Munich, Germany

Munich was rainy during our two day stay unfortunately, but we didn’t let the rain get us down. Bundled in our rain jackets when we got in to the train station after a very long and crowded train ride, we made our way to our Air BNB apartment. This was our first Air BNB stay so we were a little nervous, but also excited to stay with someone from the area. Our host Christian was extremely nice and handed keys over to us when we got in, as well as suggesting an authentic Bavarian restaurant for dinner. Once we settled in, we finally went out for dinner at a local restaurant across the street. We of course ordered traditional dishes of schnitzel and spätzle and indulged with shandies and vanilla ice cream served with hot raspberries. Definitely a nice hearty and delicious meal after 9 hours on a train with no food. After dinner we turned in for the night and got some rest before a long day of walking.

The Marienplatz is the main city square in Munich, full of historical buildings, shopping centers, vendors selling delicious food and pastries, and bustling with tourists and Munich natives. Naturally, this is where we spent our day. It rained all day, sometimes sprinkling and other times a straight down pour but we sucked it up and were determined to take in all that the area had to offer during out short stay. Because it was raining pretty hard, we started our day at the Residenz Muenchen, the palace once home to Bavarian royalty. Ornate doesn’t even begin to describe the palace, full of hundreds of rooms, corridors and more. Admission was 9€ and it was definitely worth the price. They had free audio tours which were a great addition to the information provided in each area, and just as good as a real tour. At times we felt they were too detailed as it took us about 3 hours to go through the Residenz and we had to stop listening to the audio because it was taking so long! We definitely believe that with the audio through the whole thing the tour could take over 4 hours to finish. After the residence we quickly looked through the treasury as well before heading back to the main square.

After finding a place to eat for lunch and hide from the rain for a little while (we settled on a pizzeria, oops!), we walked around a little more and took some time to go in gift shops and stores around the square. We bought a few gifts for family (yay!) and then decided to do an audio tour courtesy of Rick Steves. Anna downloaded the tours and while they are a little cheesy, it’s a great way to see everything important while learning a lot of background about each stop. While listening to the audio tour we stopped at the cuckoo clock in the center of the square, St. Peter’s church, the may pole, a few beer halls, the residenz and its large garden (the hoftgarten) now turned park, a few other churches, and the synagogue and Jewish museum. We also learned a little background on the shopping area as well! The whole area is great especially because there are no cars allowed. This really allowed us to see everything and makes it a great shopping spot for both tourists and locals. After a long day of sightseeing and endless walking (ask us how many times we’ve googled calories you burn after a day of walking) we made our way back to the apartment and arrived at about 10:30. We packed up and got ready for bed to get ready for a morning train.