THE BAVARIAN CAPITAL
Lea and I decided to have a mother and daughter trip to Munich, and it was one of the best two day trips we ever had. We had all sorts of adventures planned, but we ended up just walking around Munich both days. This was Lea’s first time in Germany, and she was really excited to eat pretzels and sausages just like every other tourist coming in. We booked a hotel right in the center over Booking called Hotel Blauer Bock, and it was one of the best decisions we made. Although we had to share the bathroom with the whole floor, the room was perfect and the location was spectacular since we were right next to Marienplatz.
We enjoyed breakfast both days at Rischart Cafe, and we ate pastries and sipped hot chocolate in the early morning while the city was still asleep. We woke up early on our first day to have Marienplatz to ourselves. Marienplatz consists of Neus Rathaus, which is a gothic town hall. This new town hall has a restaurant located underneath called Ratskeller Munich. Many people recommended us to eat there, and we tried it, but we were not that impressed with the food. We booked Free Walking Tours with SANDEMANs New Europe, and they were amazing. Our first day we did the Third Reich Tour and walked around Munich learning about the start of the Holocaust. The next day we just did a basic Munich Tour learning about the famous landmarks that are scattered across the city. When we weren’t on the tours we just walked around and we had no particular destinations in mind. We saw three beautiful churches with all different types of architectural styles: Michaelskirche, Frauenkirche, and Thiertinekirche. We passed by the Opera House, Odeonplatz, and then we started to head to Englischer Garden for lunch. The Englischer Garden there is a location called Eisbachwelle, where many locals surf the waves of the river that travels to the gardens. The water was warm and there were many people swimming the river. We also enjoyed two pretzels in the Restaurant and Beer Garden at the Chinese Tower. The space had many local families coming in bringing their own food and having picnics in the area. At one point, there was even a delightful music show with the musicians wearing local garments.
The center of Munich is surrounded by four gates, and whichever direction you decide to go in, there is always something amazing. The gate underneath is called Siegestor and it has an artistic love sign in front of it. For dinner we had Paulaner im Tal. The food was so exquisite and authentic that we came back the second night to explore more of their menu. There is also a famous beer hall in Munich called Pauline that many locals recommended to us, but we simply did not have enough time. We also recommend stopping by in any beer garden.
