Munich

The land of beer and brats....

This weekend was a fun one. My friends Matt and Brandi Render (see the "London Calling" post) flew in from London on Thursday. Unfortunately, I had to work both Thursday and Friday, but they kept themselves busy touring around Luxembourg.

They visited the city centre on Thursday and then we went to the American sports bar here to watch some NFL games and eat our Thanksgiving hamburgers.

On Friday, they took a train to Vianden. Vianden is a small town in northeast Luxembourg that has a big castle and overall pretty scenery. They said that it was very easy to get there and that is was really nice, so I'm excited to visit there myself. After Vianden, they went back to the Luxembourg city centre, where the Christmas market had just opened. Again, they claim that the Christmas market is nice, so I'm excited to go down there next weekend. When I got home from work, we went out to eat at a pretty nice Greek restaurant downtown. Then it was early to bed, in preparation for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning was an early one...we got up at 5:30am, made some coffee, jumped in the car and headed off for Munich (about 5 hours by car). After getting lost a bit, we found our way to the German Autobahn and started making some good time.

On the way to Munich, we passed through Dachau and visited the Dachau Concentration Camp site. They have turned the site into a memorial, with museums and a historical walk around the grounds. While a good experience and very interesting, it was also very sobering to be at and see a place where so many people suffered so much.

After Dachau, we got a bit lost again and ended up driving on back roads into Munich's city center. However, we got our bearings and found the hotel around 3pm. We parked the car, checked into the hotel, and headed off to explore.

Our hotel was smack dab in the middle of all the action, so it was not long before we found the main pedestrian areas and the Christmas market. Ice skating, roasted chestnuts, carolers, snow covered buildings and merchant tents, Gluhwine (hot spiced wine drink), and the general atmosphere made it everything that you would imagine Germany during Christmas to be.

We basically just walked around taking in the sights and sounds. We also went to the top of this tower in the main city center building, which provided a nice view of the entire city...very pretty!

Then we made our way to the original Hofbrauhaus and settled in for some brats, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and, of course, beer. We lucked out by getting there when we did because not long after we sat down, it started to get very lively. A German band (accordian, horns, guitar, etc) kicked off the night with some music and general entertainment. Several liters of beer and some new friends later, we decided to pack it up and head back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up, had some breakfast at the hotel, and then headed off back to Luxembourg. Driving back was interesting, as it was dark most of the morning on our way to Munich. Very beautiful, snow-covered forests and hills. Also, with other cars on the road, it was interesting to see just how people drive on the Autobahn. For example, I was sustaining a speed of about 140 km/hr (about 87 mi/hr), and people were flying by me like I was sitting still!

Overall, it was a very fun trip and I'm really happy that Matt and Brandi were able to come over from London and explore with me. The next trip for me will be Rome and Rothenburg (Germany) during the week between Christmas and New Year's, where I'll be accompanied by my better half...should be fun!