Munich

2014/07/28

etting to Munich I had a bit of a delay, the train from Stuttgart arrived/left about an hour later than scheduled so my paying a tad more and good intentions of getting into Munich when it was still light and a “good” hour didn’t pan out. Wasn’t too serious, bought my stripe ticket (which gave me 10 trips, I used up 7 think I should have used 8 but 1st time didn’t know how it worked, so still have 3 for another time/someone else to have) and got to Colin’s flat perfectly fine as I knew the route/processes from last time so was familiar. Just relaxed on Thursday evening, still only got to bed late once Lizelle (Colin’s girlfriend) got back from a work function and we just sat chatting for ages.

Thursday I first headed a 2 stops away from Colin’s flat to BMW Welt to check out things there. Was cool to see the new stuff and changes to it since I was there last time. I’ll post a dedicated entry with pictures from that and other car stuff I checked while in Munich. I was there under 2hrs (think it is actually 3hrs but I went with 2hrs) so that the stripe was still valid and didn’t need to pay more to head into town.

Once in town (went into Marienplatz) and looked around all the sights and things that were in the center of town. A lot of the things were familiar having seen them before so I didn’t really do masses of that sort of sightseeing this time round, there seemed to be quite a few cranes around so made getting nice “clean” pics of buildings harder. I looked here and there for some new strops but wasn’t anything that was what I wanted, there were some that had sort of a leather/material vs the rubber under your foot so wasn’t too sure about those as I was worried about dirt/sweat etc. So I’m still making do with my current pair and maybe they will last until I am home. If they do pack up I’ll just use my shoes and socks for the remainder of the trip.

Marienplatz

Something I did when I went to Amsterdam in 2010 was take a pic of myself on the webcam there, well … I picked up eduroam (was better than using my 3G or my speed could have been throttled by then already, I don’t recall) when I was in town in Munich and did the webcam screenshot in Marienplatz while there. See the pic below (I circled myself in red). I know it is pretty geeky but I like to do it.

Garten Eden 2014 at a Church in Munich

Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus Band

Hofbrauhaus Beer Mugs

Hofbrauhaus Patron

Haxenbauer

Beer Mugs

Cuckoo Clocks

ViktualienMarkt Maypole

ViktualienMarkt

>ViktualienMarkt

ViktualienMarkt

Munich Apple Store

Munich Apple Store and Marien Platz

Munich Apple Store Stairs

In the evening we took the dedicated shuttle bus from Scheidplatz and went to a festival in Olympiapark called Tollwood it was a music/entertainment festival which was on for most fo July, was really good entertainment and had some great food/drink stalls. We had a really good time there looking round and seeing all there was on offer. Entry was free but if you wanted to see the main acts you then had to pay/buy tickets.

Storm Trooper at one stand, quite a coincidence I had my Star Wors TShirt on

Lángos – delicious meal, AND I now see it is a Hungarian dish and I’m going to Hungary in a few days time !!!

Lángos

Band

Friday I did a day trip to Salzburg, see the next post for info on that.

When we got back into town at 5ish I hired a bike and then we cycled/headed out to Waldwirtschaft, a beer garden which was about 14km (one way) from Colin’s flat. We cycled along the edge of the Isar River and I got to see things from a different perspective.

People enjoying the banks of the Isar River

Standing Wave

At the beer garden there was a really great vibe and we had some nice beer and a tasty meal. It was pitch black by the time we left so was head/tail lights on and we headed home, another 14km. I was pretty buggered by the time I got home as I don’t think I’ve cycled (except when I did the Bicycle Tour in Amsterdam in 2010) in past 15 or so years.

My meal, half chicken & chips – was very tasty

Beer !!!

Me, Lizelle and Colin

Mike & hotties

Saturday morning we had a slow start then headed to Lizelle’s flat and streamed the Crusaders vs Sharks Super 15 Semi Final, pity the Sharks didn’t play that well and lost the game. After that Colin & Lizelle prepared some salads (I did offer to help but would have been too many hands in her smallish kitchen) and then we headed out to a braai in the afternoon with some other South Africans out at the Gilching-Argelsried S6 SBahn stop. On the way to the station (before we left Munich) we walked via this big Mercedes Showroom and also Lamborghini Munchen (see Munich Cars post for pics etc). We had a really nice braai and a little too much to drink. The weather closed in and only but chucked it down at one stage. We left at about 11pm and headed on the hour long SBahn trip home. We wanted to leave while the trains were still running otherwise would get very pricey if relying on a taxi.

Amusing Toilet paper

For Sunday Colin & Lizelle proposed a cycle outside of Munich, so we headed into Haupbahnhof and I hired a bike (E22 + E2.2 insurance) for the 24hrs and we headed out. We took the SBahn S3 line to the end to Holzkirchen and then we started the cycle. In total we rode about 44km …. yes 44km – I was feeling pretty wrecked by the end of that. I was holding them up a little at times as they are more used to it. We ended up at the Wolfratshausen (end of the SBahn S7 line). We stopped at a place called Brauftuberl Klofter Reutberg (a beer garden in the country side) for lunch, I had a really tasty half pork knuckle. I only took my iPhone with me so didn’t get too many higher quality pics (with zoom etc).

Brauftuberl Klofter Reutberg

Half Pork Knuckle

Cows grazing

Lizelle up in distance

The assemble these into massive rafts that float down the river

We finished the ride and got back to Hbf at about 7pm where I returned my bike and then took the SBahn back to Colin’s flat. We just ordered in dinner and relaxed and turned in by 10:30pm.

I had a great time in Munich and did some different things than I’d have done otherwise, which was great.

I appreciate the hospitality from Colin & Lizelle, they made me feel super welcome and spoiled me by paying for stuff. Even though I did loads of exercise while I was in Munich I had a really relaxing stay generally.

Today left Munich on the 9:01-14:44 train to Prague, I hadn’t booked a specific seat so wasn’t sure how things would work but was fine, just sat anywhere and noone ever wanted my seat (I’m in a small 6 seater compartment).

Let the travel’s continue, there is now under 2 weeks of my trip left. Still quite a while.