting fun.

As is usual, I am lead by my appetite and was beginning to feel “hangry”, the rain wasn’t helping so we decided to visit the English Garden, we hopped on the U Bahn and before we knew it we were munching on a Brezeln and drinking Starbucks, it was nice to have a smoother coffee.  German coffee is so strong, lovely but strong, a real kick in the face.  We sat in a huge courtyard in the middle of a rose garden, now it being August and quite a wet summer the roses weren’t blooming, this however didn’t stop a long American woman complaining.  “Oh My God I thought there would be some flowers in the Palace Garden!” “Well it is nearly autumn.” Replied the exhausted looking tour guide she was with. 

He got a nose bleed, how attractive

The English garden wasn’t as close as we had originally thought.  We were by some parliamentary building, it has a memorial to the soldiers killed in the World Wars.  It was humbling to be reminded that it wasn’t just the English and the Americans who suffered losses in the wars.  I am always reminded that my own Opa spent time in camps, as he was a conscientious objector, and was quite vocal about it too.

We eventually made our way towards the English Gardens, using my trusty Google Maps app.  I can’t say how fantastic it was to be able to use my Data in Europe and now worry about the cost.  I was so happy to be on holiday with GO.  In the past few years we have never booked a holiday, just in case.  With the adoption being paused, we were given some freedom to plan a holiday, too late to go anywhere exotic but still we were away and it was fantastic.  As we crossed a bridge over a stream I challenged GO to Pooh sticks.  As mentioned before GO never really planned games in his youth, so each game I introduce to him his loses because he doesn’t know how to play,  Poohsticks however is purely down to chance.  While for a while it looked like he was going to lose again, his stick even got trapped in some weeds, right at the last moment he grabbed victory from me.  What a smug face he had, not looking forward to seeing that face again to soon, I can tell you.

As we walked around the garden, it was massive, it all looked vaguely familiar.  There were some lakes and ponds filled with the strangest looking geese I have ever seen/heard.  There were waterfalls and brooks.  Lots of like alleyways leading to secluded little nooks and crannies and then in the centre a huge field. I am sure on a hot day it gets very busy, but as it was raining it was quite empty.  Don’t get me wrong there were a lot of people, but it didn’t feel crowded and you were able to find places to be on your own.  I remember watching a clip on the internet about a surfing competition in Muenchen, which at the time I didn’t think anything of, other than how odd that they could have a surfing competition in a city at the foothills of the Alps.  It was only as we were taking more cheesy photos of ourselves (GO is always taking photos, he can’t let a moment pass without capturing it for posterity…..  Alright, it’s me), that I remembered the video.  “They do surfing here!” I announced, GO didn’t look convinced, I think he thinks I make things up just for the fun of it.  Well he had to eat his facial expressions and private thoughts when we came across a group surfing on the river.

 

After a while hunger came a knocking, I was determined to have a Weisswurst in Muenchen, so that is what I did. We “found” (I was headed towards it the whole time) a Japanese Tea Garden, it seemed like the perfect place to stop, and as it was raining, at least we’d be dry for a while.  We decided to try some Weiss Wurst and Sauerkraut, G.O loves his fermented cabbage and well, true German I love me some sausage.

The rain didn’t let up, I had made the fatal mistake that morning not to take my jacket with me.  I thought that my umbrella would be enough.  I was wrong, it started lashing it down, then somehow I miraculously found one of the ponchos that we had taken from Friends Fest in Cardiff.  I put it on, it make you looks like a giant human condom but at least I was all covered.  It wasn’t warm but as it was so big I was able to pull my arms in and walk along feeling rather smug.

Berlin?  Not quite.

We gave up, the rain beat us so we decided to go back to the shopping center by the hotel and dry off.  Hopping back onto the bahn, we settled for the ride, as the train arrived at the station for the Olympic Park I convinced GO to get off.  We had to have a proper look, while we were there.

It was only as we stood under the canopy that we realised, rather daftly that it was all outside.  Nevertheless we couldn't get any wetter.  We then noticed people heading for the BMW visitor center.  I was sure that it was a ticketed thing, but it may also have a toilet and a café, so we thought we'd give it a try.  Turns out the ticket is for the factory tour which we weren't bothered about.  The actual exhibition was completely free.