After an unexpected delay on the tracks just outside the station, our train eventually rolled into Munich at around 16:00 on Thursday 29 November. Even though it was her birthday, Barbara kindly met us at the station and even treated us to a quick coffee and cake :-) We drove back to the hostel to get cleaned up and then all met up with some of Barbara's friends (Gordon, Wilfried, Norbert and Thomas) at a nearby restaurant for an amazing 5 course dinner (prawns starter, ham and truffles soup, ravioli, kobi beef with veggies & potatoes and ice cream and fruit for dessert) - what a treat! :-) We ended up getting back quite late and, exhausted, we went straight to bed.

Friday we were up early for breakfast and then took a drive into the center of the old town. It was cold but the sun was out and it wasn't raining, which made our time wandering around the old streets much more pleasant. We saw some beatiful old churches on our way to main market sqaure, where the Christmas market was in full swing. We spent some time browsing around the stalls before climbing a nearby church tower for a very cool aerial view of the city. We stopped at a nearby stall for a quick coffee/gluhwein to warm up, and then continued exploring. We took a walk through a really fancy department store, saw some amazing building around a big open sqaure, stopped off briefly at a small Mercedes Benz museum/shop, found another Christmas market where we tried real roasted chestnuts for the first time (they taste a lot like boiled potatoes..?!) and finally ended up at the old (founded in 1589) Munich Hofbräuhaus, where Gordon and Wilfried joined us for a few beers. The oompah band played like champions, and we enjoyed some lively conversation with a couple of ‎Borussia Dortmund supporters who were down for the game, before heading back to the hostel. That night we ate a huge and delicious dinner at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant and then headed straight to bed after a long, tiring day.

Saturday we were again up fairly early for a quick breakfast, ready to continue our roadtrip North. We stuffed our things into the car and set off towards Landsberg Am Lech, a stopover on our way up to Augsburg.