Munich!

After getting and being pleasantly surprised at how close our hostel was from the train station (a whopping three blocks, tops) we dropped our bags off, ran into Jimma and Teri (the Australian sisters) and met with Alex and Scott to get me jacket back, and finally ventured out into the city to grab a bite to eat. On the recommendation of the hostel staff for a good beer hall, we walked to a place called Augustine's that has been brewing beer and serving bavarian deliciousness since 1381. If you have never been in a beer hall, let me break it down for you, it is one of the most intimidating places that I've ever walked in because there are literally rows and rows of wooden tables in a large room with traditionally dressed waitstaff running around with a minimum of 4 half liter beer glasses in hand at all times. We had no idea what to do so we found a waiter and conveyed that we wanted food and he showed us to our own small table in a back room where we saw the most heavenly sight....baskets of fresh, salty pretzels! I ordered honestly the tastiest beer that I've ever had to go along with my meatballs and potato salad (and by meatballs they mean small burger sized patties of melt in your mouth meat and by potato salad they mean potatoes and cucumbers mixed up in the strangest and most perfect way ever). Eventually we got sat with a group of people in an EF tour like the ones we first came abroad with, so that was a fun little coincidence since we are now abroad on our own, exploring without the help of Mr and Mrs Knape. 


After dinner we went back and explored the hostel bar but went to bed to get a good nights sleep so we could be ready to take on the site the next day. We've decided that if it possible, we should always take a guided walking tour the first day that we are in a place to get our bearing, so that was the first order of business on Thursday. We went with the New Europe free tours again and guess who showed up? Alex and Scott, of course. The tour was great and took us all around the city while learning about the history of Bavaria, the nazi party and the third reich and the rich history of German beer making. After the tour,  pour guide so kindly led us to a favorite beer hall of his where we had a beer that was described as "fireworks in your mouth" ( he said that first, but it was actually on the menu as the description haha) and lunch of tasty meat and potato pancakes. 


Our bellies full and satisfied, we walked around the local market that had all minds of veggies, sweets, breads and Easter decorations in it before going back to the hostel to relax, close our eyes for a minute and prepare our stomachs for more beer and food later. You may have noticed that a solid portion of this blog and of our days are situated around food, and you would be right! The food in all the difference countries has been a great way to get into the culture a little more and it's been so fun to ask recommendations forum locals in where to go and what to get. To our giddy surprise, even though we eat a lot of heavy food (especially in the last three countries where its been meat and potatoes) and a lot of it, we never feel like disgusting full feeling like I do in the states. We think it's because the food, while not necessarily healthier calorie wise, is far fresher and less processed than what we get in the states. Likewise, the wine doesn't give me a headache because there is (in general) less sulfates and I actually enjoy drinking a beer with dinner, which doesn't ever really happen at home. 


Anyways, we went back to Augustine's to drink a liter of beer (think glass mug the size of my head or half a two liter bottle of soda...its a little bit of a rite of passage here) and split a plate of sausages since we were still full from lunch. Then we returned to the hostel, played a little pool with some new hostel friends (a boy from Texas studying in Belgium and another guy traveling from Chile) and had another beer at a smaller pub around the corner. All in all, it was a really good day for Munich! We wished we had more time in the city because the next day we had dedicated to spending at Dachau, the concentration camp outside of town. It was also raining, but it did not dampen our day nearly as much as it has in other cities sometimes. We just wished it had been slightly nicer so we could have enjoyed the gardens and the the river surfing that Munich has to offer. It's just yet another place that we out on the list to come back to!