The Land of Swans & Beer

Lucky for us, K didn’t do much work related travel his first year at Texas Instruments; he’d only spent a week in Taiwan and one night in Atlanta, Georgia. But, when the chance came to attend a conference in Germany, we were happy to take the opportunity for a European vacation together.

SUNDAY: I arrived Sunday at the Munich Airport after the conference had ended, my first solo trans-Atlantic flight in the books, to a confusing and super slow (what Germany efficiency?) customs line. Even the native Germans were confused! When I emerged from the baggage claim, K was waiting for me, and we headed off to buy tickets for the train. Standing in front of the ticket machine, we were overwhelmed by the S bahn and U bahn lines, the rings and zones, and the poorly translated English instructions, but we were lucky to have two tickets gifted to us from someone who didn’t need theirs anymore. Happy to avoid the ticket machine for now, we made our way to the platform and headed into Munich.

In the heart of the city, we arrived to a gray, biting cold. The rain was light & steady, and the streets were almost completely empty – quite the change from Dallas in the spring. We checked into our AirBnB apartment, conveniently located just a 5 minute walk from the central train station, and went to Marienplatz. With apple strudel in hand, K and I walked the streets of Munich, feeling as if we had the entire city almost completely to ourselves. We stopped for lunch at Katzentemple, a cat cafe, before heading back to the apartment for the evening. We grabbed dinner from a counter at the train station: currywurst (K’s personal favorite) and rotisserie chicken, before turning in for the evening.
13,703 Steps
5.77 Miles

MONDAY: Day two in Munich had a late start; despite taking an Ambien on my flight to try and adjust to the time change, I was exhausted. I even managed to sleep well past the 7:30AM construction directly outside our window.
The first stop of the day was breakfast lunch at Görreshof, and it was arguable our FAVORITE meal during our stay in Munich. Surrounded by wood paneled walls adorned with deer antlers and burning candles, we feasted on the traditional Bavarian breakfast of white sausage with a soft pretzel (topped with an amazing sweet mustard) and split a plate of pork and potato soup. The entire experience was very German, right down to the lederhosen-wearing-waiter that served us.

With very full bellies, we embarked on our garden day. First stop: Schloss Nymphenburg. Nymphenburg Palace was once the birthplace of German royals, and current home to numerous swans that roam the grounds. Among the hedges and statues, K and I meandered through the garden until we were ready for a change in scenery.

The next stop of the day was The Englischer Garten, one of the largest urban parks in the world. We wandered around the Chinese Tower, next to one of the most well-known beer Gardens in the city, and people watched atop a hill. On our way out of the park, we took a moment to enjoy the infamous Eisbach river surfers before stopping at Der Verruckte Eismacherfor some unique ice cream flavors. That night, we watched Bayern Munich play Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League at a local bar; unfortunately, despite winning the game, Bayern was eliminated and we missed out on the chance to celebrate, German-style.
15,444 Steps
6.32 Miles

TUESDAY: To be honest, Germany has never been at the top of my “must see” list of countries, but I had made-up my mind long ago that if I ever managed to visit, it was important to go to a concentration camp. Today was the day. A train and bus ride out of the city, we arrived to rain. Even though the dreary weather wasn't new, today it had meaning – fitting for the somber mood.

As we learned during our stay in Germany, Munich was the birthplace of the Nazi Party. It makes sense then that the first concentration camp, Dachau, is located just outside the city. Aside from being the first, Dachau was also the only camp to have existed for all 12 years the Nazi party was in power, and was used as the model for all subsequent internment and extermination camps. Nowadays, Dachau is a museum and memorial to those who lost their lives during one of history’s darkest hours. Standing on the soil that once housed enemies of the third Reich, the emotions were humbling and gut wrenching, to say the least.

Upon our return to the city, we braved the heavy rain for gluten free pizza and tiramisu at Pizzesco, before turning in for the night.
14,714 Steps
6.07 Miles

WEDNESDAY: Located about an hour and a half outside of Munich, Schwangau a.k.a. “town of the swans” is the home of Nueschwanstein, which served as the inspiration for Walt Disney’s logo and Sleeping Beauty’s castle. To learn as much as we could about the castle during our visit, we signed up for a tour with Sandeman’s and headed out of the city towards the German-Austrian border and the Alpine foothills. We arrived in Hohenschawngau, the village below Nueschwanstein, and journeyed up the rugged terrain with our tour guide as he told stories of Mad King Ludwig, his mysterious death, and the significance of the castle in his demise. On our way down, we passed Hohenschwangau Castle, King Ludwig’s childhood home, and lunched on Currywurst (of course) before taking the train back to Munich for the night.
14,677 Steps
6.06 Miles

THURSDAY: Our fifth day in Munich also happened to be K’s birthday, and we decided to spend it in Salzburg, Austria – only a 2 hour train ride from Munich. Unbeknownst to us, Thursday also happened to be a German holiday, so we were not the only ones traveling out of the city. We were also unaware that ticket prices go down on holidays and, per the ticket checker on the train, we WAY over paid for ours. A little frustrated that we were beaten again by the ticket machine, all that truly mattered was that we were on the right train and heading to the sights and sounds that were the setting for The Sound of Music!

We arrived in Salzburg to our first sunny day of the vacation, and headed out on foot towards Hohensalzburg Castle, one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. En route, we passed Mozart’s childhood home before stumbling upon the Mirabell Gardens, where we walked hand-in-hand past the Pegasus Fountain and gnomes. From there, we reached St. Peter’s Abbey, the Residenzplatz, and Salzburg Cathedral. When we finally arrived at the bottom of Festungsberg Hill, we took the Mönchsberg Lift up to the castle where we wandered the fortress walls, enjoying the panoramic view of Salzburg and the Salzbach River from above.

As the morning turned to afternoon, we hiked down to the city below where we joined in the Salzburg Festival and had lunch, courtesy of local street vendors, in Mozartplatz as a brass band played. With full bellies and rested feet, we explored Petersfriedhof, Salzburg’s oldest cemetery, before heading back to the train station. We returned to Munich tired (and a little sunburnt) and decided to have dinner at the tapas restaurant around the corner from our apartment before turning in for the night. Two cities, a new Fitbit record, and one year older, hopefully K enjoyed his European birthday!
26,329 Steps
10.23 Miles

FRIDAY: Our last day in Munich we were happy to see the sun again. Two consecutive days without clouds and rain was a nice way to end our trip! We started our day back in Marienplatz for a free Sandeman’s walking tour of Munich – even though we’d seen the sights on Sunday and Monday, K wasn’t the most knowledgeable guide. So, we decided that our last day would be well spent learning a thing or two about the city that had been such a good host for the last 5 days.

We started our tour finally getting to watch the Glockenspeil (regularly voted the second most disappointing tourist attraction in the world), then with wursts in hand, we explored the Neus Rathaus, Atles Rathaus, Peterskirche, Frauenkirche, the infamous Hofbrauhaus, and the Munich Opera House. Walking through the city streets, we heard about how Munich became an important city through the salt trade, how the Glockenspiel tower was used as a reference point during the bombing of the city in World War II, and just how rowdy things used to be at the Hofbrauhaus. The tour ended at the top of the stairs overlooking Odeonsplatz, where we took a moment to enjoy the 19th century square from between the lion statues.
From the heart of Munich, we then headed to its outskirts for our last German meal at Gasthof Obermaier. It was under the trees of the outdoor patio that we stuffed ourselves on gluten free beer, gluten free schnitzel, and gluten free Kaiserschmarrn until we could barely move.
9,875 Steps
4.03 Miles