An Early Morning Arrival in Munich

Our day was off to a good start after our relatively pleasant train-ride to Munich.  The train was much nicer than some of our previous overnight experiences, and we were lucky enough to have a car of couchette-beds all to ourselves!  We arrived around 6:15am at the large train station, and gazed about with delight - the station had plenty of restaurants to hangout in - and, within eyesight from our train we saw both a Starbucks and a Burger King.  We headed into the Burger King and ordered some breakfast so we could sit inside until the sun came out.

Erin shows off the modern couchette compartment - sans company.

Our arrival in Munich - the welcome, internet-ready Burger King is right around the corner.

Munich, also called Munchen, is in Southern Germany and is capital city of Bavaria - so it is a big city.  We stopped off at the tourist office in the train station, bought a map (because they didn't offer any free maps), and headed off to Marienplatz – the city center. We started walking down Bayerstrasse and wandered through Karlsplatz, stopping at a few stores along the way to look around.

They're 1 Euro stores in Europe...

Munchen (Munich) is home to Octoberfest, which we missed (just barely).

Tabitha and James outside the old city walls in Munich.

Upon turning the corner from Kaufingerstrasse to Marienplatz, we immediately knew we were in the hub of Munich. A large building dominates this area, the "Neues Rathaus" or the New Town Hall. Despite our lack of planning, we arrived at the perfect time – the Glockenspiel was about to show its twice-daily performance. While we took pictures of the clock and the dueling knights, we overheard a walking tour beginning to form and we decided to join the group. We have done a few walking tours so far on this trip and have found them to be pretty enjoyable – despite the fact that you don't actually walk that much, you do learn a decent amount about the city from your tour guide.

The New Town Hall - Home of the Munich Glockenspiel.

The New Town Hall Glockenspiel in "Action."

Another view of the Hall and the square surrounding it.

In this particular tour, our guide, Michael taught us quite a bit about Munich's history. We learned that Munich is a relatively new city, in that it didn't achieve too much prominence until the 19^th century, when King Ludwig I ruled (he was just a politician but decided he wanted to be a King, so he made it happen). We learned that Hitler staged a “failed” rebellion attempt in Munich in 1923, and then in World War II, after being a center of Nazi activity, much of the city was bombed and destroyed.

After Marienplatz, our tour guide took us to Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), a church that is famous for its 16^th-century domes.  Frauenkirche survived World War II, even though many other parts of the church were destroyed - in part, due to its likely use as a landmark for allied bombers. We were able to go inside the church and we learned that the current Pope (Benedict 16^th) was originally from Munich, and there is a monument in his honor in the front of the church.

One of Frauenkirche's mighty steeples.

The interior of Frauenkirche - notice how the windows are not visible from the central aisle.

The monument to Pope Benedict the 16th.

One of the many tombstones arrayed on the outside of the church.

Next we headed to Residenz (the former royal palace). Residenz housed Bavarian rulers from 1385 to 1918 and has over 100 rooms of art to explore. We did not go inside the royal palace, but we did learn more about it on our tour.

One of the churches in the plaza near Residenz.

A rather short succession of German monarchs on display outside Residenz.

A monument to Germany's first King.

Despite the fact that we were enjoying the tour, we were both beginning to get hungry and realized our time in Munich was limited – so, we said goodbye to Michael and the tour, and began our own adventure. Erin wanted to go to the Englischer Garten – as it is one of the largest city parks in Europe. So, we stopped for a hot tea to warm up, and headed a bit out of the city center to the park. The park was beautiful and extremely large. We walked through a bit of the park, passing a a ravine with a small waterfall, a playground, and many beautifully-rust-colored trees. After the park, we decided we needed to refuel because we both had headaches of unknown origin. We discussed a few eating options and settled on a small cafe where Erin was able to create her own salad, and James braved a bratwurst sandwich. We wanted to eat outside, but we were in such a touristy area, we didn't realize how difficult it would be to find seating. Luckily, we stumbled upon the Viktualienmarkt – which is a shopping market with all varieties of food and beverages (including a beer garden) – where there were benches for us to sit and eat at. James also added a Bavarian pretzel to his lunch, along with some sort of pork-rind piece, which he was unable to finish because of its "rich" taste.

James beside the rapids in the Englischer garden.

James eats the food of his forefathers - authentic southern-German bratwurst.

Munich's proud heritage on display.

Some of the eating places spread out amongst the tourist stops.

After our lunch, we continued to wander around throughout the city center, this time stopping for a bit in a an electronics store. We looked at some of the fun German products before realizing that one of the employees looked a lot like James. (James is German, so it could be that he has some long lost relatives in Munich).

Erin thought this "Best-Buy-type-store" employee looked a little like James's relatives.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to explore any of the Harz Mountains or the mediveal castles, although we were told that they are, in fact, worth a visit if we ever return. We started to head back to the train station because our train for Zurich departed at 4:34 and we didn't want to be late. We stopped at a local grocery store in the Underground station and picked up a few snacks and beverages for the 4-hour train ride.

We boarded the train about 10 minutes before departure, and noted upon boarding, that we were sitting very close to a woman and three small children (you never know what is going to happen when sitting next to children). In our case, the train ride felt much longer than it was or should have been. The children were obnoxious – running back and forth through the train-car aisles, screaming, crying, and crawling over the seats. One female passenger actually asked the mother if she could try to control her kids a bit because they were disrupting many of the other passengers, and the woman defensively answered back something about the fact that “you don't understand because you don't have kids.” Well, James and I don't have kids, but we certainly understand what discipline and respect are – which is something we hope we would have employed if the children were ours in this particular situation.

Erin naps while one of the compartment children looks on in wonder.

Regardless, we arrived in Zurich around 9pm, and managed to take public transportation to our home for the evening, a small room we are renting from a local woman. When we arrived, Evelyn was friendly and showed us around her apartment, introduced us to her friends, and shared a glass of wine with us before we eventually settled in for the night.