I remember the train from Amsterdam being over crowded, we had to sleep on the train as it went through a lot of the night – we thought if we got night trains, it saves on spending money on hostels.
We got into Munich around 5am, it was light and it was hot. Our check in was 2pm so we had 9 hours we needed to kill on little sleep. We headed to the Nymphenburg Palace which opened at 7am and that’s where we spent most of our time. It had huge gardens surrounding it, acres of green but by the time we were checking into our hostel, we were so tired and felt close to collapsing. Later on we were ready to explore Munich at night and see what it had in store for us.
Things to do.
There are a lot of things going on in Munich – not just the Oktoberfest festival…
There’s the cathedral (Frauenkirche) in the city centre, cathedrals I find are always worth checking out, in each city they are spectacularly different to the next. Around the cathedral are small shops topped with red roofs, mostly general high street shops but it’s always nice to see a city not gentrify itself.
Marienplatz is the heart of Munich and where most of the weekend markets are based, it’s where you’ll see all of the locals and has an amazing atmosphere around it.
In terms of museums, there are some great ones Munich has to offer including the Old Picture Gallery and the Modern Picture Gallery which are located in the museum district. The Modern Picture Gallery I enjoyed because it obviously stands out from the rest in terms of architecture but its dark concrete building and large windows make it so simple so it doesn’t ruin its surroundings.
For greenery, the English Garden (Englischer Garten) is a large public park, names due to its English style with open landscapes, it has a lot to offer. There are lakes and rivers throughout the park along with a nudist area for the ones who don’t mind wagging around their wobbly bits. It has that “home” feeling and does remind you of the park you go to in London with your friends on a hot day. But unlike an English park, hidden in the centre is a beer garden – Chinesischer Turm. This beer garden has a tower of 25 metres where live music is played and dotted around are benches and barns where you can get a stein of Hofbrauhaus.
Things to eat.
- Schnitzelwirt – Schnitzel, isn’t a german dish, it’s actually from Austria but as they are so close together, you can get a well made schnitzel from here. It’s made with a mushroom sauce and a crispy batter, served with fries. The Austrians fried chicken with chips, but way tastier and made with better meat!
- Marienplatz – here when the markets are open at the weekends, there is the most amazing German street food, currywurst and pretzels all around and served with a stein of beer is even better.
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