The Land of Bier!

We arrived in Munich only to tour the lovely city full of traffic jams and rain in attempts to find the rental car return. Silly us, we drove around the Hauptbahnhof (train station) for almost 30 minutes, passing Boobs Table Dance for the 20th time, until we discovered the car drop off was located in an undisclosed location only know by those with special clearance, which apparently was not us. We took it easy this night, ate some wiener, and got ready for our next day.

In the morning, which meant 11am, we got up to do another free New Europe tour of Munich learning about the Third Reich, beer and some more beer. We started in Marien Platz, home to the Glockenspeil, the second most overrated tourist attraction in Europe, only surpassed by the clock in Prague (It plays 5 minutes longer). We wandered by the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) whose towers are the tallest point in the city. During WWII the US Airforce used the church as guidance and it was therefore the towers were never destroyed, unlike 85% of the rest of the city. We passed St. Peters Church, Residenz Munchen, Glassnachte memorial, Dodgers Alley, and the Hofbrauhas.

The Hofbrauhaus is one of the most visited and prestigious beer gardens in Munich. Back in the day it was the royal brewery house and a central gathering location. The concept of a beer garden actually started when the brewery would store their beer outside in the shade during the summer as it was cooler than inside. Customers soon began to join the beer under the trees as they were also cooler and closer to the beer. We must explain that German beer is the best for one main reason, the Bavarian Purity Law. It was declared that German beer may only have 4 ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. We also learned that in Bavaria, beer is taxed as a food group. The tour ended at a pub with bottomless Bavarian stew and a liter of beer. After consuming several bowls of stew, we decided to take the Beer Challenge offered by the same group.

A half liter of beer greeted us at the Hauptbahnhof where we popped the lid and started strolling down the streets of Munich. The first beer garden was a massive gathering of picnic tables, food, and of course beer. Everyone was drinking liters, so when in Rome well you know the rest. Here we sung our beer drinking song and it goes a little something like this, “Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Der Gemutlichkeit, eines, zwei, drei, g'suffa!” We were also informed that when you Prost (Cheers) you must look the person in the eye or you will be cursed with 7 years of bad sex. That’s what the crazy Germans said so we made sure to look people in the eye.

After 2.5 liters of beer down the hatchet, we’re off to three more beer gardens. We found ourselves at the Augustiner Bräu brewery, which brews its beer without any chemicals. It’s so pure that it is the beer of choice by the Pope, and if it’s good enough for the pope its good enough for us! After 3 liters we finally felt like we were in Bavaria. Let’s say the next two beer gardens and shot of Jagermeister didn’t have a happy ending; Munich streets were christened and bar paraphernalia was found in pockets the next morning. Left with a hangover and new friends who we will probably never see again, we feel it was defiantly worth it.

Our final day in Munich was spent exploring the Olympic park from the 1972 summer games. The park was situated on a hill giving us a panoramic view of Munich as well as the BMW Welt museum. It was nice to get away from the crowds in Munich. Our bags are packed as we wait for the night train to Venice, Italy.